Merenth

Okay, I seem to be having a bit of a problem with my rear drums and I'd like a few opinions and ideas. I recently replaced my rear brakes because they had started to squeal. I only did one side at a time to ensure that all parts went back in the same place and I had a reference.

I replaced the drums, the shoes, and the hardware (spring, clip, and rubber plugs). I cleaned all the old brake dust out, wiped the whole thing clean, and cleaned the auto adjuster. When I re-installed them, I tightened the auto adjuster to the point where it just started to bind with the drums and took it out for a test drive. I got the ever annoying rear thumping noise. At this point, I did the fast reverse and braking several times to tighten the auto adjust. No dice.

I brought the car back home, adjusted the auto adjuster manually to a tighter position, and repeated. Again, no dice. Brought it home, removed the drums to inspect and make sure none of the springs had fallen off, the spring clip had not popped out, etc. I checked the brake operation with each drum off, and the brake cylinder is operating properly, and the auto adjusters turned without too much resistance. I then re-installed the drums, tightened the auto-adjuster all the way down to where it was hard to turn the drums by hand. Took the car out again, still thumping, did the reverse multiple times, and still have rear brake thump.

Anyone have any ideas on something to try, or know what's causing the problem?

slvrred-

iTrader: (2)

sounds like a out of round drum to me. I would have a shop with a good leathe just trim them up. Most times parts store have parts sitting on the shelf for a long time, with brake rotors and drums they can get out of round over time of sitting on the shelf. I would start there, thats my idea.

Merenth

Well, amazing how you can be so careful to cover all the usual culprits that you can miss the obvious... Stupid human element... You are correct... Put one of the old drums back on and it works just fine. Gotta love the assumption that a new part means that it's within spec... Of course, we all know what assume means...

tribal_sun

I think I have a similar problem. Replaced the rear drum components: shoes, hardware, drums, and right wheel cylinder three weeks ago. Did both wheels and started having a thumping noise from the rear whenever I'd apply the brakes. It only happens when I apply the brakes with the pedal, not with the e-brake.

I jacked it up this morning and checked everything I could. Hardware is fine and attached, Shoes are wearing evenly without scoring, drums are smooth without scoring, Wheel cylinders compress and expand smoothly, and the self adjustment arms are working properly. Only thing I could think to do was replace the drums(3 week old set) as was suggested in this thread so I did just that. Replaced drums with brand new ones from same shop I got last ones from. Thought I was free and clear this afternoon but after a test drive it started happening again. The thumping sound is consistent with the speed of the car: faster when fast and slower when slowing down. The best way to describe it is like someone knocking on your door. I'm stumped and wondering if any of you guys have a better idea of what it is:

It would be brutally coincidental that I bought TWO sets of warped drums but still possible. My more logical conclusion is it is NOT the rear brake system and something else. One more thing I should mention is there has been the slightest flutter in the brake pedal and soft rattling sound in the brakes when applied since about 90000 miles (It's at 100075 now). The thumping sound started when I put the first new set of drums on and unfortunately I scrapped the original drums so I can't put them back on and troubleshoot.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated,

thanks.