Reader Question: The rear brakes on my mom’s 1996 Ford Taurus sound like there is metal-to-metal contact. I have replaced the shoes twice and the drums once within the last 3 years, but none of this has helped.

Is there possibly a difference between linings that are epoxied on the shoes vs. linings that are riveted on the shoes? Both sets of shoes that I have purchased have had epoxied linings.

Thanks.

Frank

Hi Frank,

My first thought would be that the FRONT brakes are not doing their share of the stopping power load or the REAR brakes are doing the entire stopping load. The front brakes should be doing about 75% of the stopping effort.

Therefore, either you got a set of cheap brake shoes or they are all pretty cheap these days, so I kinda doubt that is your problem, OR you have the rear brakes too tight and they are burning themselves up. Jack up the rear of the vehicle and make sure you can easily rotate the rear tires by hand.

Riveted shoes are for applications that are more heavy-duty and are probably longer lasting. Again, I do not think that is your problem here.

Blessings,
Austin Davis

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Filed under: Brakes

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