My car got 70000 miles. I never changed rear drum brake. When I hit brake it make noise. Do you guys think I need to change it. when you suppose to change it (how many miles).

 

those are your front brakes making noise...you really don't ever have to change yoru drum brake

 

is your ebrake real high

 

My original drum shoes still have life after 170k miles and many track and autox events.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MichaelJComputer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My original drum shoes still have life after 170k miles and many track and autox events.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How is that possible? Do you adjust them frequently?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 96 SOHC VTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How is that possible? Do you adjust them frequently? </TD></TR></TABLE>

?

They last that long... Don't ask me.

 

ive never changed drum brakes in my life, ive never needed to

 

Drum brakes dont do the majority of the stopping, the front do the most work. My 97 Civic has abbout 140k on it and still has the oe rear shoes and drums.

 

Or if you want to completely avoid the whole problem of drum brake nonsense just get some disk replacements for the rear...^_^

 

yea i was wondering about this:

everyt ime i brake i hear the squealing that usually means its time for some new pads. I take off my tires and look at my pads, they are almost 100% new! So I add some antisqueal stuff and slap it all back together. I get on the road and I still hear the squealing.

Now upon a closer listen I can almost positively tell it is coming from the back, cause there is no way it could be coming from the front (new pads+ antisqueal). Now if drum brakes go forever, what could this squealing be? BTW my card has 203k

Thanks for any help, the squealing is annoying as hell

 

Well they won't go "Forever", yours could just be that worn down. I mean, different conditions will alter the life of the drums, just because someones work perfectly fine after 140k miles, doesn't mean thats how yours are going to be. Just check everything out, although I don't really know what to look for in the drums, someone should be able to chime in and give some info on that.

 

At 203k miles it may be time to replace them...
However, just because you have new pads and antisqueal DOES NOT mean your brakes won't squeal so if that's the only reasoning you're using, try again.

 

Front brake which are the rotar/pad type do 80% of the stopping. The rear only does appx 20%.

But that doesn't mean u just treat them like poo. You gotta take a look at them time to time, and also adjust them. Your shoes might go bad, or maybe the drum might go bad too.

You can do it yourself if u have a little mechanical exp.

1. Jack the car up
2. Take wheel off
3. Take drum off.
3a. This is only if drum doesn't come off.
- Try using a soft rubber hammer and tap the back of it off.
- If the top doesn't work adjust the star wheel behind the drum, there should be a little rubber piece closing a little opening of the rear, open it up and then adjust the star wheel from down towards up. you will need 2 screw drivers to do this. becuase one will be adjusting the star and the other will be pushing the backing plate that automatically adjusts the star wheel.
4. After the drum is off see if it needs new one's or maybe just shaved
5. Take a look at the shoes make sure you have enough, more than atleast half of length than what it was stock
6. Take a look at your wheel cylinder and make sure they aren't leeking. If they are they have to be replaced or rebuilt.





Btw, i prefer working on the disc brakes than drums, just cause they are just so much easier to work on. ( personal experience ),


p.s. don't ignore drums, you just might need them....