I have been experiencing rear brake noise that is there when I start out and then goes away as I travel and use them. I just replaced the front pads and rotors. I thought I would find that the rears were worn or trashed although they of course wear much less.
The victim is a 2001 dodge caravan with about 70K KMs on it.
I am into the rear brakes today, and much to my great surprise, both drums and pads are like new with minimal wear. No scoring, the wear is maybe about 10-15% on each, all shoes are wearing evenly and no cylinder leakage, no scoring. There was a small amount of brake residue in each so they are working fine I think.
The rubbing noise on the rears does not come and go when I spin as I would suspect were the drums out of round.
But - the noise is definitely from the rear brakes. I spun the axles and they turn freely with no noise at all, so that is good news. About all I can think of is to polish the very slight edge that is there from brake wear on the drums on the off chance that it is causing some slight rubbing against the side of the brake shoe.... I do not see any areas with the metal polished that would indicate rubbing though.
I pressed on the brakes and the cylinders move as would be expected Ideas? Thanks! RSVP ASAP as I would like to get my garage back! LOL.