Ok i have a 05 LS sedan has 72,000 on the clock. While i was doing the front brakes on my GF's sable i was thinking, when i should be changing my rear drum brakes on my cobalt. Ive already replaced the front with a pair of uneeks pads and rotors but ive never done anything in the rear and i have no signs of vibs or any wear. Ive been down teh track prob over 50 times ranging from 80-105mph trap speeds then slowing down to basicly nothing for the u-turn at the end of the track...when should i be changing my rear drums? i surprised after the abuse it takes at teh track i have no signs of wear.

 

Your rear brakes could easily last 100k miles or more. You will likely wear out drums before you wear out the shoes. To be safe replace your shoes when then are down to about 1mm/.040" thickness all the way across, or at .5mm/.020" in any location.

 

maven beat me to it. aside from a clean and adjust, I havent even done anything to the rears, "hardly wearing" at all. everything looks normal and Im at 50K

 

I recommend clean/lube and adjust at every other tire rotation, every rotate if youre serious

 

I clean them every other rotate, and lube/adjust every 3rd rotate. I should probably do it more like you said. But I keep up on it well enough for what its worth.

 

Ive never done anything with them...where/what do i lube/rotate

 

You rotate your tires. :rofl:

You spray down the whole inside with brake clean. You lube the backing plate where the metal part of the shoes touch it. You should als olube up the adjuster mechanism

 

after i wrote that..i figured that and yes i do rotate my tires..haha

 

i was just gonna ask
last time i rotated my tires all i did was use a can of compressed air and blow out all the brake dust n whatnot.
Good to know what to do next time

 

no compressed air....BAD. bad for you. wet methods only.

 

^^ yea, i remember from my old auto shop days that its bad to breathe it in, so i held my breath before spraying it down, and just left the area for a couple minutes to let everything settle before doing the opposite side. I made sure not to inhale anything