Out of round drum check?

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Jan 2, 2004
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How can I easily check for an out of round drum or brake shoes? I’m trying to isolate either bad shoes or a bad drum on a 2007 Honda Fit. Part of me wants to get some chalk and see the outlines on friction and drum. I’m trying to salvage the drum, new Honda ones are $122 each - I’ve heard not great things about aftermarket ones.
 
Have them turned at you local parts store....
That's going to be a waste of time and money if the issue is with his brake shoes and the drum is currently concentric.

Not sure what it costs to turn a brake drum in Cali, but it is at least $30 here. I'd probably roll the dice with a new aftermarket (e.g., Raybestos, Centric, etc.) drum for not much more.
 
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How can I easily check for an out of round drum or brake shoes? I’m trying to isolate either bad shoes or a bad drum on a 2007 Honda Fit. Part of me wants to get some chalk and see the outlines on friction and drum. I’m trying to salvage the drum, new Honda ones are $122 each - I’ve heard not great things about aftermarket ones.
While driving pull up.on the parking brake slightly. If you feel a vibration the drums are out of round
 
If it's a good hub centric fit, you may be able to bolt it on backwards and check the ID with a dial indicator. I'd probably first check the hub flange for runout just to sure you're not chasing your tail
 
Also there's a decent chance something like your O'Reilly would mount it for you and you could spin it if you BYODI -- bring your own dial indicator of course.

I wouldn't trust O'Reilly to actually turn them, but if your store is like mine they're incredibly lax and might let you check TIR
 
What is the car doing you are trying to correct?
Abnormal wear on the “leading”(facing the front of the car) shoe on the driver’s side. The trailing shoe as well as the passenger side shoes look great, passenger side adjusted with no issue, driver side has a spot where it catches.
 
Also there's a decent chance something like your O'Reilly would mount it for you and you could spin it if you BYODI -- bring your own dial indicator of course.

I wouldn't trust O'Reilly to actually turn them, but if your store is like mine they're incredibly lax and might let you check TIR
Local O’Reillys don’t turn drums or rotors. What I did yesterday was spray Tinactin powder on the drum and spun it. There was an area where the powder was gone but the contact looked OK. I haven’t had the chance to get a new dial gauge from HF.

At least we know the shoes are athlete’s foot free now. 😂
 
I’d probably just replace it with OEM. The value of the time and frustration of chasing it down could easily exceed the cost.
 
I’d probably just replace it with OEM. The value of the time and frustration of chasing it down could easily exceed the cost.
$122 at Honda, which is a shock. I’ve ordered Chinesium DFCs, which claim to be “machined on drum-specific equipment”. I’ve heard aftermarket drums generally aren’t machined well and there’s complaints about them.
 
Abnormal wear on the “leading”(facing the front of the car) shoe on the driver’s side. The trailing shoe as well as the passenger side shoes look great, passenger side adjusted with no issue, driver side has a spot where it catches.
Maybe make sure you don't have a frozen wheel cylinder on one of the Pistons allowing the front shoe to do all the work?
 
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