Hi guys,

I last drove my car two days ago in the rain then I left it parked in my drive since. Today I went to drive away but when I pulled the handbrake down, the car wouldnt move!

i reversed with a side of high revs for abit then I drove forward and it made a loud thud and released.

 

is this normal or do you think there is a problem here? My car is a 09 focus with drum brakes. This has happened once before in the past when it wasn’t driven for a day after lots of rain.

 

cheers

My 2006 Focus does the same after its stood overnight after its been washed.

Good to know its not just my car! I've done some digging online and it seems its quite a common issue with Ford rear drum brakes. Cant find any real solutions to the problem though :/

one of the reasons I did a rear disc conversion. god awful things are drums.

How complex is it to do a rear disc conversion?

nothing hard but quite a few steps, you need new hand brake cables, brake hoses, caliper, carrier, splash shields and some bolts, heres a guide made by one of our very own members, Drum brake to Disc brake conversion.pdf

hardest part was disconnecting the old drum and getting the parts you need, one word of caution, Mr insurance will want to know and most insurers wont touch brake modifications.

Ref: stuck drum brakes. Yep, happens in my car all the time. Wash car, put it away, they groan the next morning. Happens in the Jaaaag as well, rear discs notwithstanding.

I would like to meet the man who invented drum brakes, and shake him warmly by the throat.

My 1983 Mini Shi*te, er, I mean Sprite. Drums all round, 1275, 10 inch alloys. Like The Terminator, it absolutely would not stop after you'd washed it. Lesson well learned.

As Dee says, insurers don't like you mucking about with braking systems. Another lesson learned when I changed my R6 Rover Metro from a 1.4 GTa to a 1.8 VVC. 75BHP to 160 BHP we can do, but brake mods? Er.... tell us about it.

9 hours ago, Dee_82 said:

nothing hard but quite a few steps, you need new hand brake cables, brake hoses, caliper, carrier, splash shields and some bolts, heres a guide made by one of our very own members, Drum brake to Disc brake conversion.pdf

hardest part was disconnecting the old drum and getting the parts you need, one word of caution, Mr insurance will want to know and most insurers wont touch brake modifications.

Ah the insurance aspect of this may be the killer here. Insurance is expensive enough as it is but thanks for sending that over mate.

6 minutes ago, Ford_lover38 said:

Ah the insurance aspect of this may be the killer here. Insurance is expensive enough as it is but thanks for sending that over mate.

You could phone and ask them. I done a rear brake conversion on my mk1 focus, phoned up the insurance to declare it and they were not interested. I had used standard ford parts and they did not charge me any extra for the privilege. I also had a print out from the brake rollers to prove they were meeting the correct efficiency too, not that they wanted to see it lol

I’ll drop them a call and see what they say regarding it.

If I cant convert it it disks then I guess I will just have to leave the car in gear after driving in the rain rather than use the handbrake 🙄

I tried loads of places and none were interested , doesn't matter if it's all ford parts and professionally installed. Ended up going to Adrian flux on here. Cost more but I'm insured, I actually wish I'd have known this before. Next time, I'll buy the car I want rather then mod it on.

I can't remember who my insurer was at the time but I had it on my policy for no extra cost. I have a stainless exhaust declared on my current policy with Admiral for no extra cost too. 

7 hours ago, Ford_lover38 said:

Ah the insurance aspect of this may be the killer here. Insurance is expensive enough as it is but thanks for sending that over mate.

Hi,

If you do have any problems with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

I had a Focus with rear drums which had a habit of sticking on at the most inconvenient times.

I could free it off with a kettle of boiling water poured over the offending drum.

This would quite possibly result in water inside the drum itself causing further sticking difficulties, so before parking up, I would drive for a mile or so with the handbrake pulled on to heat up the drum and dry the insides.

Of course if you are parking it up for a while try to leave the handbrake off making sure that it will not roll off!

H T H

ScaniaPBman.

On 23/01/2018 at 9:56 PM, Dee_82 said:

one of the reasons I did a rear disc conversion. god awful things are drums.

Me too.

16 hours ago, ScaniaPBman said:

I had a Focus with rear drums which had a habit of sticking on at the most inconvenient times.

I could free it off with a kettle of boiling water poured over the offending drum.

This would quite possibly result in water inside the drum itself causing further sticking difficulties, so before parking up, I would drive for a mile or so with the handbrake pulled on to heat up the drum and dry the insides.

Of course if you are parking it up for a while try to leave the handbrake off making sure that it will not roll off!

H T H

ScaniaPBman.

Yeh whenever it rains or the rear brakes get wet I just leave it parked in first gear with the handbrake off. Leaving it in gear seems to stop it rolling off! Just cant believe how much of a common problem is with people and not much has been done to really address it

My focus had the same rear brake drum stick.

I sprayed my drum cables with wd40 other brands available and worked so far no stick yet. Have look on this site a great helpful mk2 common faults guide.

Not usually the cables that are the problem, its the shoes sticking to the drum when rust builds up, hence why its only after it rains or you wash the car that they stick.

Had the same problem on a previous Focus.  Removed the drums, sprayed everything with brake cleaner and it never happened again.

1 hour ago, Freddy42 said:

Had the same problem on a previous Focus.  Removed the drums, sprayed everything with brake cleaner and it never happened again.

This sounds like it could be worth a try. Any particular brand of brake cleaner you would recommend?

I used STP Heavy Duty brake cleaner. Good stuff to clean everything when replacing discs and pads.

Thanks mate, I'll give it a try.