Brake Backing Plate
 

hey guys,

is it worth replacing #8? yesterday i hired one of my personal mechanics to replace my rear brake drums. knuckle head brought some newbie head with him and let him do the other side. he smashed the back braking plate up! the side that my mechanic did had no marks.

let me ask you guys, should you guys sweat it? if i do the work myself, i would be very careful. shit heads out there just doesn't care for others. i hate it when people banged up on my car. i noticed today that fool made a mark on one of my rims!

Re: Brake Backing Plate
 

oh, and another question. if i wanted to replace it, how do i prevent making marks on the drum? what type of tools do you guys use to make the drums slide off easily?

it's easy to learn the front brakes, but very hard to learn the rear brakes. a friend helped me replaced it 2 years ago, it was my first time too replacing rear drums.

Re: Brake Backing Plate
 

Why do you care about making marks on the drums? Are they painted or somethin? They are pretty durable. Usually when the are stuck you just take a hammer to em. Is the backing plate badly damaged? Or just some knicks? I wouldn't worry about it if, its not getting in the way of any of the braking mechanism.

Re: Brake Backing Plate
 

luckily the drums match with the BBP. it's not that noticeable unless you look real close.

i just hate it when parts of the car get banged up. if it's a car i don't like then i can careless about it.

Re: Brake Backing Plate
 

Banging on drums works if they're rusted to the hub, but usually the problem is rust buildup on the edge of the drum where the shoes don't ride. That ridge of rust catches on the shoes so the drum won't come off without prying on it. That's how the backing plate gets bent. All that's important is to bend the lip back so it doesn't rub on the drum. You'll notice that lip sits inside a groove around the outer perimeter of the drum. That's called the "labyrinth seal". It's purpose is to keep dirt and water out. It's almost unheard of for that lip to look like new for the entire life of the car. What didn't get bent will eventually get rusty.

Replacing the backing plate for a few little dents or scrapes would equate to replacing your wiper arms because bugs splattered against them.

caradiodoc