How hot should brake drums be getting?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 21, 2011
Messages
661
Location
Canada
Went with my sister today to get her shoes adjusted (does once a year) and the mech said they were way too loose, the drums came off like nothing. So they adjusted each shoes and sister said not to put it too tight. The shop said they adjust the shoes so they drag a slight bit when spinning the wheel.

We get the car, the mech said they brought the adjustor up like 10-15 clicks on the starwheel. We leave and notice the car is bit sluggish moving and the shoes are dragging.

Also notice the ebrake cable is 10x stiffer and takes a helluva lot of arm strength just to pull it up to 3 clicks. Before it would go up 9-10 clicks with moderate arm strength, now barely 6, and it would take a lot of force to get it to 6. I said no way this is normal. Good to have a tight firm ebrake but no car should require this much elbow grease to move up 6 clicks.

We get out to touch the drums and theyre blistering hot. Also note its winter here (+2C today), no sun, so its not like we have summer heat to deal with. We go back to the shop and told the guy to feel the drums. He wouldnt feel them.

He said theyre not too tight because adjusting shoes is all personal preference. Personal preference really? Is that true? I dont think so. So basically he saying theres no such thing as overtightening shoes.

Raised the wheel, even I spun it and it took a helluva lot of arm strength just to move it half a turn. They backed off the shoes a bit, spun the wheel and it spun better, half a turn before stopping. Even then spinning it, took a bit of elbow grease. Wasnt possible to do with 2 fingers.

Should he be to blame here? According to him, he didnt adjust too tight. He acted like he did nothing wrong.

1) How hot should brake drums be getting?
2) How many wheel rotations should the wheel spin when by hand?
3) Should the wheel spin with little arm strength or should it require some elbow grease to turn it?
4) The shop said that if you back off the adjusters all the way to its loosest setting, it will be too loose and the auto adjuster wont be able to set it properly with the shoes sitting too far from the drums. Is that true?
 
Last edited:
so now your sister knows more about brakes than the mechanic does?

why didnt she do the brake job?


Deleted, no need to help with a fictional story

maybe go help your mom wash dishes for another 56hours this week at her sink. or stalk that girl you posted about stalking.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Rand
so now your sister knows more about brakes than the mechanic does?

why didnt she do the brake job?


No i went with her so i was there, and she has a Corolla, 05 I believe. If you dont want to believe me, then take your garbage elsewhere. I just want advice.
 
Last edited:
Did he pull the drum and look inside. Maybe the wheel cylinder is all rusty or the e-brake cable is rusted and not releasing.

I had a Ford Ranger where the e-brake cable had rusted some, and when they took the very hot drum off (wearing gloves) the lining fell off the shoes.
 
Last edited:
drums will get hot. when spinning the wheel it should take some force to spin the wheel but not a ridiculous amount. it should drag very slightly. half a turn is probably about right. its really a feel thing but it should drag ever so slightly. if the brakes were that loose i would recommend finding out why!
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Did he pull the drum and look inside. Maybe the wheel cylinder is all rusty or the e-brake cable is rusted and not releasing.

I had a Ford Ranger where the e-brake cable had rusted some, and when they took the very hot drum off (wearing gloves) the lining fell off the shoes.


Yes they pulled the drums and everything was still good and working fine.

I just think they adjusted the shoes way too tight. The drums were blistering hot when we got home and I could barely touch them with my finger.
 
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
drums will get hot. when spinning the wheel it should take some force to spin the wheel but not a ridiculous amount. it should drag very slightly. half a turn is probably about right. its really a feel thing but it should drag ever so slightly. if the brakes were that loose i would recommend finding out why!


Yes drums will get hot but how hot? Blistering hot that you cant touch them on a semi chilli day? If so, just imagine summer heat.

Thats the thing, I have a hard time believing the shoes were too loose cause she had them adjusted a year ago and I even felt her brake pedal and its not loose, you can tell the shoes are grabbing and the ebrake is firm. I just think the shop went all crazy and overadjusted way too tight.
 
Last edited:
"blistering hot is about 140F" this is normal for brakes that are used.

this just means brakes are actually working no need to ocd

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
drums will get hot. when spinning the wheel it should take some force to spin the wheel but not a ridiculous amount. it should drag very slightly. half a turn is probably about right. its really a feel thing but it should drag ever so slightly. if the brakes were that loose i would recommend finding out why!


Yes drums will get hot but how hot? Blistering hot that you cant touch them on a semi chilli day? If so, just imagine summer heat.

Thats the thing, I have a hard time believing the shoes were too loose cause she had them adjusted a year ago and I even felt her brake pedal and its not loose, you can tell the shoes are grabbing and the ebrake is firm. I just think the shop went all crazy and overadjusted way too tight.



brakes are hydraulic the brake petal wont be "loose" ever.

using quotes because the posts I reply to keep changing.

and my posts make no sense 5min later due to edits.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Rand
"blistering hot is about 140F" this is normal for brakes that are used.


