rear brake adjustment

[302Z28]

How are the rear brakes adjusted on a '92 Metro? About 30K miles ago, I installed new shoes. The linings have not even made full contact with the drums, which, I assume indicates improper adjustment? Chiltons says to step on the brake pedal several times and they will self adjust. The adjusters seem to be working fine. Many years ago, the rear brakes were adjusted by stopping several times in reverse. Will that help to adjust these brakes, or is there another proceedure I do not know of?
Thanks,

[geozukigti]

are you sure they're not making contact?? If they aren't, I'd be looking to see if your hydraulic cylinders are siezed. They self-adjust. There's no manual adjustment to do at all. There's a couple of adjusters for the parking brake cable.. They are under the center console.

[302Z28]

Originally Posted by geozukigti

are you sure they're not making contact?? If they aren't, I'd be looking to see if your hydraulic cylinders are siezed. They self-adjust. There's no manual adjustment to do at all. There's a couple of adjusters for the parking brake cable.. They are under the center console.

The shoes are making contact, but each end of both linings have an area (approximately an inch and a half long), that has not worn to the arc of the drum. Both shoes look brand new, with very little wear. I guess I expected to see more of the lining gone, which lead me to question whether they were properly adjusted, and actually doing their share of the stopping.
Will multiple stops in reverse adjust them tighter?
Thanks for the reply.

[geozukigti]

They'll wear in. The rear brakes only do a small percentage of the stopping. From my experience, I've not seen a pair of brake shoes that make 100% contact till about 4,000-6,000 miles of wearing them in. I wouldn't worry about it at all.