Drum brakes acting up on AT200 Options

[SwissFerdi]

I searched for a thread on this but couldn't find one. As long as I've owned the car (2.5 years), the rear drum brakes have squeaked under moderate braking, say when slowing down for a stop sign. This is extremely annoying, and I've been meaning to oil/lube to get rid of this (or replace the shoes, whatever's necessary). This past week, I've noticed a shimmy and squeak when I first move the car for the day. For literally only fifty feet from my driveway, there's a squeak (I haven't been able to isolate which side it's coming from) and I can feel that the brake is somehow sticking because the car "shimmies," and I can feel a slight hesitation and resistance of movement. After fifty feet, it apparently releases and the sound goes away. So, is this a matter of some type of small brake seizure from the car sitting overnight? I park on a driveway with a very slight grade but don't use the e-brake, I just let the transmission lock up in P.

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance guys.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Oct 14, 2010 - 1:05 AM

[SupraKid]

How often do you use the parking brake?And when you do, how far up do you have to pull it so that it engages fully?Have you ever adjusted the ebrake at all(there's a nut on the actual handle to tighten the wire OR you can do it at the drum.)

I would say pull the drum off,yes ferdi, even you can do this . jack up the rear of the car,pull the wheels,unset the ebrake(duh), and literally pry to off. There are a lot of tricks to doing it, there's 2 bolt holes where you can thread bolts into the drum and make it push off the spindle,you can simply beat it with a rubber mallet,you can get a punch and hammer and get hit it from the back (gigiddy). Once its off(put a mask on cause brake dust is deadly ****) and literally just look around,clean the dust off(i just get compressed air,but thats not the smartest) then get some brake grease and just grease ererthang(besides the pads of course). Also look for abnormal pad wear,also maybe one of the springs that holds the assembly to the backing plate is misaligned, idk it could be A LOT of things... I have a full ST brake setup in my garage if you need anything.