brake springs

[hooziewhatsit]

Hey all,

 

searched and didn't find much on this topic.

 

Been trying to track down a grinding noise while braking in my wifes 91 loyale (4wd, non turbo).

 

Found out that one of the rear shoes is down to metal on metal, so that drum gets to get re-turned.

 

my question is, how important is it to get a new spring set when I redo them? That shoe is gone on one end, and still has a few 16ths on the other side. The other shoe on that side wore pretty evenly.

 

The other side of the car has pretty uneven wear also.

 

Other question: even though the fronts still have a fair amount of wear left, should I redo them at the same time, or let them go a while longer?

 

 

When I replaced the brakes on our other car a couple years ago the wear was pretty uneven also.

 

thanks for the help

-Dave

[Snowman]

All of my professors and books have told me over and over again to just replace the brake springs and other hardware at every shoe replacement. The kit with everything for both sides costs like $20 at NAPA and its worth it. Springs wear out and rust.

 

The shoes wear unevenly on most vehicles. This is because they are held in place at the bottom and only pushed out against the drum at the top. Also, Subarus and most other Japanese cars have "leading-trailing" brakes, in which the design puts most of the braking load on the forward shoe. Most American cars use a servo type brake that puts the larger portion of the load on the rear shoe. This is nothing to be concerned about.