Gonna try to give these things some much needed attention this weekend. I've bled and adjusted my brakes before, but this will be the first time I completely opened things up and replaced the shoes (they getting pretty worn down from what I can tell).
Any common gotchas I should prepare for before doing this? I can handle screwing up my engine because if the engine is broke I just don't move, but screwing up my brakes is a lot more scary because not being able to stop is harder to deal with. ;)
How worn can the drums be before they're an active hazard? This is all hypothetical as I don't know what their condition is right now, but if they end up tehcnically out of spec but my car still stops fine (it does), how much could I squeak by without a drum replacement?
Not trying to cheat death here, but if it's okay to postpone a bit and save a few bucks in the meantime that would be handy.
Armed with muir's book and the newsgroup archive I'm pretty clear on the proceedure, I just need to know if there's any "tips from the experts" or whatever to make it all go down easier, and leave the car in a state it's safe to drive in.
thanks,