Front Brakes Drag after "Proper" Adjustment???

check the brake hoses After years they collapse in on themselves not allowing the shoes to return away from the drums

Yippers Here Some thin Ive seen few times on Drumm,s ? Are the Drumm,s Painted ?? If they are painted ? < And Flatt black wasnt used ? Then they have been sealed with a sealing type paint ? <, This will cause excessive heat on the Drumm,s and shoe,s << will actually cause shoe padd, particule,s too adhere too the drumm,s ? << All it takes is commin down a mountain lil fast too heat um up ? I Noticed this on car in particular that altho I Couldnt see anything really wrong with the drumm,s ? If you take a knife and scrape the inside of the drumm << All the dust is like glued almost wanna say melted too the drumm ? Sand the drumm brakin surface << see if this is what,s happennin ? << Sound,s crazy But look see ifn im right here ? Hard too see with naked eye once the brake padd adheres too the drum << Look,s almost like part of the drumm, << Scrape with a knife tho see ifn dont scrape bunch of dust out of um ? Now I See that you used emery cloth ? Was there a Lott Of Dust Doe,s this temporarily fix the problem ? If So Then stripp the drumm,s down too bare metal ? Then use carb spray and scotch brite too clean the pores out << Lott,s of carb spray here ? Then Re- coat with non sealing flat black primer ?<< Light coat, here ? Now Drumm,s can breathe ? When i Did My car ? I had wire brushed and scraped whole pann for day,s ? Finally one mornin I Decided that,s it ! good enough ? grabbed the spray gun went too town on her << Painted her up good ? Sat down smoke a ciggarette have a cold drink ? Was Lookin at the great job I Had Done ? Saw how shinny black the drumm,s were ???? All I Could think was what in the hell did I Do that for ? LMAO Had too remove drumm,s and stripp um too bare metal ? LMAO Paint fume,s will make you stupid ? Yeah I Realize every one gonna say Im full of it ? paintin drumm,s doesnt matter ? < wont make that much of a difference ? Im Tellin ya that it does ! If your drumm,s are painted with sealing paint ? << Stripp them too bare metal !Lightly Coat Flat black primer !  Sean

You're open to ideas, so here's the only one I can come up with right now:
How old are the spindles?  Even if properly greased/maintained, spindles over that many miles have certainly attained some wear.  This means you will have unacceptable tolerance between the innerds of the bearings and the spindle, perhaps not out of round but rather with a worn or incorrect "profile."  Maybe try and mic the spindles and compare with tolerance readings in bentley?  or find a buddy who will let you and blue a profile on paper of known good spindle and compare to yours.

Last edited by jimchere (2005-05-31 21:15:49)

Bearings are always better a touch on the loose side than too tight, however I think if you have the wheels spinning freely off the ground (with the brakes backed off) I doubt that is your problem. I would suspect that maybe your interpretation of just dragging maybe a little too tight, especially since you say they work fine if you back them off further. Best to get a second opinion. I'm sure you'll fix it

i don't get why you feel the need to hit the brakes to "center" them a ton of times during the set up process...  I did brake jobs and oil changes in a garage for a co op during high school and since then I've been doing brakes for people for cash for years now...   go by the KISS principle... you're overcomplicating a simple process...  did you add new hardware kits (the springs) and grease your contact points... you start off with the star adjuster loose, put the drum on, turn it up until they are close, but not rubbing by any means, then you drive it and on drum brakes the adjusters will set themselves properly after a couple drives including backing up and hitting the brakes to set them...  good luck with your problem... all else fails get your drums turned or replaced...  if it is a bearing issue, sorry about your luck

^^ thank you for clearing that up with me...  I was just basing it on my past experience...  sorry......  I'm a noob to VW just not normal brakes sorry to all

Last edited by TR75supervw (2005-06-10 04:00:54)