Am getting ready to change out the rear brake shoes on my '94 Bronco. What is the thinking/experience on bonded shoes, which are OE vs riveted brake shoes. One better than the other, or is this just a mind or preference thing??????

 

I don't thing there is an advantage of one over the other. Bonded would technically lasy longer though since when you get a safety inspection the pads have to be at least 1/32" over the rivets but bonded can be almost metal to metal.

-Jon

 

Jon,

Am going in the direction of riveted, rather than bonded. Talked to some other guys and they told me about bonded brakes actually peeling and flopping around inside the drum. Don't need that occurring on the backside. While replacing the shoes, I am also going to replace the retracting spring and shoe hold down spring. They can get stretched and allow the shoes to lay up against the drum. Thanks for information. By the way, down in the County in which I live in Florida, we don't have any inspections. You can just imagine what is out on the roads. Sometimes scary and very unsafe.

 

I've never heard of the bonded shoes coming loose but that would be pretty scary. I agree with replacing all the springs and hardware, i've seen hold-down springs break causing the shoes to get wedged up, i've also seen this happen cars with leaky wheel cylinders, it can actually start the break fluid on fire while you drive.

-Jon

 

It's a toss.

Rivits that are not properly set will allow the lining to chuck -- eventually elongating the holes and cracking the lining.

If a bonded shoe used 'crappy' glue or improper process control techniques, the lining can indeed peel off.

In either case, a thin enough slice of either can wedge and lock the wheel -- but that is a very rare situation.

Choose new lining from a manufacture whose name is recognizable and you're likely never to have any trouble.

 

Appreciate the info Y2K !!

Put on some new riveted shoes from NAPA along with springs a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good. I am not hard on brakes, so hope to get some reasonable life out of them.

 

Ive run both on the street & in racing applications, I prefer bonded but there is really no diff as long as the builder is a good name (ps...avoid Raybestos, I have personally had poor luck and service from them)