Brake Shoes cleaned after soaked in brake fluid?

[mk378]

Rust in the bore is common and makes the cylinder non-rebuildable. Disassemble and inspect before buying a rebuild kit.

 

[andyd]

I'd rather buy new shoes than mess with brake cleaner. Methyl-ethyl bad stuff or some other bad thing in my environment gave me breast cancer. Interesting about rinsing in water though.

 

[spasm3]

Replace, i'd worry about them looking clean, but weeping brake fluid out of the material when they get hot.

 

[ripcord]

Brake fluid can cause the friction material to come unglued from the shoe. Most friction materials will swell and soften when exposed to brake fluid for very long as well. As cheap as new shoes are why not just replace them and save yourself the hassle of having to work on them again before too long?

 

[boom10ful]

Apart from becoming unglued, brake fluid can create hot spots on the pads/shoes and will lead to cracking eventually. Not worth the $ to save them.

 

[nthach]

I’d toss in a new set of parts store shoes. Not worth the potential of brake weirdness.

most shoes are bonded with a strong phenolic epoxy, the friction binder is also a phenolic resin. Brake fluid is known to soften paint and certain resins.

 

[partspro]

Originally Posted by Cressida
I just found that I have leaking wheel cylinders on both of the rear drum brakes of my 1993 Oldsmobile Ciera 3.3L - no ABS. One side is so bad that the brake pedal has gone soft so I'm taking the car out of service until this is fixed. I'm working on the parts list order.

The brake shoes have lot's of life left but it's all pretty much a nasty mess with fluid on about everything.

1. I wonder if I can clean the brake shoes or does the brake fluid soak and contaminate the friction material so much that it will not be good to re-use them ?

2. Should I get new wheel cylinders, or just those cylinder rebuild kits that have the new rubber caps and springs? (A few dollars cost isn't the issue but thought installing the kit might mean not having to risk rounding off that brake line nut that goes into the back of the wheel cylinder body)

3. If anyone happens to know what size "E" socket will fit those bolts that GM used to hold the wheel cylinders that would be useful. I only have a E6 which is too small so I'll have to buy a bigger one. Perhaps an E8 or E10 ?



If I rebuild a wheel cylinder , I hone the bore before I assemble it with new parts .

I remember doing this job in England about 50 years ago. the bleeder had been tightened way too much and as it broke loose the cylinder cracked and a chunk fell off.