Converting Drum Brakes to Disc Brakes

[Reed19x]

This thread is in response to the "Nicoclub Beatdown" in which Red Devil posed the question of "why not convert the rear drum brakes to disc brakes instead" in reference to pictures of the car in the thread.

I've been concerned about drum brakes on my girlfriend's car since we bought it. To me, drum brakes seem dated and even though they may be "fine" for street conditions...we all know how completely insane it can get driving around out there (especially in Louisiana!).

So what is the likelihood of converting the rear drums to disc brakes? I know there are kits out there, but would it be better to just rip some rotors/discs right off a Sentra or other Nissan to make the swap? Is the task expensive? Should it be done by a professional mechanic, or is it a garage job? Or is there really no reason to change the brakes at all because the drum brakes are "fine"?

Just some questions, thought I would make a post (with an appropriate title for easy searching in the future) to see what you guys/gals knew about converting drums to discs. Thanks in advance for the responses!

[biggie]

Don't know of any kits or anything myself that work for the Versa. If you know of any post them.

[versaspeed.com]

Don't know of any kits or anything myself that work for the Versa. If you know of any post them.

I'm working on that and a few other odds and ends, just don't want to say anything so if something does not pan out I won't let anybody down.

[Red Devil]

There'd be a few things to work out. You'd probably need some sort of spacer for one because there wouldn't be anything to keep it the same distance on the hub. You'd need mounting brackets for the calipers. Possibly new brake lines. You'd also need to find someway to get the E-brake cable to work with the calipers.

[Jus14]

I also thought of using some off a SE-R Spec v and attempting something but backed out due to funds at the moment...

[fjwagner]

The performance of the rear drum brakes is fine. I doubt that the incremental benefit of rear disk brakes would be that beneficial. More than 50% of the braking is going to come from the front anyway.

[Red Devil]

You've also got brake balance to worry about though. If you upgrade to those Ksport discs without upgrading the rear you'll throw it off.

[fjwagner]

I was not talking about any upgrades, just stock. My preference would be to have disk all the way around, but I find the stopping in the Versa to be just fine and I would be hard pressed to spend lots of cash converting the rears. Would have been prudent for the OP to have just purchased a car with four disk brakes to start with if it is a significant issue to them. Just like I would not compromise a Versa without ABS.

[Touch524]

as far as i know, there is no other nissan that uses rear disc brakes and with 4 studs. even if you had a set of sentra se-r rear disc brakes, you wont be able to put it on, simply because you wont be able to put the tires back on. on top of that, there's too much adjustment needed to finish the job; front and rear braking split, ABS, traction control, EBD and even the brake lines will be an issue. so just stick with the drum brakes!

[Eikon]

The 240sx came with rear discs. Some of them also had ABS.

I'm sure it could be done... I'm also sure it would be an improvement.

But, the question about traction control and EBD is a very good one.

[biggie]

Isn't the Sentra rear discs?

What Versa has traction control? ABS would be an issue, if the Versa in question has it.

[robj80]

240sx, sentra, 200sx se-r, g20, nx2000, altima SE's all had rear disc brakes.

The 240, altima, and g20 all had the same 4x4.5" lug pattern as well.

[biggie]

240sx, sentra, 200sx se-r, g20, nx2000, altima SE's all had rear disc brakes.

The 240, altima, and g20 all had the same 4x4.5" lug pattern as well.

B15+ Sentra is also 4x114.3

[Touch524]

its not about which nissan cars have rear disc. its about the bearing size, most importantly, the stud holes. Versa only uses 4 bolts to hold the wheel. unless you can find another nissan that needs 4 bolts, then it may work.but keep in mind, nissan electrical are VERY complicated. you dont want to mess u anything!!! i do mean ABS, traction control, EBD...

[APEXi240]

its not about which nissan cars have rear disc. its about the bearing size, most importantly, the stud holes. Versa only uses 4 bolts to hold the wheel. unless you can find another nissan that needs 4 bolts, then it may work.

240sx, sentra, 200sx se-r, g20, nx2000, altima SE's all had rear disc brakes.

The 240, altima, and g20 all had the same 4x4.5" lug pattern as well.

[Ogden]

but keep in mind, nissan electrical are VERY complicated. you dont want to mess u anything!!! i do mean ABS, traction control, EBD...

You definitely need to be careful, but most of those functions are run off the ABS sensors (I believe) that measure wheel slip and then adjust braking (and maybe throttle?) to balance the input from all of the sensors. So as long as you have a functioning ABS sensor on each wheel, mounted in the correct spot, the computer could probably figure it out.

One thing that I've seen some folks with other makes of cars do is change out the entire rear hub assembly for another car so that you get all the mouting brackets for the brakes the sensors, etc. along with the brakes themselves. You might need a new e-brake cable for this though.

This depends on the interchangeability of Nissan parts, which is something I don't have any experience with, but I would bet there are a fair amount of parts that will swap from one car to another.

[Spdracr]

well i dunno if this might help but i will throw it out anyway and see what you guys think

on the 8th generation mitsubishi galants ( i own one ) we do the rear disk swaps all the time and it isnt complicated at all

our swaps come from various cars and models like the 2nd gen stratus, 2nd gen diamante and the v6 galants as well

what is needed for the swap is the calipers, calipers brackets and the backing plates. original hubs can be used with the swap since they are identical and the lug pattern is the same as well

brake lines are not changed at all

when the swap is done the rear drum assembly is removed by removing the hub and then the backing plate is inserted where the drum assembly used to be then the hub is put back into place, then the caliper bracket then the caliper and thats it

the only 1 major thing that needs to be done is that the hole where the e-brake cable is inserted needs to be drilled out slightly bigger cuz the cable on the models with the rear drums is slightly thicker and thats about it

brake line that was originally for the rear drum fits the caliper without any problems at all

now this shouldnt be a problem if you car has ABS cuz your drums dont have ABS just your front disk brakes

so in our case here we need to find a car that uses the same style hub and that should it

so we need to figure out which cars share the same hubs with us and the only way we can do that if someone knows anyone that works at a dealership and compare part #s

now converting to a 5 lug would be awesome as well too

did all Versa's come with rear drums ??

[biggie]

did all Versa's come with rear drums ??

Yes.