55 Custom Brakes

[WillysTom1]

  I bought this car in 2004 and the braking was not that good. Surprising since early articles about the car bragged about their brakes. A couple of years ago I started  reading on how to increase the stopping power. I located a shop in Indiana who had come out with a very soft shoe material. I measured my drums and sent my old shoes up to him. He installed his new material and arced the shoes according to the measurements that I had. This new shoe material will only last 10 to 12 thousand miles which is OK, I will never put that many miles on it. Now if you jam on the brakes fairly hard the front end dips down!! Fast difference.

[joefrazer]

The original lining material used was asbestos based which is a soft material. Given the ban on asbestos use, a new material was needed and what was developed was much harder which is fine for modern cars with advanced power braking systems, but not for older cars.

Good to hear you found a solution!