[andywhitehurst]

During the winter months the rear drum brakes on the 200 (1999) where making a bit of a squeal when braking so I left it till it was warmer (yesterday, a bit naughty of me but they weren't too bad)) to have a look at them. To my surprise they are perfectly ok, much more on the friction material than I was expecting to see, about 4-5mm left on them, I thought they would be worn down quite a bit and they do look like the original Rover ones.
The other thing is the handbrake lever only travels a maximum of 5 clicks (it is not possible to go past 5 and only recently have I been able to get 5 clicks out of it) yet in the manual it says 7-11 is the acceptable amount. The rear drums work fine but I was wondering what someone with more experience of brakes thinks???

 

[troy.mclure]

The squeal when braking could be anything and nothing. Firstly, I would put a very faint coat of copper grease around the metal contact points - but NOT on the friction material. That might cure it.

As for the clicks thing, its probabaly just that your handbrake is set too hard, you could slacken it but if its not rubbing I wouldnt worry too much about it.

 

[ashmicro]

It is possible that your handbrake is over-tightened. In this case, the rear brake shoes will make any one of a number of strange sounds under braking.Mine are making a very gentle thud-thud-thud, variable with road speed. (I'm actually also working on mine today for the same reason as you - spooky huh?)

Take out the rear ashtray and theres the nut for adjusting the handbrake lever - I just loosened the tension VERY slightly - problem gone, handbrake working fine.


HTH

Andy

 

[griffmonster]

rear drums are common for squeal after rain especially thwe morning after I guess i just creates a small amount of ferrous oxide causing the sqeakyness anyway my solution-pull off slow while applying the hand brake jobs a gud un!!

 

[E_T_V]

Clean out all the dust from the brakes and you'll probably find the squeal goes away. Pressure wash them to get rid of most of the dust, then use brake cleaner to get the rest of it out. Then as said above lubricate the adjusters and pivot points with COPPER grease (not normal stuff as it melts and gets on the shoes). Then reassemble and see if that cures it. I'm guessing it will.

 

[gangsteral]

my handbrake doesnt seem to click at all im guessin this is a "good" sign :_poke:

 

[troy.mclure]

No clicks...? Are you sure? The click thats benig talked about it the rachet click if you pull on the handbrake without pressing the release button first

 

[Phil]

my handbrake doesnt seem to click at all im guessin this is a "good" sign :_poke:

Just the way it should be if you use it properly. Shouldnt really pull it up on the ratchet as it damages the teeth, and eventually run the risk of it slipping off. Push the button and pull up, its not difficult.

 

[andywhitehurst]

When I saw that the shoes were OK I gave everything a good clean and applied a new layer of copper grease.
I only mentioned the number of clicks as I wondered if the handbrake cable was not correctly adjusted then it may effect the braking in some way?

 

[troy.mclure]

Just the way it should be if you use it properly. Shouldnt really pull it up on the ratchet as it damages the teeth, and eventually run the risk of it slipping off. Push the button and pull up, its not difficult.

Agreed, the clicks shouldnt really be heard under 'proper' use, but when it comes to measuring the travel on a handbrake, you need to listen to the click of the rachet.