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Noisy brake drums


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My beloved 90´ Loyale have started to make a scraping sound when the brake pedal is pressed.

It is not because the brake brums gets rusty over night.

The sound stops when the drums get warm, after a short drive. And after a while, maybe 2 hours when the car is parked and it gets cold, it starts again?

Of course I then removed both brakedrums and checked for wear and cracks everytning looked fine???

 

I am sure that it is the rear brakes that makes the sound, cours when I apply the handbrake while driving there is no sound.

 

Anybody know what is wrong??

 

Subie greetings from Denmark

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I'm glad I'm not the only one. Misery doesn't just love company, it demands it!

 

History:

When I bought this '93 Loyale 4WD 3AT wgn a month or so ago, the brakes' friction materials had been replaced several months prior (I have receipts), new rear wheel cyls, and one new rear drum.

 

The brakes were horribly squealy when cold. But they worked fine (other than a judder) and the pedal height was fine.

 

A week ago Sunday, I took everything off, cleaned out the rear drums of accumlated black dust, vacuumed off all the rear brake parts, 100 grit sandpapered the (like-new) rear shoes, backed off the auto-adjusters, and put them back together. Removed and turned the front rotors, cleaned up the (like new) brake pads and added the anti-squeal glue-like gunk to the backs of the pads.

 

No more squeal, no more judder.

 

But!

I have a steep downhill driveway, and now when I leave in the AM, the rears sound like metal-to-metal. Just as you describe, if the car sits a while, the first few uses are very "grindy".

 

I took the rear drums back off and looked everything over, did a manual adjust on the rear shoes because the auto-adjusters don't seem to be doing their job. I notice that the replaced brake drum does not fit perfectly, and that at the correct torque-up (145 ft/lbs) I cannot use a full-size cotter pin, the holes are partly occluded (by about 1/3), so I have to use the next size smaller cotter pin.

 

Also, the pedal height is noticeably lower, like the shoes aren't adjusted, but I've got slight drag, they're as tight as I want them.

 

I'm not a newbie when it comes to brakes, but this sounds like a Subaru-specific thing.

 

Ideas?

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  • 8 years later...

I for one am glad it was dug up. It's good to know that this is a common nuisance. My drums squeal so loud at light, very low speed braking when there's any humidity that people glance. For that reason I try to pro-long it sometimes, and usually wind up laughing a little bit.

:drunk:

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Not sure when they stopped doing so, but vehicles from the 50' and 60's had springs wrapped around the drums. When I asked him, my Dad said it was to stop the drums from vibrating during slow speed braking.

 

Maybe it would help, can't say.

Buy a couple sreendoor springs and wrap them around the drums. Not to sure right now on how one would keep them in place, but you'd want them near the inner lip of the drum. One spring per drum.

Can't do it on a ribbed drum....

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My beloved 90´ Loyale have started to make a scraping sound when the brake pedal is pressed.

It is not because the brake brums gets rusty over night.

The sound stops when the drums get warm, after a short drive. And after a while, maybe 2 hours when the car is parked and it gets cold, it starts again?

Of course I then removed both brakedrums and checked for wear and cracks everytning looked fine???

 

I am sure that it is the rear brakes that makes the sound, cours when I apply the handbrake while driving there is no sound.

 

Anybody know what is wrong??

 

Subie greetings from Denmark

 

I get this sometimes. seems to be a result of pad dust building up and turning into a grinding paste.

 

I would suggest removing the drum and giving the assembly a good clean.

 

cheers,

 

Dirk.

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