I have a 1999 Tahoe with IFS and Auto-Trac. I put 32” tires on it a little over a year ago and have since then had problems with my rear drums warping every couple months. I’m not hard on the brakes and haven’t modified anything else that would effect them but I’ve been told that because my tires are not the stock size that my drums are being thrown out of adjustment and possibly could be having an adverse affect on my ABS and a couple other things that I already knew about like transmission and speedometer (I bought a HyperTech Power Programmer and adjusted the speedometer as close to actual speed as I could, but never messed with my tranny). My question is, what can I do, aside from going back to stock tires, to correct this? Especially the brake problem, seeing how I have had to either turn or buy completely new drums just about every three months or so for over a year now. I read an article, that I will post a link to at the bottom of this thread, which has them doing a disk brake conversion kit on the same model and year SUV as mine. I’m curious if anyone has any comment on this idea as well? But I suppose my overall question is how do I fix these problems?

Thanks Guys


Here's the link to the article

SSBC Disk Break Conversion  

Sounds like  whoever is setting up  your brakes is not doing it correctly. Oversize tires don't cause drums to warp. Heat does. And if you say that you are not hard on your brakes then it sounds like they are constantly draging causing them to get realy hot and wear out.

I would get a second opinion.  

Since I hadn’t gotten a reply yet I called up an old mechanic friend of mine from back home. He says that oversized tires, even as small a difference I have (about an inch or so) between the stock and non-stock tires, will make my drum brakes come out of adjustment. I guess when they come out of adjustment that causes them to drag and create more heat then they’re suppose to have which causes them to warp. He said that he knows there are fixes for this but doesn’t know personally what they are. He also said that a disk brake conversion kit might help but he hasn’t put one on a SUV of my year.  

I've never heard that one before. I've got 33's with disks in front and drums in the back. Sounds like the brakes may be dragging to me. feel the hubs of the wheels after you come back from a decent ride - if the rears are hotter than the fronts this could be an indication. This may also indicate bad bearings but usually one side will go bad before the other in my experience.
Could be the thinner / cheaper drums of that model year too. Mine's a '77 K5 and almost everything was 'heavy duty' from the factory - they don't make them that tuff anymore!
You might want to look into heavier / thicker drums if there is such a thing for your model year, if not then a rear disk conversion.  

I have a 99 4dr tahoe that had a 6in lift and 35s the only problem i had with my rear brakes was filling them with mud for 100000 miles now it has a 14 bolt and disks  

Still sounds fishy. I have literally never heard of larger tires warping brake drums.

Now coming out of adjustment could be. IF and only if your brakes were not set up correctly. If whom ever is setting them up is not setting the adjusting wheel correctly, or backwards, it could be tightening the shoes to much and dragging, which would warp drums and wear out shoes fast, along with kill your performance and fuel mileage.  

i am with everyone else i am running 44 boggers with rear drum brakes and have had several vehicles with over sized tires and stock brakes and have not had a problem. but one question i want to ask you is did you put a body lift or anything on it. if so you need to readjust the park brake cable so it is not dragging the brake shoes on the drums. i just put a body lift on my 93 tahoe and had to do it. so thuis might be your problem.  

It is possible to warps drums with stock tires if you are hard on brakes and use the heavily and ride them on down hill runs. I would suggest that you check to see if self adjusters are defective and cranking shoes too tight and dragging and cooking the drum.