97 ex 5spd. A few months ago i did an instruction thing on this board on doing the rear brakes, well since then, i'm having an issue with the rear drums.. when i put the new ones on every thing was great, after a bunch of miles, i started feeling a pulsing in the break pedal.. after some investigation, i found that the rear drums werent round, so i chucked them up in the lathe and turned the insides round again. put 'em back on and all was well.. now, after a bunch more miles, i've got the same issue again.. only this time i didnt notice it till it has apparently started causing some tire wear. with the car up off the ground, if you spin the rear tires you can hear whoosh----whoosh-----whoosh, accompanied with a drag as the tire spins in time with the noise... so the drums are out of round again... and its on both rears, but the fronts are still nice and straight... i was watching as the tire spun down and got stuck on one of the whoosh spots, and i was able to see that the tire is not round all the way around now. and it just so happens that where the tire has what i would call a flat spot, is on the bottom, right in the middle of the whoosh noise.

the car has all eurothane bushings in it, new struts, stock springs, and had an alignment when i did the bushings....

wheel bearings are good, no slack, and then wheel runs true and round when i spin it by hand.

did i just get a set of funky drums with something weird going on as they heat and cool, or is there something more sinister afoot?

 

so your having tire wear issues? if the wheel off the ground has a wobble when you spin it then i say your wheel bearing is going bad... the wheels should spin perfectly round. if it doesnt then either your wheel bearing is going bad or the wheel is bent or the tire has a busted belt possibly.

and if you replaced the drums and they are now out of round it could be a issue with the brake pads or linkages and springs on the inside of the drum.
but dont worry about brake pads not wearing perfectly even.... they never seem to wear even no matter what vehicle... just be sure to replace the springs and clean and grease the adjuster rod screws/cap and such.

 

i think we have a mis communication, i said with the wheels off the ground, the wheel spins true, its the tire that dosent look round.. the treadwear is even across the tire..

when i spin the tire by hand, i can feel a drag when it makes the whoosh noise(the noise is the shoes dragging on the inside of the drum, only in that one spot. that spot corresponds with the tire wear.. when the tire spins to that spot, and there is the extra drag, this causes the tire wear in that one spot...

can you explain to me how linkage or springs is going to cause a drum, that was round when new, went out of round, was machined back to round, and is now not round again?

not to mention that i specifically stated that "wheel bearings are good, no slack, and then wheel runs true and round when i spin it by hand."

so, i'll ask again, what can cause a drum to go out of round?
I've rolled all sorts of ideas around in my head... setting the parking brake while the drum is hot... poor metalurgy in these particular drums that is causing a deformation (thermal expansion) due to heat cycling.... i dont know, i just know that i dont want to have to be chucking these things up in the lathe every other weekend till i thin them out too much and have to get new ones...

 

Is the wheel way out of balance?

 

nope, wheels and tires ballanced out very nicely... i'm sure tho now that thier shoing a little wear(due to out of round drums) that if i were to re balance them they might be measureably off, but i really dont feel any unbalanced-ness when running up the highway

 

I wonder if torquing your lug nuts on greater than the recommended 80 ft-lbs could be causing your problem?

 

nope overtightening wont cause any other problems BUT you could snap the lug bolts off! which is not good but not a huge problem to replace a busted lug.
but needless to say this thread has been dead for 4months

 

I've raised the thread from the dead!

Read and weep.....

From the "experts" at http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...jsp?techid=107

"Be careful because if you over torque a wheel, you can strip a lug nut or hub, stretch or break a stud or bolt, and cause the wheel, brake rotor and/or brake drum to distort."

 

IT MAY... it doesnt always. its very rare....
most of the time it will just snap the lug bolt. BUT to overtighten a lug nut you need a very good air gun and alot of pressure. or a huge break bar.

i dont worry about it to much as long as my air gun is set to 80psi, but ive tightened em down before at 120psi and never snapped any suprisingly. but it was a huge PITA to remove them later.LOL but it didnt even strip the threads. just depends what kinda condition the lugs are in. ones in good shape can take alot of abuse while some old rusty lugs will strip and snap very easily.

 

And thus was my whole point.....