PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

This 94 SSEi is quite a bit different from my 00.

The front brakes are similar but the rears on the 94 are drums.
What does experience say about the drum brakes? How often do they need replacing?



The Grizz tells me that they are squealing but doesn't know where the squeal is coming from........it's probably the tires.

Drum brakes are not nearly as effective as discs. The majority of braking power comes from your front brakes with the rears just keeping things in line. I rarely use the rear brake on my XS11 Yamaha. Some figures claim 80%braking on the fronts and 20% on the rears and I would tend to agree with those figures. Disc brakes use to be more expensive to put on cars and trucks. This is why you would see discs only on the front of older cars and trucks, with the exception of exotics or hi-po rigs. The technology in metals, brake pad composition and the weight savings of 4 wheel discs is why you see them on almost all cars and trucks now. Discs will not fade as fast and will recover faster than drum brakes. A disc setup is much lighter than drums and all the related hardware in most cases. You can figure replacing brake shoes once for every two times you replace pads (at least thats what I have found). I recentley converted my boat trailer to discs and the difference is gigantic.

I can tell you this Paul.... I have 128,000 miles on my Bonne, and the rear brakes have never been replaced, they are the factory shoes (with plenty of meat left), springs and drums.

Just over 200,000 km on mine and the rear brakes still have a good 50% left on what looks like original shoes.

Ok in my opinion they shouldnt need to be changed for a long time. I have had my Ranchero for 9 years and even though I dont drive it as much as my regular daily transportation I have not replaced the brakes yet. Here is the interesting part the shoes front and rear were last replaced in 1989!!! So this should give you an example as to how long they can last.

My rear brakes at 160,000 miles still have lots of depth. I don't know what originals looked like but... lots left.

Someone in past suggested adjusting them because the rear adjusters sometimes don't do it well enough. I tried backing and going forward with strong brake applications to move the self adjusters but I don't think that worked. So I adjusted them myself occasionally.

That made mine a lot more willing to bite in. I also had the drums turned recently. That gave some new bite and probably wore off some of the surface of the old shoes giving my rears more effective braking for the small amount of hydraulic pressure they get.

i'm at 211k miles on the original rear shoes, and the pontiac dealer just told me i have about 5mm left on them and will need to be replaced in the next 5k miles

Wow, now that is a testament to the rear drum longevity and reliability!

I won't be touching these brakes for a fews years at least.

Thanks.

Grizz told me they mysteriously stopped squealing........


It's sitting in the driveway right now.....out of fuel.

My 94 still has stock rear brakes so... they last a long time.


And now.. it's time to go to attempt to clean off 2 years worth of crap on my crosslace rims.

Switching to a dustless pad like ceramic would minimize crap on the crosslaces.

Those suckers are a pain to clean.

At 250,000 miles I bought new pads, tore everything down, cleaned it up and put my original factory pads back in place. They still had all of the thickness of the cheap replacements that I had bought. The new pads went back to the store. I am now well over 265,000 and do about 40,000 a year. I go through this same routine every couple years and I just keep returning them.

The one thing I would worry about after going so long without replacing or rehoning the brake cylinders is sudden catastrophic failure due to leakage or corrosion seisure.

Brake cylinders are only about $25. each new. Cheap insurance.

2000Silverbullet wrote:Wow, now that is a testament to the rear drum longevity and reliability!

Or possibly a testament to how most are out of adjustment and not being used during most braking. Most folks don't realize they last as long as they do because the are not adjusted properly. There is a noted improvement when they are adjusted.

Definitely suggest you replace the wheel cylinders, as you said, good, cheap, easy insurance. And make sure to properly bleed the system. Also...when bleeding, don't push the pedal down more than it normally goes under pressure, the seals can be damaged if there is any heavy buildup in the MC bore. Block off the brake pedal to prevent this from happening. Replacing the calipers now, also a wear item just the same as the wheel cylinders would be an excellent idea...since they're not any more expensive...there really isn't any reason not to. Also, be sure to properly adjust the drum brakes so that the shoes are just millimeters from touching the drums...this ensures proper rear braking assist, as well as a properly working emergency brake.

2000Silverbullet wrote:The one thing I would worry about after going so long without replacing or rehoning the brake cylinders is sudden catastrophic failure due to leakage or corrosion seisure.

Brake cylinders are only about $25. each new. Cheap insurance.

Agreed. I replaced my wheel cylinders on my 95 somewhere around 80K and I replaced the pads at the same time. The only reason I replaced the pads was because they were glazed. I have around 140k on the new pads and I'm sure they will outlast the life on the car



Not sure if this is true or not, but I've heard that if the drums are adjusted properly, you should be replacing them with every second sets of front pads.

BillBoost37 wrote:

2000Silverbullet wrote:Wow, now that is a testament to the rear drum longevity and reliability!

Or possibly a testament to how most are out of adjustment and not being used during most braking. Most folks don't realize they last as long as they do because the are not adjusted properly. There is a noted improvement when they are adjusted.

X2, they don't wear if they don't get used. I adjust mine manually once a year. I find that having good working brakes in all 4 corners helps keep the car more stable in hard braking maneuvers.

Adjusting the rear brakes manually is the Key. Man, once those things are adjusted correctly, it stops WAY better.

How do you adjust the rears? Just turn the knob or is there a reference point.
Thanks...

Since I had the wheels off the rear today anyway, I adjusted the brakes after taking the air gun and blowing everthing clean of dust and dirt.

How do you adjust the rears? Just turn the knob or is there a reference point.

I just popped the drum off and turned the adjusting wheel 4 clicks to start with, put the drum back on, it seemed to be a little loose so I turned the wheel another 2 clicks. I kept doing this until the drum was dragging on the shoes, then backed the adjuster off 2 clicks.



I adjusted them 4 months ago and they needed 6 clicks on one side and 9 on the other. It makes a noticeable difference when pushing on the brake pedal.

Makes sense! Thanks for the reply, I'll try it tomorrow.