Drum Brakes on Brand New Cars.

[Truckosaurus]

Now then.

I attended Brands Hatch this weekend and when returning to my car I noticed I was parked next to a '68' plate Renault Clio 'GT-Line'. I was thinking to myself that it looked pretty nice for a shopping car, until I saw it had a large set of rusty brake drums on the back.

They were finned so they haven't totally cheaped out on them, but I was surprised that drum brakes on a European car were a thing 20 years into the 21st Century.

Should I have been paying more attention to the rears of shopping car and drums actually are still common or is the Clio a rarity?

[Xcore]

Makes handbrake turns in maccys car park a doddle!

[Rozzers]

Polo’s have them, as well

[donkmeister]

Truckosaurus said:

Now then.

I attended Brands Hatch this weekend and when returning to my car I noticed I was parked next to a '68' plate Renault Clio 'GT-Line'. I was thinking to myself that it looked pretty nice for a shopping car, until I saw it had a large set of rusty brake drums on the back.

They were finned so they haven't totally cheaped out on them, but I was surprised that drum brakes on a European car were a thing 20 years into the 21st Century.

Should I have been paying more attention to the rears of shopping car and drums actually are still common or is the Clio a rarity?

Drum brakes do the job just fine for that level of size/performance, so the manufacturers still use them. Four-wheel discs are unnecessary on many cars, we're just used to seeing them now (like alloy wheels... I can't remember the last time I saw a new car on steelies, but I'm sure they're available)

[Miserablegit]

They are quite common on some of the warm fiestas as well. I was surprised as well when I saw them but drums are a perfectly acceptable method of braking most vehicles - keeps all of the crud off the braking surface

[Meridius]

I was at one of those car supermarket places recently having to help a relative look through a load of superminis and it seems rear drum brakes are pretty much the norm on that size of car, even ones that are current generation, exceptions being things like Abarth 500, Corsa VXR

[snoopy25]

MIL is picking up a 66 plate Ford BMax next weekend and that has drum brakes as well

[Butter Face]

It’s at most, 90bhp, it doesn’t need rear discs.

Rear drums last longer, handbrakes are just as efficient and apart from not looking as pretty (which most of the general public don’t care about when it comes to brakes) they do the job just peachy, and they’re cheaper to produce.

[Shiv_P]

I doubt in these type of cars that the rear brakes are used much at all other than handbrake and maybe a little bit of ESP correction outside of very hard braking

[Cold]

Their self-wrapping action makes them more efficient than disc brakes.

[p4cks]

Nissan Navaros and the like have them too.

[amgmcqueen]

Nothing wrong with drum brakes on the rear. They're perfectly adequate especially on low powered shopping trolleys.

[JimbobVFR]

You shouldn't have to choose, My Mazda Bongo has both Disc and drums on the rear

[mike9009]

Admittedly my cars are not new, but three out of four have rear drum brakes. For reference, Nissan Note, VW T25 and Smart Roadster.

All brake well.

Mike

[Chris Jay]

My Fiesta has drums on the rear. No sticky/ seized callipers to worry about!

[iDave]

Ah the old discussion of drums vs discs.

I remember when I was in my apprenticeship (mechanic/technician) 10+ years ago, learning how drum brakes work very well at their job of slowing down a vehicle in the nature of their operation (look it up).
The main downside to them was heat disapation, hence being only fitted to the rear now, on modern cars. Handbrake ability also worked very well.

I do think it's a strange thing why drum brakes are still fitted on some small cars but on comparable vehicles they would have a disc brake set up (eg hyundai i10/i20). I can only put it down to cost price and the Koreans can make it cheaper!

[mhr1294]

Drums are actually really efficient until they overheat.

[DailyHack]

Just a PITA to adjust, well I found them to be

[ashleyman]

I think drums are standard on all brand new VW’s with 110hp or less.

The wife’s Polo has discs all round and that’s 115hp

[HustleRussell]

How often do you have to service drum brakes or replace shoes? What goes wrong with them?

How many times have you seen a rear disc brake with a seized caliper, corroded braking surface or uneven pad wear because the brake is simply under-exercised?