I recently bought a 1970 1500 Beetle which was registered but not going.

As is commonly the case the brake drums were painted.

I don't understand why anyone would do that.

The brake is not only a heat sink, it's also a radiator and paint is an insulator, which would reduce the brakes effectiveness in heavy use conditions.

I removed the paint with some paint stripper and a wire brush on the angle grinder.

I then lightly oiled the brake drum, so that it will not rust too badly as rust is also an insulator.

If you want the drums to be black, then tyre black is all that should be used.

If your brake drums are painted, then I advise you to get the paint off ASAP.

Hiya Shai,

This is a subject that generates a lot of pros and cons.

I have always put a light coat of rust inhibiting paint on my brake drums. And here's the thought behind that.....if I left them bare for any amount of time rust will form on the outer surfaces. And that rust will act like an insulator.

In any event, I don't load the paint on the drum. I go extra lightly around the lug hole areas. I have experienced no difference in heating/brake performance with painted vrs unpainted drums.

However, do understand that this has only been my personal experience. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to run tests on painted vrs unpainted drums and see if there is an advantage in going either way.

but i want them to look good behind my wheels
they go faster if painted red

Thats like an engine bay rave

paint etc on brakes has no effect on performance at less than 100 percent braking effort/max temps: it's fine for the street but you wouldn't do it to a track car

unless your doing a lot of track work i don't think it will hurt
and if your that worried then get rid of your backing plate and make sure you run a nice open rim not centerlines

your overdramatising it abit shaihulud,

if there not painted there only gonna get a nice insulating coat of rust which would be worse than the paint

of the couple of unmolested nanna bugs ive had they all had reminents of black paint on the drums

if you can find a brand new car that still runs drums on the back you will notice there also painted black

beetle drums suck under heavy braking regardless
a coat of paint really isnt gonna make any detectable difference

if it got to the point where the drums were getting than hot then you should really think about some rear discs

Yes, the rear brakes only account for about 30% of total braking... the front brakes do most of the work...

unless You keep the rears adjusted up all the time..

I've always painted the brake drums, front & rear and it wasn't heat proof paint so if they got that hot then the paint would have bubbled and fell off....

then again living in the country, I can travel a long way without any major braking...

its a bit like painting the vw engine cylinders black or silver or white [all heat proof paint]...
many people think that any colour other than black isn't good.... I don;'t think it makes any difference...

push rod tubes.... I always paint mine heat proof silver..
and they never rust....

I'm having a bit of a problem at the moment deciding what color to paint the steering damper...
and the anti roll bar...on the front....

I'm thinking a yellow sway bar will work much better....

LEE

always in a colorful mood....

They must be orange...

Hi

I cants see it causing any noticeable problems.

The 30% braking on the rear, is this the proportion for a rear engined car?

Lee you have serious problems, did you make Beetles out of Lego as a child?

Steve

Hi Steve,
the 30% figure is usually applied to front engined cars...
so it is probably different for rear engined cars??

remember years ago when someone hit the brakes in a holden etc and the nose would dive down...

I can lock up My 4 wheels any time by hitting the pedal hard... as when someone pulls out of a service stataion in front of Me... etc..

I am about to adjust My rear brakes shortly...
I like to keep them adjusted up.....

LEE


PS: Maybe its because i didn't have lego when a child??

Quote:

Originally posted by 1303Steve Hi I cants see it causing any noticeable problems. The 30% braking on the rear, is this the proportion for a rear engined car? Lee you have serious problems, did you make Beetles out of Lego as a child? Steve

Let us be honest....majority of Beetle drivers adjust their rear brakes just for the handbrake...so I'd say in majority of cases 30 % would be a quite close estimate...

would red make em faster?
...
brake faster that is!

Hi

Tech tip; for all you people who have rear drum on their cars, if the brake pedal feels higher and more solid with handbrake on, your rear brakes need adjusting.

Steve

Spot on....

Lee

Are you sure you didn't drop too much acid in the late '60's through to the late 70's?

Regards,

Matt.

Thank you for your responses and all of the good ideas.

A part of what I was doing was to start a controversy and I got the responses I wanted.

I know that it doesn't matter on a Beetle if the brake drums are painted, but I wanted your reactions.

Thanks again.

well in the same way black coffee cools quicker than white coffee...

all in all...

If ya gonna paint ur brake drums, the most efficient colour paint would be some black heat proof paint.
Same goes for engine though, its why its more efficient keeping fan shrouds and tin wear back rather than chrome or any other colour.

at the same time, you limit rust, while trying to maintain some form of efficient heat emission from the drum.

heat proof paint pffft.. $2 super cheap crap covers all areas..

you dont even need heat proof paint
if the brakes are getting hot enough to upset regular paint then you got dramas

im running rear discs now but before that i painted my drums with black plasticoat
they still looked as good when i took them off as when i first painted them
when you run 17" finely spoked rims like mine nothing looks worse than shitty drums which was why i painted them

re the engine colour comment its been proven that colour doenst make any difference, all its doing is directing air, the heat comes out the bottom
mines been white for nearly a decade and when i had a working headtemp it showed FA difference

its only when the tinware is chrome which coats the inside as well it starts making any differecne and even then its hardly detectable

haha, don't get me started on the export quality stuff.... no no no...