Drum Brakes: How do you know, ... WHEN?

[mareakin]

How do you know when they need to be serviced? With the pads and rotors in the front, it's easy to kneel down and take a peek--observe the amount of pads left, look at the rotors, etc.

Can't do that with drums covering up the shoes and every brake mechanism in the rear.

So, am I to understand that you actually have to remove that drum periodically to check it out?

Or wait till it LETS YOU KNOW it needs to be serviced or replaced?

Drum Brakes, ye' soooo last century? Amirite!?

Plenty of cars are still rocking drums in the rear, even plenty of NEW Toyotas come with drums in the rear.

sidenote: Boycott Toyota for their shamelessness (I can say that because I drive a 2007 Corolla.)

 

[JHZR2]

That's why in some states the car inspections actually LOOK at parts like this. Imagine that. Some would say unnecessary...

 

[fisher83]

You do have to remove the drum to get a look at it. Good news is that drum brakes generally last a really long time. Just like your disc brakes, they will make noise when they are wearing out. My last car made it to about 120k on the original set of rear shoes and drums before I replaced them and I probably could have even gotten a little longer out of them.

 

[Kestas]

No need to put down drum brakes. They have their place.

1) They're lighter than disc brakes for the same stopping power.

2) There's not as much demand on the rear brakes as the front ones on a FWD. Sometimes they only handle 20% of the stopping power on the car.

3) It's easier to incorporate parking brakes in a drum brake setup. (Remember the drum-in-hat design of some rear disc brakes?)

 

[cutter]

And, little to no dust to clean. I take a look at them when I rotate my tires. Rear drums have 83k and looks like I can go another 83k with factory shoes.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

Most of my vehicles have front and rear drums. They still stop just fine.
I've found that excessive pedal travel is usually a good indicator of either low drum brakes or poor adjustment.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: mareakin
So, am I to understand that you actually have to remove that drum periodically to check it out?


Yep. Not only do you have to remove the wheel, you usually have to hit the drum a couple of times with a hammer before you can pull it off by hand. All the extra time and specialty tools involved in this process make disc brakes the cheaper option in the long run. Manufacturers who use drums are saving themselves money but passing additional future costs onto the consumer.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

On my 2001 Civic, all I ever had done was get them cleaned a couple times when they squeaked. Never replaced even after 9 years and 227k.

 

[zeezee]

I've heard people say to replace them every other time that you replace your front disc brakes, but I don't think that's 100% true. It depends upon a lot of factors, so you just have to pop them off and look. My experience is that they can last as much as 3x as long as the front disc brakes in some cars.

It doesn't hurt to at least look and clean them when you replace your front brakes. You get to a point where you can remove / clean / lube / and reinstall the brake in 20 minutes or so.

 

[Shannow]

When you rotate the tyre's it's no biggie to pop the drum off and have a look...even then, I probably only do it every 40,000km, to confirm what I already know (little to no wear).

My first car had 4 wheel unasisted, manually adjusted drums, and I firmly beleive that should be part of the driving experience of all drivers.

 

[tommygunn]

Often the handbrake not working at all is also a good sign, or excessive pedal travel like SS1970 said.

In most cars nobody will even know when the rear brakes are cooked because they use park, never touch the handbrake, and the difference in stopping power is so gradual and small anyways.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
Yep. Not only do you have to remove the wheel, you usually have to hit the drum a couple of times with a hammer before you can pull it off by hand. All the extra time and specialty tools involved in this process make disc brakes the cheaper option in the long run. Manufacturers who use drums are saving themselves money but passing additional future costs onto the consumer.


I knew a bloke at Uni who worked for a brake supplier when they tendered on teh original Misubishi Magna.

They offered a number of disk brake arrangements, at a number of price points,and a disk drum combo.

Mitsubishi wanted 4 wheel disks (I remember it was a part of their ads, first Oz family car to have them as standard) at any cost, but not as much as any of the options, drums included.

They ended up negotiating a 4 wheel disk arrangement that was cheaper than the disk/drum combo, and at significantly inferior performance to the disk/drum, but at least got to advertise 4 wheel disks.

 

[Stu_Rock]

It has usually been my experience that the shoes' friction material ages out before it wears out. When it ages out, the brakes still stop the car just fine, but they make horrible groaning sounds until they're warmed up.

Our Honda Civic is the only car that I haven't noticed this happen on. This is because the service manual instructs you to discard the shoes when the lining is less than 4 mm thick. When I did the first rear brake inspection at 55K, the linings were below that spec, so I replaced them. The new shoe linings were only 4.4 mm thick, so I figure Honda's spec is a total load of garbage. Replacing shoes is a horrible job on that car, so I'm not going to do it again until they're down to 2 mm.

 

[gomes512]

Unfortunately both of my 4 wheel disc vehicles have disc in hat designs for the rears for the parking brakes.

They seem to make the pads for the p-brake pads about 1cm thick... Crumble up about the time the discs are due.

The way I see it either way I'm doing a drum job.

 

[BigCahuna]

Best way to check the shoes is to pull the drum and visually inspect the shoes. They're usually is a spec for shoe thickness so you can actually measure the shoe, to gauge how much service life is left. Most people just eyeball the shoes tho. Some people check only one side, but a set of shoes out of adjustment will wear faster. I check both side just to be safe.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
Originally Posted By: mareakin
So, am I to understand that you actually have to remove that drum periodically to check it out?


Yep. Not only do you have to remove the wheel, you usually have to hit the drum a couple of times with a hammer before you can pull it off by hand. All the extra time and specialty tools involved in this process make disc brakes the cheaper option in the long run. Manufacturers who use drums are saving themselves money but passing additional future costs onto the consumer.


I can pull the drums on my Cherokee in three minutes...no big deal. I swapped my de Ville to rear discs, and I honestly wish I hadn't.

 

[InvalidUserID]

I've had my car almost 150k and even with near 195k, the rear brakes have only been replaced once.

The only issue I've had with them is a noise coming from the drums when I release the brake. I've been told it just needs lubrication but that didn't seem to work.

 

[Papa Bear]

I've had a few cars over my lifetime and the best brakes that I can remember were on my '68 Buick Riviera. Large finned drum brakes that worked great.

 

[SteveSRT8]

We still own a Silverado or two with rear drums, I think they are 05's. Funny that the trucks come with rear discs until you get the trailering package with short gears and locking diff.

I rarely see one with drums anymore, only on very small or inexpensive cars. Personally I like drums because they last a LONG time and are very inexpensive to maintain.

 

[D189379]

Originally Posted By: mareakin
Plenty of cars are still rocking drums in the rear, even plenty of NEW Toyotas come with drums in the rear.

sidenote: Boycott Toyota for their shamelessness (I can say that because I drive a 2007 Corolla.)

It's not that funny. It's one of the main reasons I bought my Frontier over the Tacoma.