I am about to open the rear brakes. Almost 2 yrs back, I replaced the shoes (and have done this kind of work before). This last time, the brakes started to squawk when the brakes are applied and the squawking is only evident when the speed is 10-->0 mph (meaning the loudest moment is just before a complete stop). The only thing I could imagine is the backplate contact points, but I thought I greased those? Is there something I missed--is that it? I later put new drums on the car and the squawk seemed to disappear but has now returned louder than ever. Any ideas on this? Thanks.
try popping the drums off, taking some 80 grit sandpaper, and sanding down the leading edge of the brake shoes, getting rid of the sharp edge that develops and sometimes causes noise
check the shoes for cracks... also check for a frozen wheel cyl
Thanks for the thoughts. As I am off on vacation in a week, the inspection/work will wait to that week. Will report back if I learn something useful. The noise drives my wife crazy---me? Well, it isn't going to cause any failures I trust---just annoying.
Well, I replaced the shoes and did not need to as far as wear is concerned ---but knew going into this job, that if I was going to tear into the rear brakes to solve the problem, I was just going to replace the shoes, period. The problem was --what may be expected= the pads in this picture were causing the squawking--they are shiny. Funny enough, the new shoes do not have these pads. No more squawk. The thoughts are---1) why is there a difference in shoes (one kind no pads--the other has pads 2) If you put the pad tyoe on, then will brake grease on the back plate cure this squawk? I thought I had greased them. 3) If you buy the pad type--look out for noise?
how about some pics of the friction surface... the pads are common on an oem type backing.Some companies produce *new* shoes that have replacement backing
notice the date on the shoe 4/16/86 that is a reman shoe.
Ok,
Here's the pics of the actual braking surface. I should be careful with words (sorry). The pads I meant to describe are really tabs I show above, as these tabs rest and glide on the backplate which has small raised areas seemingly meant for that. A couple of the tabs have scratched, shiny areas which show that they have been rubbing the backplate hard---presumably resulting in the squawking. The actual braking surface of the shoes are fine and actually have plenty of surface left. Just rode in the TB today--no noise, mind at rest on that. I apologize--looks like this thread belonged in the suspension forum.