2000 accord SE - rear drum brakes self-adjusting ?

Hello all,
trying to figure this out. I think they could do with
tightening a little. When driving, seems like almost all the
braking is from the front.
Had to replace the front pads at 15K miles.

I'm suspicious that the reason for this is because the rear
drums are not optimaly adjusted.

Any info apprecitaed.
Dave

 

Expect to replace the front disks at least twice before having to
replace the rear drums. 15K miles is too soon unless you live in San
Francisco and are driving up and down steep hills all the time.
Were all the 4 pads worn the same? Did you use Drake grease on the
Calipers so the inner and outer pads wear evenly?
Check your driving habbits.....are you riding the brakes? Also your
wife and kids.

 

driving habits OK - never had this problem on
any previous cars.

Do the back brakes on this Honda adjust themselves?
Perhaps by use of the handbrake?
Somebody must have an insight on this?

Dave

 

My experience with rear drum brakes is that they do adjust. I had a
bad experience with the replacing of the rear drums on my '92 Accord,
so I made sure that my '01 Accord has 4 wheel disks.

The pads that only lasted 15K miles could have been poor quality soft
pads.

I prefer to buy my Brake Pads from Auto Parts stores that sell to
mechanics and if they have a choice, I prefer to buy the better
quality.

There is a lot of junk for sale out there.

Changing pads is an easy job but changing Honda drums is a frustrating
job.

 

Drum or Disk brakes?

Drum brakes: from a stop, backup and come to a complete stop. Won't hurt to
make the car rock slightly, that's when they self-adjust. Do this 4 - 5
times. This will turn the self-adjusteing gear and adjust the drum brakes.



Disk brakes: you cannot help adjustment on disc brakes, the caliper piston
will automatically adjust for pad wear.



Good luck

 

============

Did you mean to say 'use the PARK BRAKE TO come to a complete stop....?
The manual probably says to use the park brake regularly..... Even if
the car is an automatic.

=====================


'Curly'

 

it's the foot brake that operates the rear drum self-adjuster. if you
have any worries, apply the foot brake _hard_ 10 - 20 times. that
should pick up any slack caused by "gentle" driving. the advice about
using the hand brake is in case the transmission locking pawl is not
engaged properly - the car can roll.

saw that on a u-haul once. the driver parked, got out, & climbed in the
back. the transmission made a "tink" noise, then a ratcheting sound as
it rolled down a steep grade into some parked cars. ugly.

and i live in san francisco. i have 50k on my pads and they're only
about 70% worn. beware dealers/parts shops that want to sell you stuff
because they think you don't know any better.