Tightening the handbrake adjuster without first inspecting the drums is a bad move. 

Hi,

Sorry for dropping in on the post, seems hard to find exact threads that are recent where you could get advice. I am looking at painting my rear drums tomorrow with Hammermite black paint after I've wire brushed them and used brake cleaner to get them down to the clean metal but not bare metal.

I am also going to, next weekend, change my front discs/pads and then look at changing my rear shoes. I read on another thread, if you do something when taking the drums off you'll need to buy new ones?

Can someone elaborate on that point just so I can get the meaning a bit better?

If I open the drums to fit new shoes, still attached to the brake lines at all times even above when painting, will I need to be careful not to do something so that I won't need to replace the drums or whatever was mentioned on another thread?

Can I just open the drums and fit new shoes, close back up etc and it'll all be fine or...?

Thanks in advance! 👍🏽

 

You only need change the drums if they are scored.

I think the confusion here might be over the method used to remove drums on fiesta mk6.5 .  If you remove the drums and the hub as one unit by undoing the 4 bolts on the back of the brake plate then you will not have disturbed the bearings.

If you try to get the drum off by undoing the centre hub nut then you can cockup the bearings.

Have removed the drums by undoing the four bolts on the back of the brake plate I can definitely reccommend this way of doing it. No messing about with bearings then. BUT you need to remove the abs sensor (one bolt accessed at back of brake plate) first. The abs sensor is not actually fixed to the brake plate, it is fixed to the back of the bub through a hole in the brakeplate - I mention this as when you look where it is, it is not obvious why it needs removing first

 

edit: are we talking about a mk6.5 fiesta? BenjeeFordFan shows as having a mk6.5 fiesta zetec s. but we are in the Focus forum so what I have said above might not apply, because if it is about a Focus I do not know what the drum fitting is like on those

On the Focus MK2/MK2.5 and MK3/MK3.5 the brake drums are clamped between the wheel hubs and the wheels. This setup is compareable with the rear disc brakes.

To remove the brake drum the wheel needs to be removed. Next the brake drum can be pulled from the wheel hub. However during time the brake drums are known to seize solid onto the hubs. This can make removing them a real pain in the *****. 

Nu experience is that seized brake drums often become deformed/warped during removal. Being pretty inexpensive changing them is usually the best way if the drums are seized onto the hubs.