Hello everyone.
My 58 Olds has disc in the front and drums on the rear. I'm debating if I should upgrade my front rotors and convert to the rears to disc. Anyone know if there's a kit availble?
Of course... funding this is always hard so if it's too expensive to convert, anyone know of good parts?
I just need more stopping power.

Any thoughts?

 

1958 Oldsmobile Front Disc Brake Conversion Kit BOP Parts - Buick, Oldsmobile & Pontiac Auto/Car Parts Online

 

If your Oldsmobile already has disc/drum brakes and it stops properly I'd leave it as is. Unless of course you want to do a concours restoration and then you could remove the front disc and return them to 4 wheel drum brakes.

 

As with your proposed transmission swap, just because the interwebs tells you this is a good idea doesn't mean it's true. How does the car stop now? What do you plan to gain by changing? Nearly every disc brake swap kit on the market is poorly designed, including the ones sold by major companies. The complete lack of understanding in how brakes work is staggering. As with your overdrive question, first thing to do is figure out if the current brakes are working properly and at full potential. If there are non-stock parts in the car now, be very suspicious of the design and even more so of the skill with which they were installed. I stopped counting the number of threads I've read by people who did disc brake "upgrades" and now are complaining that the car stops worse than it did before. Keep in mind that stopping power is a function of a lot of variables, including tire size and rubber compound. Spending $1500 or more for rear discs and then using a proportioning valve to dial back the stopping power to no more than it was with the drums is an incredibly stupid thing to do, yet most rear disc kits do exactly this. If the rear wheels lock up under hard braking, the discs aren't going to improve anything. If you change tire size and type to increase friction with the road or change weight distribution, then you can make use of the extra braking force, but think long and hard about how you plan to use the car. If it's just driving to cruise night and back, this is a lot of money just to claim you have four wheel disc brakes.

 

^^^ Joe P.’s comments are, of course, 100 % spot on… ^^^

 

To add to Joe's post, most people who would put rear discs on a '58 are more interested in looks or bragging rights than actual stopping power.

 

Rebuilding the rear drum brakes (if they need it) will be a lot less effort and get better results than installing rear disk brakes.

 

Why are so many compelled to make an old car drive like a modern vehicle, just drive the car as it was designed to and enjoy the experience!

 

To be honest I haven't done much work on it. I know for sure it needs a maintenance. I do see your point Joe thats why for now I'm thinking to go disc on the front and keep the drums in the back. I think this will give me better perfomance with the car as is. Definately upgrade my master and booster (still doing some research on what to get). It's weird how the olds have theirs so low to the chasis. It was hard to find!
This is the 2nd classic I'm working on... 1st is a 66 mustang.

I do like to cruising but I also like to go fast. Once I get my engine to purring stage... I want to be able to stop when I'm screeching tires from one stop light to the next

 

Has anyone every heard of "Disc Brake Mike"? http://discbrakemike.com/
Anyone here used it? What do you think?

 

I haven't heard of Disc Brake Mike. Doesn't mean he isn't a good business man though.
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Zero info on this person, but again this appears to be someone with a plasma or water jet cutter who can cut brackets out of plate. Mounting the calipers is the easiest part of a disc brake swap. Getting the correct brake balance under all driving conditions is the problem. The factory brakes were engineered and tested to work with the car loaded and empty, on dry pavement, wet pavement, snow, sand, etc, under normal and panic braking conditions. Common sense should tell you that none of these aftermarket companies (including the big name providers) have invested a fraction of what the factories did in developing braking systems. Your car, your life, your call.

 

Well said. Best explanation why it's not a good idea to dispose of GM's engineered braking system with one selected only because the parts can easily be bolted on to your car.

 

Doesn't the OP already have an aftermarket disc/drum brakes setup? I thought Oldsmobile didn't offer front disc until the 60s?

 

Not according to Post #9

 

Thank you everyone for the feedback. I appreciate the comments.

 

'67 to be more exact. Same year the dual chamber M/C became standard.

 

I had a 58 olds for 4 years, rebuilt the drum brakes completely and drove the car every day for 4 years and never had an issue. Just my two cents

 

Disk Brake Mike has been around for years and has a good rep in the Northern California, Western Nevada area. His prices have always been good.

If the 58 still has a treadle vac it won't support any kind of disk brake set up, just to let you know if that is what you plan on doing...Tedd

 

Not sure because OP contradicts herself between Posts #1 and #9, but it sounds as if the car may have already been converted to FDB, in which case the Treadle-Vac system would have already been eliminated.