VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc 32 brakes

Yesterday-8/30 in the Vendors and Suppliers forum regarding the F/S D2D2 indicated he had found a local supplier to reline his 31 brake shoes with the "correct" lining. As many of us are having squealing issues I would be interested in knowing what lining was used. I am currently using a non asbestos lining with brass strands in it and would like to try something different that does not have the brass.

Hi Steve,

Many of the parts suppliers have been looking for a replacement material over the years without success. Even the model A guys, who use the same material have not found a source for a good replacement material. If your brakes are working....don't do anything to them. I have some NOS shoes that I found at Hershey for my cars.

My recommendation is to find your local friction house that specializes in brakes and clutch relining and talk with them about your application. You will want the softest material that you can get.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. It would be nice to have a survey of 32 owners to see what others are using and their satisfaction. My lining is supposedly the softest available from my supplier who is an industrial brake, clutch, etc. reliner. They have a green lining w/brass, a brown lining w/brass (less aggressive) and a flexible molded wire back lining. I posted this in regards to D2D2 who said he had a local shop reline shoes with the "correct" lining and he has had no problems with them. I would like to know what lining they used so perhaps D2D2 will respond.

The 1931 brakes were relined by Lewis Brake & Clutch (505 247-1405) in Albuquerque. They did not answer a phone call this morning so I will call again on Monday.

I have a question?..IF a person had access to the Asbestoes linings of old,Is it illegal to sell to vcca or others. Forget about ecology and that stuff. Bill

No it's not, you can find some of the material at swap meets now and then. You just will not find a shop that is willing to install the material with Asbestoes in it. I've talked with our local place and they said they can't have the stuff even in the building.

I have used the green lining on our 29 and it can lock up the wheels with little effort at 50mph.
Al

Steve from The Filling Station here. The original 1930-1932 brake drums are stamped steel. It was suggested to me that we consider making brake drums in cast iron. I like the idea, BUT.......Are there any engineers out there that can tell me if this is feasible? Would it resolve the squealing issue? Would anyone buy cast iron brake drums at an estimated cost of $95 to $100 each? It might cost upwards of $20K to make a run of cast iron brake drums. It is a lot to risk if we can't sell them or they don't improve the squealing.

Thanks for the effort , though you may want to wait until Tuesday considering the holiday.

Hi Al,
Stopping is not the problem. Sounding like a loaded ten wheeler doing a panic stop is the concern.

I would be interested in them at that price, so hopefully someone with the expertise needed can help with the questions you posed. Needless to say it would only be feasible IF the cast drum solves the problem. On the other hand if the lining that D2D2 used is readily available at half the cost and works as well as described then further investigation would not be necessary. I think some day in the future availability of good drums will be a concern. Also the fact that some of us are driving faster and braking harder with turned drums I believe is contributing to drum warpage.

Well lets see....Right off the top of my head, that cost would be much higher then $100 for each wheel. Just going off of my experience of buying casting tooling, it would be closer to $40k in China. Then you have the problem of porosity which is a big problem in China.

Next problem is the drums would need to be 2 or 3 time thicker then what they are currently are as cast iron is not as strong as a stamped steel part. Which would be very noticeable on your car and the wheel will be offset about 1/2 an inch to the outboard side.

Then there is expansion rate of two different materials....the brakes were designed to be used with a stamped steel drum, not a cast iron drum.

Now from what I have read, Steve is correct. "One of the major reasons for using Cast Iron instead of steel is CI's dampening properties. Technically CI is a composite with graphite separating the iron crystals. The graphite acts as the vibration dampening agent giving CI a desirable characteristic".

My call would be to look at ways to dampen the current parts to stop the noise issue.

Also I have never seen a stamped steel drum warp, as hot as I've had my 32 roadster drums I would think they would be bouncing all over the place. Years ago Dad had smoke coming off them and it changed the color of the paint they were so hot.

Just my thoughts. Any yes I know someone that know a lot more about casting then I do.

When I rebuilt my car in 2000 the drums were trued. Last week I had them checked as the centralizer lock bolt had moved after adjusting six weeks ago. L.H. front was .020 out of round and I'm thinking that was causing them to not remain centralized. Tough keeping it in the middle with an egg shaped drum. I am open to any suggestions.

Warping of a drum is mostly due to, to much material being removed from the drum. This causes the drum not to be able remove the heat fast enough from the drum. When this happens you have warping of the drum.

So how much material have your removed from your drums?

Drum "warpage" can also be caused by getting hot and then getting splashed going through a puddle of water. The same can happen with disc brakes.
Tony

I don't know what they ended up at but guessing that if it happens again replacement will be necessary. I'm guessing that from the two times of truing that .030-.040 has been removed.

Lewis Brake & Clutch couldn't give me much information on the phone, but said they relined my '31 brake shoes with standard material used on lots of other vehicles. They are located at 1908 1st St. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102. 505 247-1405

I certainly appreciate your efforts. I gave them a call and they suggested arcing the shoes. They also were not aware of any substantial problems with the lining with brass in it. Also they do a lot of model A brakes with that type of lining and have not received complaints of noise.