ya the drums wont crack!!!!! ive never had a car crack drums... worst ive ever had was i busted off a chunk of one from beating it off with a hammer tho i was really hitting it hard!!!!
so unless he has to beat that sucker off really hard and it does break a chunk out...
but the older civics have threaded bolt holes in them so you can use 2 bolts to screw into them to force off the drums.... just be sure he doesnt have the Ebrake still ON or else it can easily strip the threads off the drums since the Ebrake will hold the drums on and rip the threads right out!

 

Actually, the bolts are more likely to strip versus the drums(better metal than your average grade 5 bolt most people find, grade 8 is even kinda iffy), although cleaning out the threads would be a big pain.

As for cracking drums, it IS possible. Although I'm talking about drums that have already been turned a couple of times in previous brake jobs. Each time they turn them they lose thickness, lose too much, and they'll crack. Especially under conditions where the drums are heated pretty good. IE, lot's of stop and go driving. The only thing is, if they crack, you'd most certainly know. The pressure exerted by the wheel cylinders is more than enough to separate a crack so that the shoe hangs, and the result is the wheel locking up on you. In other words, you'd be squealing a tire as you drag it around.

It's very rare, however, and machine shops are legally not allowed to charge you and are required to notify you, or the mechanic having them done, that the part is considered unsafe and recommend replacing drums and rotors that have been turned out of specifications.

I actually know a mechanic here where I live that will put out of spec rotors and drums back on cars. I know because my part's store also turns rotors and drums. I always steer customer's away from him.

The biggest danger with out of spec rotors and drums is destruction of your braking system however. If a rotor is too thin the caliper's will literally push the cup out of socket destroying them. If a drum is out of spec you're likely to lose all of your brake internals completely, if not do other damage as well. It's kinda like putting the parts in a high torque blender for metal. It gets really messy.

Regardless, I honestly always simply replace my rotor's and drums instead of turning them. For Honda's you save possibly $10 per drum/rotor by turning instead of replacing. Personally, I'd much rather know everything is right as rain instead of stringing along an older worn out part. I always recommended the same to my customers, but explained I would do what they felt was in their best interest regardless so long as the old parts were still in spec.

In regards to the Ebrake, sometimes mechanics of bad or questionable ethics will leave it on as a tactic in order to get you to spend more on repairs. There are as many good as bad mechanic's out there. It's one of the most difficult things to shop for. The absolute best places to start with are your local part's stores. In general they'll know their own customer's and which one's have the better reputations.

 

only time ive ever striped 1 bolts threads out of the drum was on my 94civic when i left the Ebrake on. WOOPS....
i didnt have much of a problem at all removing the drums off my old 84crx rusted out turd that had the brakes locked up completly. they stuck alittle but without the bolt holes theres no way i woulda got enough room to ever hammer off the drums.
and i always use hardened bolts for suspension stuff so i got plenty of them laying around!

 

actually, last winter I had a cracked drum on my car. I am pretty sure it happened when I spun out in the snow (these cars are way to light in the tail).

If you have the money though, you may as well redo the whole rear breaks with brand new drums shoes and spring kit.And in the end, a car that stops sooner is always better.

 

Damn, a cold break? That's a real rarity. Obviously you made it out ok, so that's good. Guess some hard braking heated it enough to create a flash instability in the metal. Probably when the snow itself contacted the drum.

You're right, replacing the entire brake spring set is always good to do. It's the other thing I personally always do. The springs and hold down stress and wear over time, so they are more likely to fail. However, they too aren't a doom and gloom failure waiting to happen, so it's a personal choice more than anything up until a part does fail, and then they have to be replaced.

And Addiction, so you can impress your buds, hardened bolts are technically called Grade 8 bolt's in the part's/mechanic world. They are usually zinc colored. Grade 5 are the next step down, and are usually chrome colored. The difference in the grades deals with hardening properties that change certain characteristics of them.

Example, if you have a situation where tensile forces are more common, where the bolt is being pulled on both ends, it's better to have a less brittle bolt that has some flex in it. This would be a grade 5. It's strength is in it's ability to flex more so that tensile forces won't pull it into two pieces so easily. It stretches a little better.

On the other hand, if you have shearing forces(think of a pinch point where the two part's the bolt connects try to slide apart instead of pull apart) you generally want a less flexible more brittle metal. While this metal is more susceptible to being pulled apart in catastrophic failures, it's hardness makes it give much less on side to side pinch points.

There is also grade 2, and stainless. Both of these have even lower ratings in tensile strength and are not really suited to most automotive applications. Stainless' main benefit lies in it's ability to resist corrosion, and grade five is your low ball cheapo bolt you put in places where no real stress is achieved.

All these grades are based on US bolts. Metric bolt eqiuvalent from lowest to highest is A-2 stainless, class 8.8, 10.9, and 12.9