I have a 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS vehicle with 4 wheel disk breaks. I have been troubleshooting a rubbing/scuffing sound coming from the right (passenger) rear wheel area. I thought that it might be a bad rear wheel bearing--but I had a local Subaru shop listen to it, and the tech thought it was a break rubbing. In the process of doing a rear break job including replacing rotors, cleaning and painting calipers and replacing pads I noticed that the rubbing sound is still there. I took everything apart on the right side and it rubs even with the caliper off and the rotor on. As soon as the rotor is removed it stops rubbing however. I can see where it seems to be rubbing on the inside of the rotor where the emergency break shoes are located. I have adjusted the shoes to the maximum and even loosened the emergency break handle (cable) inside the car, but it is still rubbing. Any ideas how to fix this problem? I am so frusterated that I am about to just take off the emergency break system altogether.

Thanks for any imput.

-Brian

How badly is it rubbing. When you spin the wheel by hand, does it keep the wheel from moving.

 

What do you mean you've adjusted the brake shoes to the maximum?

How badly is it rubbing. When you spin the wheel by hand, does it keep the wheel from moving.

 

What do you mean you've adjusted the brake shoes to the maximum?

 

when I spin it by hand, it does not keep the wheel from moving, but I can hear the scraping/rubbing of the emergency brake shoe against the inside of the rotor. With the rotor removed, there is no noticeable noise. As far as adjusting the brake shoes (for the emergency brake) there is a screw type adjustment on the bottom of the emergency brake assy that allows you to adjust it (like drum brakes). I have adjusted that screw all the way in--in addition to lessining the pressure at the handle--but I still have a slight rubbing sound on the right rear rotor.

bump. Any ideas out there?

You should still have some adjustment left on the handbrake lever itself, inside the cabin. The cable tension can be set.

 

If you have already reached the limits of adjustment, maybe you need to triple-check your assembly, it could mounted wrong.

 

If everything is still OK, try going for a drive and dragging the handbrake to wear the brake shoes a little bit.

Switch sides with the rotors and see if the rubbing moves to the other side. Could be the rotor is out of round, even if you did just put new ones on.