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Posted by on Oct 30, 2016 in TellMeWhy |

What’s the Difference Between Disc and Drum Brakes?

What’s the Difference Between Disc and Drum Brakes?

What’s the Difference Between Disc and Drum Brakes? A car in motion has a lot of kinetic energy, which is energy of motion. To stop a car, the brakes have to get rid of that kinetic energy. They do so by using the force of friction to convert that kinetic energy into heat.

When you press your foot down on the brake pedal, a connected lever pushes a piston into the master cylinder, which is filled with hydraulic fluid. That hydraulic fluid gets squirted along a system of pipes into other, wider cylinders positioned next to the brakes on each wheel.

This hydraulic system multiplies the force of your foot on the brake pedal into enough force to apply the brakes and make the car stop. The brakes themselves are usually one of two types: disc brakes or drum brakes.

Many modern cars have disc brakes on the front wheels and drum brakes on the rear wheels. More expensive models may have disc brakes on all four wheels. Only very old or very small cars tend to have drum brakes on all four wheels.

Disc brakes consist of a brake disc, a brake caliper, and a brake pad. When the brake pedal is depressed, the hydraulic fluid causes the brake caliper to press the brake pad against the brake disc. The rubbing of the brake pad against the brake disc generates friction, which converts kinetic energy into heat in the brake pad.

speeding carStopping a speeding car can heat the brakes to 950ยบ F or more, to withstand such heat, brake pads must be made of special materials that won’t melt at such high temperatures. Some of those special materials include composites, alloys, and ceramics.

Drum brakes also use friction but in a slightly different way. Drum brakes consist of a brake drum and brake shoes. The hollow drum turns with the wheel. When the brake pedal is depressed, a hydraulic cylinder pushes brake shoes with friction linings against the inner surface of the brake drum, creating friction and thereby slowing the wheel.

Content for this question contributed by Tom Lacey, resident of McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, western Pennsylvania, USA