I know up front it is alot of money to change from drum to disk brakes but I think it is a worthwile investment. Look at it this way....
You spend like $500 bux on a big brake kit....take out the drum brakes and install your disc brakes yourself. From then on you can save on labor and redo your brakes yourself.

Just thinking out loud sorry...

 

While I like seeing people do unique things, I have one question, would it truly benefit you? Ease of working on it yourself it one thing, but if your going for better stopping performance are your brake drums that crappy that you need disc brakes? I guess what I'm getting at is...is it truly worth it putting them on you xA?

On the other hand it would be really tight!

 

Well i don't need them for power but you have to imagine that if you plan on keeping this car for 100k+ miles and during that timeframe your brakes are going to need to be changed a onetime PITA project could save you lots of money in the long run.

 

very true...although i see it quite hard for a 94 year old guy to do this on his own anyway, go for it if you got the dough and know how to do it and know how to obtain all the parts to make it work.

 

U also need a new proportioning valve and time to dial in the brakes, and special disks that have the built in parking brake on top of fabing up a way to get the new disks to work.

 

reality check speaking- on a xA having rear-discs is kinda over-kill, given the weight of the car, etc. On a xB , if you hauling stuff in the back... maybe doing a rear disc conversion could be benificial... maybe.

If you want better stopping power, being cost effective, just wait till your fronts start to wear away, then get some power-slot rotors + either a TRD pad or Hawk pad... and your set (also be sure to check the rear drums at the time, if they need adjusting, new shoes, etc ... get that done at the same time).

 

Alright dumbass ...maybe if you had read my post you would have seen that I am not doing this to boost stopping power, but I am doing it for cost reasons. I don't know how to change drum brakes but I do know how to change discs. So by swapping from drums to disc brakes I will be saving money on labor to replace the drums. LRN 2 Read plz.

 

I think its better to just engine brake, too much fab work and cost to save money.

I agree, I tried to brake with my parking brake alone down a deserted back road and it took little to any stopping effort before the tires started to squeal and lock up. 99% of the braking is from the front and think upgrading the front is a better option.

I just cant see how anyone can get use to the brake petal moving to the floor when pressed lightly.

 

Thank you for the kind remarks


If in fact you are doing it for "cost reasons" , why not learn how to replace the shoes in your drums / clean + adjust , instead of sticking with what you know how to do(strickly disc brake) ?? If you properly learn how to do it, you'll save $$ down the road + not have to convert the rear to discs- which is more $$ saved there.

 

disc brakes wear faster than the rear drums. its not going to save you any money, in fact it will cost more in the long run with disc pad and rotor replacement

 

500 bucks for big brake kit?? where?? They want like 1200 for the fronts on the xa

 

The only reason anyone should switch drums to disk is to get better stopping time or/and for shows. The NUMBER 1 reason factory puts rear drum kit is COST SAVINGs. So what you are saying is complete absurd. You change your pads more often than your shoes. Shoes are adjustable. NO big brake kit is $500, and thats not all you need. TRUST ME i've done it and its not as easy as taking the drum kit off and slapping on calipers and disks $1500 + for parts, + fabrication + frustration and time. + changing your disks and pads over the next 10 years - WITH BIG DRUM KIT meaning you would need to get bigger rotors than stock, meaning you will spend $hit load more money on those.. And if ur caliper goes out in 50K miles, you'd need to get another one of those BIG BRAKE KITS cuz i dont think anyone parts out the calipers out of those.. At the end, you are spending about $3000+ within your 100K miles. For $3k you can do a $hit load of drums and shoes replacements. So once again I say it, i have done it and its not what you expect it to be. And your reason for cost saving, is NOT correct.

 

Discs r really goin to help when ur at the track. On the street ur just better off upgradeing ur front disks. If the car is just a street performer than rear drums r sufficient, as stated above they r really there so u don't fishtail not really for doing the majority of the brakeing. Changeing drums is hella easy n not anymore difficult than doing the front disks.

Personally I don't think its worth it, but if u feel u need the rear disks for ur driving application than power to ya.

 

DriverXa have you changed drums to disks on xA?

 

My 81 mercedes had 4 wheel disks, but theres nothing like 4 wheel drums or in some cases 5 drums, 1 on the transfer case.

In all seriousness, I think he is referring to upgrading the front disks to better disks and I agree with him. I wouldnt touch the rear.

 

I've done pretty much everything to a brakeing system except convert drums to disks. And I don't have any desire to do it, especially on an xA.

 

ok.. well u said it was easy i just wanted to clarify. I have done it on other cars and cant say it was 'easy". Thats why i asked, cuz if it really was easy, id do it to my xa.

 

lol. No, I didn't mean converting drums to disks, I meant servicing/replaceing the drum n shoes is really easy. My bad.

 

oooooooooo lol. sorry
so then my point still stands.. Its hard as $hit. to convert drums to disks

 

IMO ... change your front pads ... go GREEN STUFF ... thay are amazing ...