Drum brake rub!
 

The other day when redoing my front brakes (because one of the rotors was warped and I figured they neeed it anyway), I jacked up the rear to check the drums, and I found that one of them was rubbing just a bit, so I bought some new shoes and I'll be doing them tomorrow.

Do you think the minor rub would really affect fe too much?

Minor rub should not be much of an issue. All automotive brakes have some rub when properly adjusted.

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

Agreed. If it was that bad you would have noticed during EOC.

When I do a brake adjustment on drum brakes, I make sure there is a slight rub, but no resistance. You may find an un-bonded shoe or something when you get it apart.

I just redid my whole rear brakes and bearings on the TDI last weekend. Everything was seized in rust in there, I could barely turn the left drum by hand. Yet, I still did 60+ mpg on my last tank, which is not a small feat even for a properly running TDI.

It's early to tell how much mpg was affected, but my coasting distance has not significantly changed.

I don't think a small rub will change anything measurable.

Well, I guess I should've been more explicit...this is like a free turn with a catch every rotation...obviously some part of the brakes are messed up. The reason I checked is because I've always felt my car doesn't roll freely enough, and I got suspicious

If there is a catch only every rotation, you may well just have an out of round drum. A quick turn on the lathe may be all you need, and that's way cheaper than replacing all the brake parts.

Well, we'll see. As I said, my brakes we old anyway, so I'm not going to cry over it either way.

I am wondering the same thing about my Metro... do I have a rubbing issue?

Ith my car, it's weird, sometimes while coasting to a complete stop, the car feels a little 'grabby' like it stops slightly more sudden than I expect. It almost feels like it has too much drag for a 1700lb car, while pushing it around to hitch up the towbar when i tow the metro. Other times, it seems to roll more freely, like I would expect. The difference is very subtle btw, but I need to investigate.

I thought I lubed up the alignment pins (that connect the caliper halves) when I did the front brakes a month ago, new rotors and pads. I haven't had the rear drums apart though, maybe that's next. The max mpg I've gotten to date from the 3 cylinder 5 spd is 45mpg, the engine is tuned up w/new parts and running tip-top, so maybe I have brake drag?

on cars, drums are noisy. take note of the small cylinders and springs doing the work...you could take them to noiseless, at expense of incomplete braking. I like the noise..its like solid tappets on old engines...if you hear them odds are they are working and adjusted well. also, to look at the deep dish of drums, the pads out to the drums with brakes not applied actually is a stabilizer for bearings and indicates warpage more precise than a guage. Small hubs are actually the faster reactors, like a performance gain, until alot of weight has to be stopped. Noise is null, ignore it. New pads old pads make big different noises, metal to metal is the pads at thier rivets.