We have had the right rear brakes cleaned. But man these things skid and lock up if the rear drums are wet. Could the shoes be bad in the drums? Or is it the ABS system? And btw I am new here.
We've had luck chamfering the edges of each shoe. Sometimes the leading edge of the shoe bites into the drum so hard upon braking that it can lock up the rear wheels.
To me it seems like the drum very quickly gets a thin film of dirt/rust on it that bites when the brakes are applied.
It usually happens to me when the car sits for 2 or 3 days without being used. Once I make it out of my driveway - get up to about 30 mph and gently use the brakes - it seems to shake off the rust and work good for the rest of the day.
all j bodies will do this but always moreso if you dont use gm brake shoes,aftermarket shoes are notorious for causing your problem but like I said j bodies will grab on the first few brake applies if vehicle has sat for awhile.
make sure they are adjusted and try to sand the shoes with sand paper to get the film off them, and also make sure to lube your backing plate contact points and make sure your drums dont have any signs of cracking and what not, also if the rear wheel cylinders leak they can contaminate the pad material causing them to stick.
I had the exact same problem with my 2001 cavalier and spent a lot of time researching this and came up with a bunch of different answers. I'll list most of them in case anyone else wants to check into them or give them a shot, but what eventually worked for me and completely stopped the locking up was this.
1. Removed the old shoes. Do one side at a time and take plenty of pictures if you aren't familiar with drum brake assemblies.
2. Cleaned up the backing plate with brake cleaner and then sanded the 6 contact points with 250 grit sand paper to remove the ridges.
3. Lubed the 6 contact points with anti sieze and re assembled with O'reilly's auto parts cheapo brake shoes.
4. Adjusted the self adjuster until there was drag on the wheel.
5. Checked to make sure the parking brake worked, and then installed NEW rotors also bought from O'reilly's auto parts. (The 200mm x 45mm size) Be sure to clean the new rotors with brake cleaner before installation.
6. Drove the car around and set the shoes by speeding up to 40 mph and quickly slowing down to around 15 mph, but not hard enough to call it emergency braking.
The car drives without any lock ups, pulsation or squealing. If this doesn't work for you then here is what I've also found:
1. Check the wheel cylinder for any leaks. Replace if necessary and replace the shoes if they got any brake fluid on them. (I didn't have this problem)
2. Check the rotors for any gouges and out of roundness. My experience with turning rotors has never been good, so I just buy new rotors. Out of round rotors can also cause vibrations and the car shaking at certain speeds.
3. Aftermarket brake shoes do not fit the drums correctly. This doesn't make sense to me as I used aftermarket brake shoes and they work perfectly. I did buy new rotors also which may mean that aftermarket shoes only fit aftermarket drums??? I'm not sure, I'm just posting other solutions that I found.
4. Brake shoes may look fine, but after a few years they can absorb moisture and need replacing. Also the drum might look fine, but after years of thermal cycling the metallurgy can change and cause hard spots. Replace both.
5. Bad ABS Sensor, proportioning valve, master cylinder, blah, blah, blah.
haha my 98 cavalier does this! if its cold and its the first time im driving it for the day when i press the brake the ass end of the car sinks and the wheel locks up (i have ABS) im not sure why it does this but ones it warms up it stops doing it. i have over 173K on the car its going in the shop in a few weeks since im selling it to my brothers girlfriend for her first car and i want to make sure its safe. if they find the prob ill post it up here.
i hate this website but it does have a lot of info on there its www.jbody.org
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