How do Drum brakes work?

[xplode]

How do drum brakes work, if theyre not better than disc brakes why are they on cars? looks like tehy dont do much, lol but i dunn obout brakes

[BustedLX]

They are inexpensive alternative to discs and are still effective.

It's hard to explain but basicly there two shoes in the drum that are actuated by a cylinder at the top. They are fixed at the bottom on a pivot. When you step on the brakes the cylinder expands and presses the shoes against the inside of the spinning drum. Then to retract the cylinder there are high tension springs that pull the shoess back in and retract the cylinder. It's easier to show you with a picture. Plus I'm not the best at explaining things, but I tried.

[xplode]

How are the stoppign distances from the 2 comparable, or is their a very different stopping power, like i know disc is much better, but by how much is it better?

[accordztech]

its cheaper to manufacture drum brakes for certain cars. this is why u see rear drums on most cars. usually they get like 20% of the braking power and the fronts get 80% of the braking load. its not super necessary for a regular family car to have all wheel 4 discs but only drums in the back.

if u look, most TL, rsx, GSR, ITR, the new accord, TSX have all discs...this is becuase of course the faster u go..the more u need to brake...drums would be inferior and would wear out easllly..


hehe i didnt even read fizzes response..we are on the same page.