All winter long, at slow speeds, I heard a squitsh, squitsh noise coming from the rear of the car. If I pulled on the parking brake, the noise would go away until I hit the next pot hole.
Well, it finally got warm enough to pull the right rear brake disk. Yep, the shoe was rubbing on the drum. But, just one end of the shoe. The entire shoe assembly can be flopped, rotated by hand, around the pivot point where the cable comes into it.
There are 2 steel brackets that keep the shoes from flopping side to side, but shouldn't the shoes also have something to keep them from going front to back??? I can see nothing broken or missing and I cannot compare it to the other rear wheel because it is still on the ground. Floor jack.
Any helpful hints??? BTDT??

EDIT: My guess is that the two spring metal clips are too weak/loose to hold the shoes in position. Can they be bent back or do I have to buy new ones?


Klaus

--
1975 164 w/174,800mi (Sold) 1995 850T w/91,000mi, 1998 V70R w/129,000mi

Klaus,
My parking brake setup has made this noise for years. Like you, if I pull up a bit on the handle it goes away. You can hear it well if you drive down an alley or under an overpass slowly as the sound reflects then.

I thought it was the brake shoes coming unglued (as some people reported in the past). Just did rear brakes and rotors though and found nothing amiss. It seems to me also there's nothing that really locates these shoes especially precisely.

I decided to ignore it. The noise is one among many others. When passengers in my cars (Volvos and previously a Saab) comment on the noises, I say, "Well, you're in a car, not in your living room."

Good luck. What's a BTDT?

Been There Done That. I just put it all back together... There are two large spring clips, one on each shoe, that supposedly hold the shoe in the proper place. Rusty buggers, and each clip is held in with a 6mm hex nut. Problem is, the inside of the hex nut is also rusted, so getting the spring clip out is hardly an easy option.
The two clips are the guts of the "self adjusting" brakes. I tried to bend them back into shape, I pushed it 1/4 inch tighter than it was, but we shall see. I will probably go back to the dealer and get new spring clips and hex nuts. Then use PBBlaster to soak it for a while.
Like you, it is not a top priority job, except one of my cables is getting very slow to retract and keeps me from using the Ebrake. Slow, like in 24 hours.
One of these days, like when I need new rear rotors...

Klaus
--
1975 164 w/174,800mi (Sold) 1995 850T w/91,000mi, 1998 V70R w/129,000mi

I had the exact same problem.

Read pad rubbing against the inner part of the rotor.
I thought there was some binding etc.
Took the rear rotor off (btw it is tough with rust, it took a long time to remove the rear rotor).
Clean everything and lube the cable a bit.

The same noise is still there, mostly at low speed. So I decide to live with the noise. It is only noticeable at 5-10 mph.
Above 20 mph, road noise takes over :)

FYI, My Honda Odyssey van had squeaky noise from the rear cable so I posted the fix for that at the Ody forum. Not the same topic but similar rear pad setup:

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=3e8c4eea5cd252c0e35915215d2bade0&threadid=31713

CN
98 V70