Rear brakes

ok, so it’s Sunday which generally means the hippo is in some degree of repair on the drive. I’ve changed the handbrake cables, as it scraped through the last two mot’s. I’m not convinced it’s better. I did notice the nsr drum was harder to get off. I couldn’t move the adjuster back, it’s solid. The nsr locks before the osr when adjusting the handbrake. I’m wondering if this is my problem as it leaves the other side not quite biting, and I can’t adjust it back. Also when do people change the shoes, they are 5mm, I don’t do a huge mileage. Many thanks for any thoughts. I’m no brake expert.

Martin

I had WOF (MOT) issues with my back brakes, imbalance which was mainly caused by a leaking cylinder.

I replaced the whole lot - shoes, drums, cylinder, springs - and they were perfect on the retest. The bits are not expensive. The adjusters were in fact the only bits I didn't replace, but on my early '99 car I think they're a lot simpler than the later cars, there's not a lot can go wrong and I just gave them a clean up.

There's no point in changing the HB cables, unless your replacing everything else in the rear brakes. The cables are seldom the problem, as it's normally a combination of general wear, dirt and sticking in the rear brake assembly.

Mine locks the rear wheels, with just a moderate pull of the HB lever.

Thanks both, I’ll take another look, might be time to replace them, they’ve been on since I’ve had the car.