One rear brake seizing while parked after rain

[peter3197]

This has been a problem with rear drums for years, had it happen to a M reg Passat back in the day and every rear drum braked car since. Water plus drum brakes left for a while equals stuck rear brakes due to rust on the drum between the shoes and the drum..

Edited 30 August, 2019 by peter3197

[xman]

I can assure you with 99%+ certainty that the brake shoe material does not bind with the braking surface of the drum even if it were to rust. Ive never seen a rusty brake surface whenever I stripped a problem drum 

 

Its the actuator lever just getting too stiff with corrosion to return with the cable mounted spring. I've investigated this several times on our 2 fabias and gone though countless discussions with rooty and others on the Fabia ii section.

 

Easy to check, release the adjustment wedge (lever up with a screwdriver though a bolt hole), take the drum off. Then try moving that lever by hand and you will see what the problem is.

 

Brake cleaner, toothbrush, penetrating oil and lots of wiggling the lever left/right will fix it for a year or more.

 

Doesnt help that the thin zinc plating on the lever will have corroded and worn away at the pivot. Not really fit for purpose.

 

Trust me, I'm a briskodian..........;)

[Emil]

Typo. What I was trying to say is: "When rusted brake lining is released from brake drum there is no dragging brakes". 

 

Any other failure would cause dragging rear brake. And when Citigo brakes gives popping noise brakes are completely free. No dragging. 

 

Edit: It is not about brake lever. It is corrosion between brake lining and brake drum. 

Edited 30 August, 2019 by Emil

[Breezy_Pete]

Ah, I see. That makes much more sense.

[peter3197]

The seizing up of the adjustment wedge and actuator arm leads to the shoes not being automatically adjusted with a long handbrake movement and more free travel on the foot brake. If it seized up the other way the shoes would be in constant contact with the drum and there would be dragging. It's a damn fool arrangement and I would prefer going back to manual adjusters on the backplate as in old British Leyland cars such as the Marina. I know they seized up but not if you plastered them with grease on the outside of the backplate. My Citigo exhibited the long handbrake movement and pedal, I moved the shoes slightly closer by adjusting the handbrake cables which cured the long travel. At the next service I'll have everything cleaned up and they will work as designed for a while. I have every confidence in the theory that the binding is caused by rust forming between the the brake shoe face and the drum.