Drum Brakes vs. Disc Brakes: Difference between Drum Brake and Disc Brake

In this article, we will discuss the difference between drum brakes and disc brakes and their working with advantages over one another.

In modern cars, you will find two types of brake systems:
Disc brakes and Drum brakes.

So, most of the new cars have disc brakes on the front wheels. The wheels on the back side may use disc or drum brakes.

The basic and main difference between the two is that the clamping force in disc brakes is parallel to the axis of rotation of wheels while it is radial in drum brakes.

The principle of working used in disc brakes is to apply a force equal and opposite to each pad, with the same area of contact against rotating disk loaded with centrifugal force, while drum brakes exert force radially without opposing force to a hub loaded with centrifugal force,

Summary

We can tabulate the results of the Difference between Drum Brake and Disc Brake with some important points as follows,

Disc Brakes	Drum Brakes
Parallel clamping force	Radial Clamping force
The mechanism is outside of the wheel	The mechanism is inside of a wheel
The friction created using a disc and caliper	The friction created using drum and brake shoe
More efficiency	Efficiency is less comparatively
More durable	Less durable
Low manufacturing cost	Manufacturing cost is high