Drum Brakes- How long do they last?

[D-Tec20]

I just had new front rotors and pads installed on my car (108k miles) and I realized that I've never done the rear drums.

How long do the shoes on rear drum brakes last?

[Elizabeth]

All depends how often you step on the brakes. Going over 100,000 mies on one set of front pads is a long way.
The rear are probably gone too.
My last Contour would go 55K miles and need fronts. But i do a lot of city driving.

[freemind]

Pull 'em and clean them up and if they look good, adjust them and put it back together.

I bought new shoes for nothing FWIW.

The car has closing on 190k on her.

[D-Tec20]

ok then i should probably be fine. 90% of my driving is highway.

[emsvitil]

I just did mine (2000) and parents (2002).

Both were just over 100k miles, and still had some life in them.


I figured 100k was a nice even round number, so I did the shoes and wheel cylinders so I wouldn't have to worry about them.

Drums were still good, just sanded them a little for shoe breakin........

[gtferrari]

at my 110,000 mile service i still had ~75% of my factory material left. both front and rear. the front rotors dont even have a lip on them. i am a little worried about how my clutch and flywheel look, but there is nothing to raise any concern over them yet. no noise or smell.

to check the rear drums you have to undo the nut that holds the bearing in place. youll want a torque wrench to get that secured when you are done. my garage didnt charge me anything to check them for me. why for put the bearing in the drum is beyond me. probably just to make it more difficult for us to do a brake swap.

[emsvitil]

Originally Posted by gtferrari

to check the rear drums you have to undo the nut that holds the bearing in place. youll want a torque wrench to get that secured when you are done. my garage didnt charge me anything to check them for me. why for put the bearing in the drum is beyond me. probably just to make it more difficult for us to do a brake swap.

No, just undo the 4 bolts holding the hub to the backing plate.........