Denis Welch Brake Drums?

[62BT7]

All: I'm looking to overhaul my entire brake system and, while not interested either in strict concours standards or major modifications (e.g. rear disc conversions), I wanted to upgrade where reasonably possible. I have info on various ideas but have a focused question: Denis Welch offers slotted & balanced rear brake drums. The balancing sounds like a really good idea but I have questions about the slotting. No doubt good for cooling, but will these slots allow too much crud into the drum (sand, etc.), accelerating wear & tear, etc? Anyone have experience with slotted drums? Thanks
-Tom

 

[Johnny]

Well Tom, I'm not familiar with "slotted brake drums" other than the one's that are "grooved" from the factory. The grooves are on the outside circumference and are their to help cool the drums.

 

[62BT7]

Johnny: The slots are on the outboard (facing away from the car, toward the wheel spokes) face of the drum and are about 2" long and an inch high. Basically they are little "windows" into the drum to aid in cooling the brakes.

 

[Dave Richards]

FWIW:

DW has top notch stuff, but the exchange rate right now isn't favorable to US customers.

The balancing can be done by Hendrix, and I assume others. I'm not sure the slots are going to give anything more than a negligible performance gain, especially in daily driving.

The stock drums, balanced, are probably all most of us would need, or want.

 

[GregW]

Hi Tom,
Check out this post about different brake lining from Dave Russell. You may want to look into that before investing in new drums. New Brake Lining

 

[Dave Richards]

Great thread from Dave Russell, as usual.