When GM introduced front disc brakes on many of its passenger cars in 1967, they were a huge improvement over the drum brakes that were, for the most part, barely up to the task of stopping a 3,500- to 4,000-pound hunk of steel.

Nearly 50 years later, the old discs are certainly still suitable for a stocker, or a runner of occasional errands. But if you’ve made some mods to upgrade your ride’s power output, or have enhanced its lateral acceleration, chances are you can use a rear disc-brake upgrade as well.

Besides being a much simpler design with fewer moving parts, other benefits derived from such a swap include reduced fade after heavy use and easier pad replacement versus brake shoes; plus discs are virtually unaffected by water in the event of submersion. And, for you aggressive drivers out there, the braking force is much more linear with disc brakes and easier to modulate than that of drums, which are self-energizing by design and more difficult to manage

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