Too hot drums = overheat and heatscore them and all the brake components inside. Ive seen heatscored brake shoes and its not pretty, they usually crack from the heat.
 
too hot = smoking and smells like on fire.

you said you could barely touch them.. thats 130-140f

perfectly normal.

If you want to can touch my brakes after driving.. not responsible for any blisters you get.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
"blistering hot is about 140F" this is normal for brakes that are used.

this just means brakes are actually working no need to ocd

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
drums will get hot. when spinning the wheel it should take some force to spin the wheel but not a ridiculous amount. it should drag very slightly. half a turn is probably about right. its really a feel thing but it should drag ever so slightly. if the brakes were that loose i would recommend finding out why!


Yes drums will get hot but how hot? Blistering hot that you cant touch them on a semi chilli day? If so, just imagine summer heat.

Thats the thing, I have a hard time believing the shoes were too loose cause she had them adjusted a year ago and I even felt her brake pedal and its not loose, you can tell the shoes are grabbing and the ebrake is firm. I just think the shop went all crazy and overadjusted way too tight.



brakes are hydraulic the brake petal wont be "loose" ever.

using quotes because the posts I reply to keep changing.

and my posts make no sense 5min later due to edits.



that's not really true. if drum brakes are way loose. the pedal can in fact go down farther before engaging. the pedal will feel fine once it engages the brakes but the pedal will be farther down.
 
Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
Went with my sister today to get her shoes adjusted (does once a year)

Why on earth would you do that? Honda provides automatic adjustment that works fine, all by itself.

Yes, you can tighten things up a bit more if you adjust the shoes manually, but it's pointless to do so since the adjuster keeps the shoes properly operable anyway.

You have WAY too much time on your hands. Just leave the thing alone.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
too hot = smoking and smells like on fire.

you said you could barely touch them.. thats 130-140f

perfectly normal.

If you want to can touch my brakes after driving.. not responsible for any blisters you get.


Ok how about this, should you be hearing the shoes touch/drag against the drums when driving and say letting the car roll 10kmh? Cause thats how i pointed it out.

Cause if the shoes are dragging against the drums when driving, the thing will heat up like an oven.

Drums warp easy and with too much heat they will heatscore and turn purple inside.

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
Went with my sister today to get her shoes adjusted (does once a year)

Why on earth would you do that? Honda provides automatic adjustment that works fine, all by itself.

Yes, you can tighten things up a bit more if you adjust the shoes manually, but it's pointless to do so since the adjuster keeps the shoes properly operable anyway.

You have WAY too much time on your hands. Just leave the thing alone.



Well i do it on my car too cause I notice with mine, over time, the shoes will need to be adjusted. They wont stay tight forever and I have all new hardware in mine. Honda rep told me years ago, brake adjustment is recommended every 20k km.

So i told her to do it for maintenance. She even asked a Toyota service manager about it, and they said they recommend it too. They said it doesnt hurt.

So can shoes be overtightened? And is it normal for drums to be blistering hot?
 
Last edited:
a properly functioning drum brake assembly should adjust itself some when backing up or using the e-brake. my saturn has never given me and adjustment issues i cant imagine honda would do it differently. although they are "better" than other cars lol . you should not feel or hear the dragging while driving. the drag should be so slight that causes hardly no friction at all otherwise it'll eat up brake shoes.
 
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
a properly functioning drum brake assembly should adjust itself some when backing up or using the e-brake. my saturn has never given me and adjustment issues i cant imagine honda would do it differently. although they are "better" than other cars lol . you should not feel or hear the dragging while driving. the drag should be so slight that causes hardly no friction at all otherwise it'll eat up brake shoes.


Exactly thats what i thought! We could hear it drag when having the car just roll. It was like a shh shh shh shh sound.

Drove it for a good few mins around the caldisack without applying the brakes. Got out, and drums were super hot.
 
Last edited:
When I adjust the drums on my Toyota truck (self adjusting tends to be non-existent), on a quiet day I adjust it so I can hear the drums just "scratching" the shoes. Press brake pedal, engage/disengage p-brake and adjust again. Repeat until I'm satisfied. I have firm brakes and a firm parking brake.

Heat? Rears are warm to the touch since I'm driving the truck with the bed empty most of the time.
 
Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
She even asked a Toyota service manager about it, and they said they recommend it too. They said it doesnt hurt.


So, what does it state in her owners manual (or yours for that matter) ? I have never heard of having your self annual adjustment

I suspect the SM is revenue driven (not the first occurrence) and fed off your OCD

BTW - Apologies if I am confusing you with someone else here but you seems to have allot of maintenance performed by others and then have issues. May want to DIY more
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top