so when my mechanic did cleanup he had to sand them due to rust and lots of contamination however this is the second time hes had to sand them down first was when we pulled the car out of the yard. he said there isnt much surface left to sand again and next time it may need to be replaced. just wondering because at this rate they will be bad next summer. should i upgrade to stock rear disc brake and how easy would it be? cost? worth it? current drum pads have roughly 80% life left.

 

bump!!!

 

Not sure how easy it would be, but it would probably be just getting the hubs and such from a 98-99 z34 and doing the swap.

 

I personally hate drum brakes and I'm happy to say only ONE car is left in my fleet with them (and when I can put forth all that I want to move forward with, it will eventually have rear disc).

ANY CASE, sorry....

Drum-to-Disc conversions vary. Such as on my '02 Grand Am, GM offered it with disc or drum brakes. I've read about how to switch it over and for the Grand Am, not a huge amount of difficulty (just collecting a bunch of salvage parts).

It really helps if the car you want to convert had a version from the factory that offered rear disc. That being said, it might be as simple as:
- Get new pads and rotors
- Set of calipers
- New flex lines
- Rear spindles
- Read Hub Assemblies

Get the car safely in the air, and start ripping into it, bleed the system once you're done.

Out of curiosity, what is prompting you to get the rear drums serviced? From my experience, modern car rotors and drums typically don't have enough material to turn. I've rarely replaced the drums and shoes (since they are like 30% of the braking power, typically they don't wear out very often). Just wondering if there is something on-going that might be better resolved by just re-freshing the rear brakes all together.

 

well im not sure the drums should be fully closed up and unable to rust and get contaiminated where the pad rubs but for some reason they might just be going bad because they sat so long and rusted so much. my rotors up front were to bad to fix when i started driving it and i put new rotors up front my mechanic thinks he sanded the backs down before when he did the front rotors

 

making this the second time they needed to be done and there is 80% pad left but i noticed they were weak when contaminated

 

What's wrong with drum brake's ? My 1940 chevy has 1974 nova drum brakes front & rear . They work fine on my 1940 chevy with 300 hp 350 engine 350 turbo trans..

 

well they look cooler with rims on and stop stronger

 

I believe on all Z34 5th gens(95-99) disc brakes replaced the drums, so if you find a Z34 in a junkyard you might be able to get the parts needed. But i honestly think switching is going to be more trouble than its worth.

 

Theoretically, nothing. You are 100% correct, they work/do their job. I just don't like working on them (that's my biggest dislike). Messing with all the springs and such just drive me crazy. Second, they aren't as affective a braking solution as disc and 3rd, disc brakes on wheels that show the brakes do look cooler

Other then where the wheel studs stick out, the drum itself should be a closed unit. You should also have a backing plate which holds the brake shoes, springs and wheel cylinder. If that backing plate is damaged in any way (bent, has a hole in it) or something was not re-installed, leaving a hole, that could be an entrance for debris to get in. Other thoughts could be poor quality brake shoes that generate lots of dust.

If the surface where the shoe meets the drum is what is rusting, your shoes are NOT making contact to the drum, thus your rear brakes are not working. If they are making contact, that surface should not get rusty. You mechanic may need to make an adjustment to your shoes or check your wheel cylinders to make sure they are functioning properly.

What is the symptom that makes you bring your Monte in? Poor brake quality? Noise?

Since you are paying a mechanic to service the brakes, I am thinking it would be cost effective to get new drums, shoes, spring kit and perhaps wheel cylinders. Then the rears are brand new and should not need touched for a couple years.