Hi Fellas,

I have been noticing a weird scrapping noise coming from the rear drivers side of the car. I think its the brake drum. My guess is I need to replace my brake shoes.

How often do brake shoes need to be replaced on average. I know brake life really depends on how hard you work the pedal, etc. But on average, how long do they usually last??

Which shop (midas, minnekee, pep boys, etc.) offers lifetime gurantees on brake shoes?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

The front brakes do most of the stopping for your car. It is not unusual for your rear break pads or shoes to last 2 or 3 times over your fronts. In my experience it was rear that I changed them on a vehicle with less then 30k on the rear brakes.

 

depending on how you drive of course, the brake shoes will usually last anywhere between 30 - 50k, only thing is with that scraping noise if you do the installation yourself check out the drum's interior surfacing and make sure it's nice and smooth.. run your finger nail or finger across it and feel it out.. if there are many "ripples" or ridges along the surface you might need your drum resurfaced and turned down a little.. i think a lot of those places offer lifetime warranties on rear shoes.. only thing is it will be expensive.. trust me. if you're somewhat handy with the diy installations and such, i would say get a pair of brake shoes with a lifetime warranty from wherever (although i would recommend going oem when it comes to shoes) and do the installation yourself. let me know if you need any help!

 

Well I replace the shoes when I bought the car about 5 years ago. If think my mileage was around 50k and I'm now at 85+k. I think its time for a change.

The reason I wanted to go to a shop is because they offer lifetime guarantee and they will replace them when ever they go bad. Now that I think about it...that deal seems kinda crappy for a part that takes such a long time to wear out.

I think I will just bear the Miami heat and fix it myself.

Can anyone recommend me some good quality and fairly inexpensive aftermarket brake shoes?

How much are Nissan shoes??

Thanks,
Kevin

 

go to www.courtesynissan.com and get their phone #. call up their parts department and ask for kaleb and tell him that derrick from the 4dsc site sent you.. he'll give you a good deal

 

has any one ever use EBC pads?

 

Hi Fellas,

Just to follow up...I decided to stop being so lazy and tackle this job myself. I purchased new brake shoes for very cheap. I started with the drivers side and the drum came off pretty easily. After close inspection I noticed that there was still a lot of pad left on both shoes. I also noticed that there was this silver glaze on the contact surface of the shoe. I took some fine sandpaper and took all of that glaze off.

I then moved to the passenger side and the drum was a b*tch to get off. I took some pretty good hits to it with a hammer, but it still didn't budge. I was unable to take it off. I think this side is also glazed over or seized because the drum still makes some slight noise when cold.

How do I go about getting the drum off?? I noticed that there are 2 screw hole on the outside of the drum. I figure that you can screw some nuts in there and little by little the drum will come loose. Is this the case?? What size screw do I need?? Please help.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

yup exactly, take a couple of screws and the drum will slide right off.. how the heck did you get the other side off? i'm impressed! as far as the size goes i'm not sure...

 

In my experience, the hammer usually wins. But there are cases were you have to pull out a couple of spare bolts and walk the drums off. The one thing I know for sure is the bolts are metric. The bolt size I am not too sure of. I think they are 8mm boult coarse thread. You may also want to shoot the drum with some rust penatraction spray in the bolt holes and the point were the drum meet the hub. Good luck.