I have rear drums on my car, and I am in need of a new set of shoes. I know the stock shoes provide little to no help on braking when on the track, so I was wondering if there was a drum shoe that might provide a little more help before fading. Does anyone use aftermarket drum shoes, or is there even such a thing? I was just going to go with Autozone unless someone recommends soemthing better. Any info appreciated.


[Modified by 96 SOHC VTEC, 8:33 PM 2/23/2003]

 

A lot of people actually have pretty good luck with OEM shoes in the rear. Even though the rear drums should bite a little earlier than the front discs, they will only be doing a small percentage of the total braking. As long as you're not overusing the rears (too much rear bias, or failing fronts) you should be okay. Even people who upgrade from the OEM shoes still use relatively mild shoes.

Personally, I will run OEM rear shoes until I think they are a weak link. Until then, I'm happy.

 

I've been on factory rear shoes for the last several track events, and will go with Porterfield when the season starts. My car is still twitchy under heavy braking, so I'm hoping better bite from the rear brakes will help.

John -- who's currently soaking up the sun in AZ and playing pretty good golf too

 

I used stock or replacement shoes for many years then had a set made by Carbotech many years ago. I think they were better but only marginally as the rear brakes just do so little. I think the stock shoes do OK because they work so little that they never get into a heat range that the generic linings have any trouble with. The rear brakes last so long that they just don't wear (couple seasons on rear shoes). I still have that set of shoes since I converted the car to discs (waste of time IMO) and never got rid of them. They are on my EP/FP car right now as I have deceided not to convert it to disc at least for awhile. I have never played with brake bias but plan to so maybe I can get more fucntion from the rears.

 

Well, it seems like most of you are going with either OEM, or an OEM replacement, so I think I will just go with Autozone. Thanks for the advice.


[Modified by 96 SOHC VTEC, 2:45 AM 2/25/2003]

 

I just raced my 94 CHB in the NorCal Honda Challenge on OEM rear shoes. After the race I checked the shoes and they needed no adjustment.

 

We (Carbotech) make shoes in racing materials. They are not, however, Autozone inexpensive.

 

The key to making rear drum brakes work well is to make sure that the rear shoes are correctly adjusted.

I use Porterfiled 4R pads in front and the same materiel for the rear shoes. This combination works FAR better than OEM friction materiel.

Scott

 

I run one of the Carbotech shoes in the rear of my Caprice (also have Panther+ in front). They are not super aggressive, but still lockup pretty easily, especially in the rain. The only reason I upgraded was for trailering my racecar - with the added weight from the tonque, the rears work VERY well.

 

I used the Carbotech shoes once and although I liked them, they wore a bit quicker and really ate into my stock drums (vs stock shoes). They cut into the drum so badly, I actually had to destroy the drums to get them off! No one ever out braked me though!

 

They also won't last 100,000 miles like the ones from Autozone either....

 

How much do the Carbotech shoes run?

 

You have IM....

 

Glad no one mentioned changing over to rear discs in this thread! Just doesn't help when your rear tires spend most of their time in the air anyway. Disc setup is heavier too.