Brake cleaner work on brake shoes?

[Horatio]

Hey all. In my attempt to put new rear brake shoes on my '99 Civic, I've managed to spill some brake fluid on the shoe surface. Will brake cleaner get it out well enough to safely use?

Many thanks

Greg

 

[9c1]

Probably not.
The brake fluid is absorbed by the friction material. Regardless of how well you clean it, as the friction material heats up the absorbed brake fluid will rise to the surface and interfere with the friction between the drum and brake lining.
Terry

 

[labman]

quote:

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Originally posted by 9c1:
Probably not.
The brake fluid is absorbed by the friction material. Regardless of how well you clean it, as the friction material heats up the absorbed brake fluid will rise to the surface and interfere with the friction between the drum and brake lining.
Terry

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Fraid so.

 

[Gary Allan]

I'm sure this has happened before by a pro ..and I'm also sure that they didn't ditch the shoes to fix it. This is different then a leaking wheel cylinder that drips every application and goes undetected for 6 months.

If you're the driver ...fine. Just "test" it out for the first few days. Keep in mind that your rear brakes don't do anything at all unless you're loaded in the rear (I think you have a load sensitive proportioning valve) Brake clean breaks down just about anything.

Sensible disclaimer: I credit most, and you, with enough intelligence to be able to retain that there something 'unright' ahs occured of unknown impact and requires a reasonable amount of monitoring for a reasonable amount of time to determine that there has been either substantial effect, minimal effect, or no effect from this event. Rear brakes do little braking.