Recently I put 15" wheels and big tires on my passenger 87 Syncro. After
doing so I noticed that the brakes were not quite up to snuff. They
stopped fine unless I was going down a steep hill or had a heavy load.
Then they were a little soft and needed a quick pump to fully function.
First I replaced the front rotors and pads. Better but not as good as
they should be. Then I took the drums off so I could replace the rear
shoes and turn the drums. The shoes were fine and the drums had only a
slight lip from wear. Finally, I spotted the real problem. On the
driver's side the brake return springs were reversed. This causes one of
the springs to rub hard against the adjuster and keeps the self
adjusting brakes from adjusting at all on that side. The shoes on that
side were too far out of adjustment to do much work unless the brake
pedal was pumped first. Once I fixed this and tightened up the rear
brakes, all was well. Now the brakes are firm on the first pump and the
stopping power is much better.

When I purchased this 87 a couple years ago the seller showed me a
receipt from a very recent complete brake job $$$. The brakes worked
great at that time and for a long time after. The gradual deterioration
was hardly perceptible until the big tires. The 2 brake shoe springs are
not obviously different and once in place they are hidden behind the
adjuster. When they are reversed part of one of them sits too high and
rides in one of the notches of the star adjuster. I have seen this error
before and even made it myself. It is easy to detect when working on the
brakes since the misplaced spring keeps the adjuster from turning as
freely as it should.

If you have brakes that have gotten mushy over time you might want to
check for this error.

Mark