Brake drum faces

[cwmcobra]

Should the faces of the brake drums be painted the color of the drum or black?  The areas that show through the holes in the rally wheels....

Thanks,

Chuck

[Mark Ascher]

Good question. Have never seen the faces painted black, so just sprayed the drums iron gray.
Worked in a Goodyear tire shop for years out of high school and saw just about every wheel & tire combo from the era. Never saw a factory brake drum with a black painted face.

Mark

[yachtsmanbill]

Dare to be different Chuck. Either clean iron, Rusty road dirt, or a color of choice.  The top pic was OEM from grammas 35,000 mile car. I really doubt she pulled the wheels and painted the faces of the drums LOL... The red one is off the rear of my '72 with PDB's on the front with 4 cragar SS wheels.    Bill

[cwmcobra]

Thanks Mark.  The reason I ask is that the faces of the drums on the Steve Shuman car, which I assume are factory, are black.  But, I know that the car was delivered with steel wheels and spinner hubcaps with the rally wheels added later.  Perhaps he painted the drum faces when he added the rallys??

And Bill, I admire your creativity, but since this car will be points judged, I don't need any obvious deductions! 

 

Chuck

[Rollaround]

I would think Buick had more than one supplier for the brake drums. They may have applied some type of coating to prevent rust prior to delivery to the new owner As the cast drums would have rusted in a matter of hours.  It’s possible different venders may have applied different paint colors.  The Buick GS was a bit upscale, I don’t think they would deliver a new car with rally wheels and rusty drums.   

[yachtsmanbill]

That top picture doesnt really show it but the face coating looked like some kind of shellac or varnish to resist rusting. That was OEM with 14" steel wheels (black) and a full 2nd upgrade hubcap...   Bill

[Mark Ascher]

I will ask Bill L if he can pull a drum or 2 from his 50K mile original.
Lowest mile original I know of.

Mark

[WkillGS]

The word on the net is the drums were unpainted unless rally wheels were installed. In which case the surface towards the wheel got a quick coat of black so one would not see a rusty drum thru the wheel slots.

[cwmcobra]

That makes sense Walt, after reading this in the Assembly Manual:

"Chrome Wheel (Optional): Paint outboard vertical surface of brake drum assembly per Buick Spec. 345 prior to installing he chrome wheel.  Paint must not enter the brakes around the backing plate."

It would be nice to know what Buick Spec. 345 is.  Probably black, but who knows?  The chrome wheels on the 65 Skylark had silver centers, so I guess it's possible the drums were painted some shade of gray.  But black might be more likely.

Thanks for that Walt.  More support for painting them black.  We'll see.

 

Chuck