Rear Disc Brake Conversion

[CiRCuiTz]

I have an 03' camry le 4 cyl with abs and it has rear drums. I was wondering how hard it would be to convert to disc? anyone ever done this before?

[Archosman]

Been wondering this myself on my 06...

[CharmCityES]

SE and XLE and LE V6 models all came with standard rear disc brakes...
should be an easy conversion, since all camrys have the same basic setup and the parts are plentiful...wont help braking al that much so be warned...my SE doesnt stop too much different from an LE with rear drums, and i have 4whl disc and ABS

[mybuddytmil]

Originally Posted by CiRCuiTz

I have an 03' camry le 4 cyl with abs and it has rear drums. I was wondering how hard it would be to convert to disc? anyone ever done this before?

Why would you want to do this? You could pay for 3 rear brake jobs on your drums for the same cost of disc replacements. And rear brake jobs usually last for 100,000 miles!

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

disc's look better than drums...could be the reason. but i agree, waste of money.

[CharmCityES]

you already have the ABS too

[Gellenole]

Originally Posted by mybuddytmil

Why would you want to do this? You could pay for 3 rear brake jobs on your drums for the same cost of disc replacements. And rear brake jobs usually last for 100,000 miles!

only reason I've ever saw someone want to do this is because of the look. Rear disk brakes look better than drums. I also would have considered this, until I found out how much it cost to do it.

Originally Posted by CorCamrySE

SE and XLE and LE V6 models all came with standard rear disc brakes...
should be an easy conversion, since all camrys have the same basic setup and the parts are plentiful...wont help braking al that much so be warned...my SE doesnt stop too much different from an LE with rear drums, and i have 4whl disc and ABS

+1 -- almost the same braking power from what i've personally experienced -- not much difference.

[Karman]

Originally Posted by Gellenole

only reason I've ever saw someone want to do this is because of the look. Rear disk brakes look better than drums. I also would have considered this, until I found out how much it cost to do it.

^ how much does it cost out of curiosity???

P.S. i have a 00 Camry LE

[BlackCamSe]

it costs alot more then its worth...

[Gellenole]

my quote was about 1200 for parts and labor. This does not include the complete conversion "kit". There's no real kit, you gotta rip everything out run the brake lines to the back too -- not worth the hassle.

I'd just do the cross/drilled and slotted rotors along with SS brake lines like I did.

I have disk brakes in the back though -- on my old camry '95 le it was that much.

but i'm enjoying the look of my rotors + pads + SS brakelines =D

[Zviator]

Folks, camry is FWD, u only need rear brake as "emergency brake" or "parking brake".

[Asteroid]

Originally Posted by Camricer

Folks, camry is FWD, u only need rear brake as "emergency brake" or "parking brake".

wat?

That's just silly. The drive system is irrelevant, the front brakes always provide the majority of braking force, but not all. It's true that there isn't a great deal of difference between rear drums and rear brakes, but there's obviously enough for manufacturers to bother.

I didn't even realise Gen 5s came with rear drums!

Edit: seems to be unique to the North American Camry.

[warpedrotor]

I am glad somebody caught this one quickly. As you state the rear brakes produce significantly less braking than the front, but are still very important to the overall braking ability of the car, so whether they are disc or drum they have to be there in good working order.
I remember reading somewhere (my old school mechanics book I think) that the proportioning valve sends the first braking pressure to the back wheels, then to the front, this action prevents the car from diving from too much weight shift during hard stops.