Do it yourself.... brake shoe relining

rospaw · Post by **rospaw** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:09 am

Anyone ever tried to re-line there brake shoes? Thought i would try it on the rears to start. Any tips would be great! Which type of pad would you use: Low-Friction, Med-friction, High friction or Semimetallic? Anyone know how wide the pad (not shoe) is? trying to keep from removing the drum just to measure

Thanks, Shawn

spandit · Post by **spandit** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:56 am

Don't know if they're bonded or riveted but I know you can get shoes on exchange in the UK so it must be possible. Whether or not it's within the scope of the home mechanic, I don't know

NC_Mog · Post by **NC_Mog** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:35 am

I don't know why you would. If you can get the friction material, re-riveting new material on an existing shoe is pretty cheap done at a heavy truck brake place.

Pinzgauer Pete · Post by **Pinzgauer Pete** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:48 am

Only way I would ever consider this is if they were no longer available...why would you?...you are not going to save much money and actually no money if you dont already have the rivets,the liner and the tools to install said items, its one of those jobs that just has no payback..but surely can be done if you really want to!

rospaw · Post by **rospaw** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:19 pm

NC_Mog wrote:I don't know why you would. If you can get the friction material, re-riveting new material on an existing shoe is pretty cheap done at a heavy truck brake place.

I am always up for a challenge

It would be another thing i could mark off my list of things i've done! or tried to do! lol I can get any of the four friction material (high quality) for about $6 a ft. I wish they are riveted (purchased a free standing riveter many year ago from lockheed) but i think i remember them being bonded. My thought is to take a piece of scrap 2x10 oak and bandsaw the pattern out and use both the cut outs for a jig to hold the shoe/friction in my press for bonding.?

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:45 pm

Riveted.

undysworld · Post by **undysworld** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:48 pm

The originals are riveted on. I believe it's the lowest sticky pad material. It was 1/4" thick, as close to metric as I was told was easily available.

I was advised that rivets are preferable to bonding, especially in the case of a vehicle that sits for many months idle. Rust can develop between the pad and backing causing a failure. Maybe rivets are less prone to this, I can't say.

If you've got exchange shoes, you could just swap out the parts and be done in no time. Otherwise, you've got brake component parts laying around until the shoes get relined.

That said, I'd order them from SAV or Jim L. as exchanges.

I contacted a local reliner, who promised to do them for $20-25 per shoe. I even measured everything. He'd strip 'em, media blast 'em, primer and paint 'em, and then reline them. So I pulled 'em and drove to his shop and dropped them off. I returned to find a $300 bill, or $37.50 per shoe. "Oh, they were bigger than I expected." Yeah, Bu!!shi#.

Moral, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. SAV and Jim's prices seem very fair.