Hey there,

I've got a problem with my rear brakes that I'm hoping somebody else has dealt with or heard of.

I replaced pads and shoes, turned rotors and drums about 8 months ago.

Back in August I noticed that when I stopped it seemed that the left rear was squatting down. Then it progressed into the left rear brake grabbing and locking up when I push the pedal. Even if I push it lightly.

I pulled the brakes apart expecting to find a wheel cylinder leaking, not the case. I bled the brakes and everything seemed fine. A couple of days later it starts doing the same thing. I decided to replace the hardware on the rears, since I didn't do that when I replaced the shoes. Worked fine for a couple of days, then started the same problem.

About 3 weeks ago I used a pressure bleeder to bleed the rears, fronts and the master, as well as replace all the fluid in the system. I got a little air out of the system and everything was going fine until yesterday. They have started the exact same issue.

The rears are adjusted well, just a tad of drag and pretty equal on both sides, the E brake works great.. Now that I think about it, I don't think it does it with the E brake, which would lead me to belive it's something hydraulic.. I'll have to double check that on the way home.

I'm stumped. I'm guessing that it could be bad shoes on that side, or possibly a bad wheel cylinder.. Neither of those would seem to explain why it works for awhile, then starts the same problem. It also does not do it in reverse.

I could rule out shoes, by swapping the shoes side to side. I don't think that would be a good idea and I'm getting tired of taking the brakes apart.

Has anybody out here dealt with this before and what did you do to fix it.. I'm close to getting new shoes too, but I'd like to just fix the problem and not have to pull them apart a bunch of times to replace things.

It's a 97 Cavalier LS. It's pretty much stock. After market rims that have been on there for 6 years and a K&N air filter.. 81,500 miles and it's been drivin a little spirited, but well maintained. No issues other than the water pump and normal maintence.

Any ideas and help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

LB

Its a mildly common problem. The design is not very good so some cars will have a tendency to stick. The only way that I am aware of to fix this is to replace the shoes and drums. It doesn't solve the problem permanently, it just makes it go away for a while. It kinda sucks but you just have to deal with it.



Boosted 97 2.2L 5 Speed
Boosted 3.4L soon to come

Sunfire GTR wrote:Its a mildly common problem. The design is not very good so some cars will have a tendency to stick. The only way that I am aware of to fix this is to replace the shoes and drums. It doesn't solve the problem permanently, it just makes it go away for a while. It kinda sucks but you just have to deal with it.

I appreciate your response and attempt to help, but I've owned this car since day one. I've had it almost 9 years and never had this problem up until about 3 months ago.

I replaced the shoes and bled the brakes again. Took it out for a test drive and the rear brakes don't appear to be making the same low growl noise that they were before, and they don't appear to be grabbing. Only time will tell, I guess.. I've got wheel cylinders ready to go if the problem pops back up..

Any other input that anybody has would be appreciated, thanks.

LB

Sunfire GTR wrote:Its a mildly common problem. The design is not very good so some cars will have a tendency to stick. The only way that I am aware of to fix this is to replace the shoes and drums. It doesn't solve the problem permanently, it just makes it go away for a while. It kinda sucks but you just have to deal with it.

What? That's just silly. You have no idea what's wrong with it, so just replace everything? What a terrible answer.

It's common on J-bodies to get any oily substance up in the drums/shoes. Use brake cleaner liberally and it will clear up the problem. If it reoccures you may have a tiny leak in the cylinder, then it would need to be replaced.

Air in the lines can cause strange problems as well. But I see you bled the brakes already. If you hadn't, I would suggest it (to anybody else reading this).

My thoughts exactly.. But I'm new here.

It could be the bleed.. I did not bleed them like you should for ABS.. I didn't realize there was a different way.. Followed the manual this time. We'll see what happens. I didn't realize that you had to center the motors in the ABS, or whatever it's called.. Did that this morning before I bled them.

There was no build up on the shoes.. Hell, I've had them apart so many times lately there hasn't been a chance for buildup.

I think it was the shoes in this case. The new ones just feel different. I can't explain it more than that really.. They seemed to catch sooner before and made the whole back of the car squat, then the one side would lockup.

Thanks for your input.. If the problem re-occurs, I'll replace the wheel cylinders, and keep bleeding away.

LB

Oil soaks into the pads, it doesn't sit on top of them. If it soaks in, they will stick (I know, oil usually makes things slide, not with small amounts on brake shoes).

might check the wheel cylinder also, i had the same problem.

Yeah, I got the cylinders waiting if the problem pops up again..

Thanks for the input, hopefully it's fixed now.. They seem to be working very good.. I'll give them another couple of weeks to start crapping out..

hate to bring a post back from the dead but I'm having problems with my brakes
grabbing on the rear right side and Ive checked almost everything and It's still
doing this. I've just replaced my brakes all the way around (needed front pads
and rotors turned) and I'm still having problems with the rear right side. What
I have noticed is that it does this a LOT when its raining and the roads are really
wet, but it also does this every once in a while after long periods of driving.
Any clues????

Did you hose the drum (inside) with brake cleaner?