Mismatched drums?

[Jesse]

Okay, so I pulled the drums off my new festy to begin my rear wheel overhaul and found my drums are mismatched!?
Is this intentional? Do I need new drums? What where they thinking!?

[TominMO]

Nah, somewhere along the line someone replaced one of the drums, from some aftermarket supplier.

[1chrisapple]

^x2

[Jesse]

Isn't the mantra "always replace in pairs?" Bearings, pads, shoes, rotors - always replace in pairs. But not drums?

[TominMO]

If it works, it works. Don't worry about it.

[1chrisapple]

yes usually replace in pairs but maybe one side shoe wore down to metal and not the other idk people do od things when they cant afford to do it right

[rmoltis]

You don't have to replace in pairs.

If you were one to have your drums turned.

Say one reached its limit while the other did not.

Then replaced the one past its tolerances.

While the other one had been turned.

You would still have two drums machined flat "done right"

But they Wouldnt match

It would cost $10-$20 to turn each drum vs. $50-100 for 1-2 new drums.

Some people like to be cost efficient.

[Jesse]

Sounds good, I won't worry about it.

[bhazard]

Drums are less than $20 a piece if I recall.

[Hot_Wheels]

Its a good idea to replace in pairs but you have to remember we are festiva people, most people dry festivas because there cheap cost to maintain. Its a 15 minute job to replace a drum. These cars are very forgiving and i would not sweat rolling on mismatched drums if it was my daily driver. Now if its my race festiva... then it gets new no matter what!

[Bert]

Perfectly sensible question and so far perfectly sensible answers. I know, as do most of us, to replace brakes in pairs but on frugal-owned Festys oftentimes the only side that gets hasty or immediate attention is the one that squeaks. Sooner or later (usually later) the sides get balanced up but only when it comes to new shoes or pads all on a warm and sunny day. Even then folks like me have been known to procrastinate and/or swear to re-do a different corner of the car at the start of every weekend!
In your case a single drum may have failed, badly scored or been defective and one from a different manufacturer wound up on there. Kia does not have a monopoly in making Festy drums! Hopefully the quality of the metal and the surface area and the inside diameter are relatively close from side to side, as are the shoes and timing of installation. If you're a lead foot driver on twisty roads and have a B6T or a B8 in the car you might consider swapping to matched components just to be on the safe side. Or you could start scouring the countryside armed with a new excuse to hunt down an elusive Aspire that still retains its' undercarriage and brakes!

[jason_]

Did pads today on a Malibu.

One pad gone, hogged grooves. Made such an edge I had to grind the high flare rotate rotor then slide caliper and pads off.

Touched up both outside edges, knocked off the rust flakes where they formed because of missing pad material, assembled.

New pads sounds rough as they wore in and matched crazy Rotors. Stops good.

Just brakes. As mentioned of its race stuff hooking serious corners, then yeah, spend money.

Brakes wear out no matter how much or little you spend. And expensive pads tear up Rotors, but lazy people that hate washing pad dust need sparkling wheelzzzzz.......

Sent from my rooted HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk 2 Pro

[Zanzer]

Isn't the mantra "always replace in pairs?" Bearings, pads, shoes, rotors - always replace in pairs. But not drums?

That's in regard to wheel cylinders and calipers. Everything else is fine to replace as needed.

[TorqueEffect]

Yeah, I run mismatched drums for over a year, been perfectly fine. Only thing I really notice is my ebrake grabs better on one side then the other, but that has nothing to do with the actual drums, I am starting to think the cable that goes to that side is stretched.

[Jesse]

Papery skin inside wheel hub

Well this is interesting...I just noticed a papery skin inside the same hub that had the replacement drum. It almost looks like it was heat damaged. I wonder if the old brakes were stuck and overheated to cause this kind of residue.

Here are some pictures:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/jeli...20rear%20wheel