Driving home earlier I started hearing this awful sound coming from the rear pass. side of my Fit. It was obviously the brake so I pulled over to check it out. I couldn't see anything of course (one of the many reasons I hate drums) so I couldn't find the exact cause, but the loud metal-on-metal screeching tells me the shoes need replacing.

I'm a bit annoyed because the shoes only have about 70k on them and I am very light on my brakes, never slamming and always downshifting etc. Obviously both sides will need to be done but from the looks of the DIY on here I think I'll probably just take it somewhere. If I had a little extra money I'd convert to discs but honestly the car doesn't need them.

Is there a good solution for buying shoes or is Honda basically my best bet?

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

Only 70K and the rear pads are "done"

Does not compute...

If you can jack it up and take off a wheel yourself, just pull the drum cover off and post a pic. If the material is at least as thick as the backing plate, then something else is your noise!!!

I'm about to roll 80K and I am HARD on my brakes with all the AutoX. I re did the front pads, but haven't bothered at all wit the rear.... they are kinda just along for the ride

 

Yeah don't just throw in the towel, spin the wheels, check for bearing play, take the drum off, check the shoe thickness... just poke around a little bit.

It's easy to inspect the shoes even if you don't want to bother with changing them.

 

^^ Agreed. I'd doubt (but not rule out) that your rear shoes need replacement unless you do things such as engage/leave on the parking brake while driving.

My questions...

Whenever you heard the noise, where their any other vehicles around?

Is the noise still present? If so, when (be it under braking, constant speed, accelerating, turning, etc.)?

If you have the tools/resources and indeed do still have the noise present I'd get the car in the air and first inspect for wheel bearing wear (like Wanderer. recommended). If the bearing is ok, go ahead and pull the drum to inspect the shoes. There are 2 holes where you can insert bolts to help back off the drum... Or just tag it a few times with a hammer to free it. Dust off the shoes, inspect the amount of friction material remaining and check contact points where the shoe touches the plate to make sure they are properly greased.

 

Oh there's no doubt that the noise is coming from my car lol... it was so loud I had people staring at me as I drove past. Had to deal with that for about 6 or 7 miles before I could finally park it. Sucked.

Anyway, I'll pop off the suspect drum tomorrow after work and poke around. Like I said I am very gentle with braking and I haven't had any issues/noises until now so I'm a bit puzzled. The screeching was present while no brake was applied and only slightly better with medium to heavier braking. It was even plenty audible while barely moving.

Maybe something got loose and jammed up inside? I have no idea I wasn't driving any different and don't remember any scenario which could have attributed to the problem. I just blew a brake like in my other car not two weeks ago so maybe I'm just having an unlucky month...

Thanks for the input.

 

Do you back up a lot during your daily drives? The brakes self adjust when backing up so POSSIBLY a lot of backing up kept your drums adjusted to the closest setting so they worn faster.

 

I think that's highly unlikely. The self adjusters in drum-brake cars are not THAT efficient. The braking feel and sensitivity on our Fit noticeably improved the two times we manually adjusted the rear brakes.




I'm voting for a small pebble or something that's caught between the drum and backing plate.

 

Funny backing up was mentioned though... because interesting thing happened this morning. I was moving the Fit out of the way so I could pull the Civic out and while backing up I didn't hear the noise at all. Then, when I rolled forward again I didn't notice the sound either.

I'm going to feel quite stupid if that's all I needed to do, especially driving all that way and not thinking about simply backing up for a bit. I'm gonna take the drum off anyway and have a look because even if it was just something jammed I want to know if I caused any damage. The brake and wheel weren't too hot when I parked so hopefully it's okay.

It would make sense if there's a small pebble or something because the road where I work has been under construction and has been 90% dirt for about a week now. I suppose something could have worked itself inside there and got stuck.

 

Wildly off topic, but: The rear bearings are not sealed bearings?

 

So I'm a bit embarrassed but it turns out the issue wasn't with the rear brake at all. I had a couple people walk alongside the car as i rolled forward so they could listen for the sound, while I poked my head out. Backing up there was nothing but when moving forward there was a clear grinding metallic noise.

Turns out it was just this little demon pebble jammed way down behind the front right brake disk, up against the caliper. The shape of it was just flat enough to get stuck but also just long enough to not spin around and free itself. Ugh, what a little prick... but at least i know I wont have to dismantle my rear brakes looking for debris.

Thanks again for the input.

 

Glad it wasn't anything costly.

 

That's good news. This happens sometimes but luckily enough not too often.