the girlfriend got into a good accident with 2 semis so needless to say, she's looking at new cars. she wants an 04 civic, but when she found out that it didnt have disc brakes all around, she's skeptical that it'll stop her if she needs to mash the pedal. even though i tell her that the stopping power is like ~70+% from the front brakes alone, she thinks the rear drums will still handicap her. Should rear drums be a con in her car buying decision (read: get the scion tc) or do they really matter that much?

 

The car is light enough along with the already mentioned weight bias; the rear drums are fine. They can certainly lock the rear tires up which is as much as you need.

 

yeh... What he said!!!

Although it still amazes me that manufacturers are still using drum braking systems. Even on a $28,000 Chevy Equinox SUV... drums in the rear.

I've changed drum brakes once. NEVER again!

 

I'm w/ you, why do they even bother w/ them. I doubt it's that cost effective

 

Haha... I'm definitely getting old... Most vehicles before 1970 had drum brakes all around, and while disc are always prefered over drums I wouldn't worry about having drums on the rear.

My last car (94 ford T-bird) weighed in at about 3800lbs and the rear drums stopped it fine...

 

Aww... come on. It's not that hard to change them.

 

I hate changing drum brakes, helped my friend. Not that its hard, it just takes longer since you have the auto adjuster to try and set...

I would figure the small discs in the rear would be cheaper than drum these days...

 

Hard, no. Pain in the ass, yes...