I have a 1994 Honda Civic CX. Front are disc and rear are drums. The brakes were running fine until I change the rear's shoe pads. Now it works and everything but the force and pressure I have to push down the pedal now needs a lot more for the car to stop. There is also a pretty big gap from when I step on the brake pedal until maybe halfway down until I feel resistant of brake actually working. I have to push harder to stop now and at a slow roll my car will not stop instantly. Normally I can step on the brakes really fast at a slow roll and my car would just stop instantly, now when I do that it rolls a bit before it slows down to a stop. I have bled the brake system but not sure if I did it enough. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

note*Don't tell me to change to rear disc unless you have a set of rear disc you willing to sell to me dirt cheap or give me for free. Thanks.

 

Did you adjust the brakes?

 

By adjusting you mean?

 

Or Bleed them?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lv6l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">By adjusting you mean?</TD></TR></TABLE>



By adjusting the lever item #17/24 in this diagram so that the drums fit tight over the brake shoes.

 

Man I got a CX...and these breaks suck...lol

 

Adjusting drums is a PITA along with putting them back together. This is one of the main reasons that I want to do a rear disc conversion in my EJ1.

Like everyone else has said, adjust the rear drums and if that doesnt help you will need to properly bleed your brake lines

 

Well, I step on the brakes many times and hear clicks as the drum brakes are self-adjusting themselves. the drum fit over the shoes nice. Wheel spin fine with no sign of snags. I took it out again today and pedal freeplay seems to be okay, not great but a lot better than yesterday. Freeway braking feels good. A little rattle but brake proformance seems alright. It's just when I brake on street driving it feels slugish. Doesn't feel as strong. I am bleeding the brakes from this order: passenger rear, driver's front, driver's rear, passenger front. If you guys see any problems let me know. Thanks.


edit*oh when the clavies are self-adjusting themselves is the drum hub suppose to be snuckly tight fitted on or it should be slightly loose. also should i manually adjust the clavies or let it self-adjust itself. clevieses(i know i did not spell them right) are #16,17,18,23, and 24 in diagram above.

 

Okay, after sitting there and pressing the brake pedal serveral times I feel my car is starting to heal itself. Everything feel as close to perfect as I can think. Only problem still is braking performance when trying to emergency stop is not so great. During emergency stopping I have to push hard on the pedal but it still does not feel like it should stop how it's suppose to be. Well thats my story, any ideas or susgestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

I saw a tool from a local hardware store, it claims itself to be a one man brake bleeding tool. It looks like a little container and it has two tupes sticking out on opposite ends at the top. It was design to bleed the brakes if you were to have only one person. Has anyone ever used this before and does it work well? Thanks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lv6l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I saw a tool from a local hardware store, it claims itself to be a one man brake bleeding tool. It looks like a little container and it has two tupes sticking out on opposite ends at the top. It was design to bleed the brakes if you were to have only one person. Has anyone ever used this before and does it work well? Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I have used a tool like that before and I find it works alright but with 2 people is definetly the best. Why no crack the bleeder open and let the fluid drip into a container. When there are no more air bubbles thats when you know you have bled the brakes enough. I would not pay for a tool like that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95ProjectEJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Adjusting drums is a PITA along with putting them back together. This is one of the main reasons that I want to do a rear disc conversion in my EJ1.

Like everyone else has said, adjust the rear drums and if that doesnt help you will need to properly bleed your brake lines </TD></TR></TABLE>

He's exactly right. They are self ajusting but they only do it partially for some reason. I have a 92 CX and a 96 Dx and the drums on both have to be ajusted manually. Drums are responsible for 50% of petal feel but they acount for less than 30% of braking power.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mcvtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

He's exactly right. They are self ajusting but they only do it partially for some reason. I have a 92 CX and a 96 Dx and the drums on both have to be ajusted manually. Drums are responsible for 50% of petal feel but they acount for less than 30% of braking power.</TD></TR></TABLE>

agreed, the drums do need to be adjusted.

OP, you should have posted this thread before bleeding the brakes. it could have saved you some time and fustrastion.

 

So what now? do I open up the drum and adjust it? What should I do.

 

i re-bleed the brakes today using a tube i connected to the nipple to make sure there is nomore bubbles in the lines before i close them. i feels almost about the same. maybe a bit better. but there was diffenitly air in the lines still before i bleed them again today.

my question is now, when i go and adjust the rear drums how do you guys do it? i mean do you adjust it where the shoes will push out just enough so the drum can slide over it and the drum will still be loose but the wheel will hold it on....or do you guys adjust it where it holds the drum on itself and you can't really spin the wheel. i never delt with drums before and it's proven to be a pain but i'm determind to get this fixed thanks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lv6l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my question is now, when i go and adjust the rear drums how do you guys do it? i mean do you adjust it where the shoes will push out just enough so the drum can slide over it and the drum will still be loose but the wheel will hold it on....or do you guys adjust it where it holds the drum on itself and you can't really spin the wheel. i never delt with drums before and it's proven to be a pain but i'm determind to get this fixed thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It is a pain to do, but adjust them out until you can just barely get the drum on. Next, what I normaly do is put the wheels back on and go for a short drive and hit the brakes hard a few times and use the parking brake a couple times (maybe do a hill stop or two). Sometimes that is enough, but in my experience it's not. Usually the shoes settle into a position where they are not very cloes to the drum surface, hence they need further adjustment.

Remember the adjusting parts #17+24 in the exploded view of the drum assembly sent to you? You can get to them through a port on the backside of the drum plate, parts #5+6, that is sealed by a rubber plug #12. I have found it very difficult to adjust the through that hole, but it is possible and does make a difference when done correctly. Patients is key here.