On 9/5/09, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Cracking shoes is a sign of overheating. This can be caused by a number of
> thing including poor shoe contact patch which is also caused by oversized
> drums or under sized shoes. Proper shoe lining material thickness starts at
> 6mm and the original linings were riveted in place. Also see my earlier
> posts about moving the lower shoe mounts to get better brake shoe contact.
>
> Want good rear brakes? Get the shoes from the dealer (now $60 list) along
> with the spring kit ($22) and ATE wheel cylinders. Make sure the drums are
> in spec, less than 9.980" diameter.
>
> Dennis
>
> --

Thanks Dennis. This is what I suspected, but the shoes weren't
dragging, all 4 showed the same wear pattern and hardware installed
right. I assumed they were just flawed in some way from factory. Maybe
they were undersized. Maybe they would have benefited from shims.
Assuming shims would have provided more shoe contact with this
particular brand (sorry. can't recall), would this enable shoes to
handle heat better? They were replaced with Raysbestos Premium no
shims. So far so good. I'll double check drums though they were
replaced at same time shoes etc. were.

And for sure. Have read your posts regarding shims, and of course, the
"bring money" posts regarding dealership shoes/hardware.

"bring money". Heh.

Neil.

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines