break shoes ford escort 1999

The guy at break check told my daughter a month ago that her break shoes will last another 1000 miles. Since then she has put at least 1000 miles on her car. I drove her car today and did not notice any noise from the rear brakes at all.

How long do the rear break drum shoes usually last? I do not remmeber having them replaced on any of my cars so far and all of them lasted more tham 100,000 miles. My daughter car has 74000 mile on it.

Thanks for your help.

Mine is a '94... I have replaced the front brakes but not the rear. I am over 200k... in the last couple weeks I have noticed my braking seeming a little wimpy... thinking of taking a peek at those drums... thye are probably ready by now ;)

Never hurts to pull the rear drums for a close up inspection for self satisfaction. Also, have a can or two of brake parts cleaner on hand. After the inspection, if shoes, drums look good, manually adjust after reinstall.

You will have to look at them to determine how much lining is left. A friend of mine does 90% of her driving on the freeway and therefore her brakes and clutch have an exceptionally long life. After 180,000 miles she still has the original clutch and brake shoes. I, on the other hand, get about 70-80,000 miles on brake shoes.

One more note, if she waits until there's noise, a rear brake job could end up costing more. If the drums become scored due to metal on metal contact, she will probably have to replace the drums.

I tried to open the drum the other day but did not come off. How do you guy take it off? Any tricks?

There are two phillips head screws in the face of the brake drum. Take them out. Then there is a third hole in the face of the drum. It is threaded and putting a bolt into it will put pressure on the axle shaft which will force the brake drum off. Tap the brake drum on the side with a hammer while screwing this bolt in. The drum will work it's way out and will pop off. I believe the head size of the bolt you screw in is a 13 mm.

You may need an impact driver to get those screws out... they are often stuck in there pretty good.

Ditto on the impact driver. They ARE on there pretty good. After gettin' mine out I just left them off. I don't know why they put them in there in the first place. Maybe to hold the drums on during the assembly process. Wheel does a pretty good job of holdin' em on.

i do my breaks every 50k...why not its not like its expensive.

A basic repair guide is available at autozone.com
You may have to back off the shoes.

Do you have a Midas or similar shop nearby that does free brake inspections? If yes, let them get dirty.