Low quality brakes

Handling, suspension, and brake tuning discussions
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AnonymousStoner
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:19 pm
Location: Michigan

Low quality brakes

Post by AnonymousStoner »

hey guys, my parking brake was not working so i finally decided to fix it, got all the parts but man was i having problems... i could not get the brake drum/rotor to go back on over the new parking brake shoes, i tried everything! after meddling with it all night in the freezing garage i decided to call it quits and sleep on it. that night i started thinking about all the stuff ive changed out in the rear, and that rotor has never given me problems going back on. so i just decided to rebuild the brakes with all the new parts but use the old shoes, heck ive tried everything else.... it went back on no problem.. had to adjust them out quite a bit to get any bite but the parking brake works again. after i rebuilt one side and it worked with the old shoes i tried to see if there was any differences between the new shoes i bought and the old ones from the other side. to the eye they looked like an exact match. i have no idea why the new shoes would not fit but man did i waste so much time messing with that lol.
zbyers
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Re: Low quality brakes

Post by zbyers »

Did you have the adjuster all the way in so the rotor would fit over the new shoes? If you didn't adjust them, that would be why you couldn't get the rotor over the shoe.
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AnonymousStoner
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:19 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Low quality brakes

Post by AnonymousStoner »

yeah man i had the adjusters as small as they could go. i should add the next morning when i came out i took the rotor on my bench and turned it upside down then kind of loosly assembled the brake shoes, springs, adjuster, and the top cross plate. i then tried to fit that assembly into the upturned rotor and i could not fit it. i tried with the old shoes, and it fit lose (obviously lol) but i could see that i could get some more use out of these as the primary cause of failure was the cable. like i said the brakes looked identical but there might have been some slight difference with the way the steel mated up against the adjuster on the new shoes. maybe the slot was slightly undersized and would not allow the adjuster to seat properly. or the brake pad material was too massive, i didnt really fumble around with it too much as it gave me such a headache the day before and i had something to try with the old shoes now.
zbyers
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Re: Low quality brakes

Post by zbyers »

The base, GT, and AWD all run a different parking brake shoe. Perhaps you were given a set for a trim you don't have.
'74 Thing, '79 El Camino, '83 VW DoKa '91 Vanagon, '03 Base, 04 GT
'06 CRV, '06 AWD, '07 Base, '12 Highlander Limited, '17 Frontier CCLB

Byerscrew Garage, GenVibe Facebook, How-To Index
Everything You Need To Know About the Pontiac Vibe
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