Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Well, I got my new brake hoses, and I found new wheel cylinders at the local parts store, and even bought a new master cylinder. However, I am having "issues" with parts store who have NO listings for any brake shoes for my 51 Patrician. Does anyone know of a modern crossover number - or will I need to get one of those kits on-line and have them riveted together? I like to shop local.... I have NAPA, Autozone, O'Reilly"s, Carquest and Knecht's. At least the guys at Napa knew what a Packard was. The guys at Knecht's were very helpful, but their books weren't old enough for shoes.

Mark,

Unless it's a really, really, really old store, I doubt that Napa, Autozone or etc. would have Packard brake shoes. There are brake shops out there, however, that should be able to reline the shoes with new friction material. I'd expect it to be more of a specialty garage versus the corner "Quick Lube" though. You might call around to a couple of local brake shops to see who they'd recommend for shoe relining.

Good luck & please let us know what you find out.

Tom in KC

For sure as already said local brake shops can still do this job, but you might also consider the new shoes with linings from Kanters, they are reasonably priced IMO and no core requirement.

I see that Kanter offers the shoe and lining set for about 70.00 each axle which would be about what a reliner would charge. Are these shoes ready to go? I don't want to fiddle around with linings and rivets. No specialty shops near me. None of parts stores know of a relining service. I called a few shops around and no one knows of anyone who does cars. They all know re-liners that do big rigs - semi tractor and the like. Used be a good brake shop about 85 miles from me - but they closed a few years ago. They did my 51 Imperial and I was very pleased...Anyone have experience with Kanter shoes?

I'd guess there are many many hundreds and probably thousands of sets of Kanter brakes shoes in use, I have them on my 56 Carib and am quite satisfied with their performance. They are bonded, not riveted. The only negative I've heard is that the brake dust from the non-asbestos linings is apparently more profuse and/or more tenacious and difficult to remove from the chromed wire spoke wheels. Looking at the wheels on most any car on the road today with disc brakes/non-asbestos linings, it seems a common situation.

It's not on the road yet for an operational review but I just installed a Kanter set for the 47. They went in nicely with one exception. The web where the adjuster screw locates is slightly wider than the Packard shoe and what the adjuster has been crimped down to with the old shoes. You can either widen the adjuster carefully so as not to break the ears and that is easy enough to do or if you prefer, get new adjusters from Napa to fit the shoes.

I received a very prompt reply from Stuart at Kanter regarding shoes. They are bonded, ready to go. This is where I will get them. Many thanks to those who replied.

Quote:
You can eliminate that nasty black schitt on vehicles wth disc brakes by using ceramic pads, where available. I find that the brakes stop better and the rotors wear more evenly after I installed them on my daily drivers. In more recent years, ceramic pads have become standard equipment on many models.

Unfortuantely, I don't believe such material is avalable for drum brak shoe linings; at least, they weren't for my one present daily driver with rear drums.