brake drums (citroen c3)

Definitely ..

As it's been a long while since they've been done there's likely to be a fair amount of dust, so I'd strongly suggest that when you take the drums off to replace the shoes you wear a dust mask. Brake dust can be nasty stuff ... even a cheap paper decorators mask is better than nothing.

When you replace the shoes use a tiny, and I mean the merest smear with no blobs, tiny, tiny, tiny amount of copper grease on all moving surfaces, but keep it well away from the drum braking surface and shoe .. ;)

They're more complex than disc brakes, but not as difficult as they look once you get stuck in. The golden rule is to work on one side at a time only - then if there's anything you're not absolutely sure about, e.g. which side of the shoe the spring hooks on, as you reassemble, you can always refer to the other side. A good pair of mole grips is very helpful when replacing the springs, because a fair effort is sometimes needed to expand them and it's a lot easier if you don't have to squeeze pliers at the same time as you pull.

Refer to haynes when it comes to the order of removal/replacement and setting up adjusters etc. If they're not excessively worn, you can usually manage to clean them out and grease the contact points on the backplate with no dismantling, but at that mileage I expect they will be. In fact the squeal may even be an indication that the linings have completely worn away, in which case you'll need to take a good look at the inner drum surface and consider replacement of the drums as well as the shoes.

Good luck

Stu

Not really - because the squeal can still be coming from the front pads. It is often caused by one of the pads vibrating against the caliper.

There are two main ways of dealing with this problem - remove the pads and use a file to chamfer off the 'leading edges' of the friction material - and putting anti-squeal shims on the back of the pads. You can buy these in motor accessory shops in the form of a rectangle of black heat-resistant self-adhesive rubberised material. You cut out the required shape, peel off the backing, and stick it on the rear of the pads before replacing them.

I have stopped squealing pads on several occasions using this latter method.