Main Menu

Brake fluid on brake shoes

Started by soundcontrol, September 27, 2020, 01:28:29 PM

Previous topic Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

soundcontrol

One of my front wheel cylinders on my Barracuda broke and I got brake fluid all over my new brake shoes.
Now, I asked some people I know, and I got many different tips.
Heat them up with a flame (some said not to do this), clean with brake cleaner, clean with acetone, heat them in an oven and clean with acetone, soak over night in vinegar.

They are riveted, not glued. So no glue that can loosen up if I heat them up.
So I'm asking here also, I could get new ones, but I wanna try to save these first since they are (where) new, and I don't wanna wait for them (have to order).

Katfish

I'm going through this now with my rear brakes.
It was DOT 5 and not totally soaked, I cleaned with brake cleaner then hit the pads with some sandpaper to take off the surface layer.
Since they're the back brakes i'm not too worried, we'll see how it turns out.

Rich G.

I agree, Brake clean is all you need.


Chryco Psycho

 :iagree:
Brake clean is designed for this exactly .

jimynick

Don't forget to take some 40-80 grit paper and give them a good scuff after the brake cleaner. I usually give the edge of the shoe material a wee chamfer on their outer edges. Makes sliding the drum on easier as you're not dealing with a sharp edge. Just my  :alan2cents:
In the immortal words of Jimmy Scott- "pace yourself!"

kawahonda

Brake parts cleaner is one of the best inventions ever!

1) Cleaning permanent marker from beer-bottle caps.
2) Spraying messes on garage countertop or flooring
3) Cleaning paint guns
4) Cleaning gasket areas.
5) Cleaning parts
6) Cleaning tools
7) 1,000 other uses

Oh yea, and brakes. :)

You can never have enough cans of it.
1970 Dodge Challenger A66

1 Wild R/T

If they just got soaked brake clean will help, if the fluid leaked on them & sat for a month you will probably wind up replacing them... The lining changes & the brakes will grab causing unpredictable wheel lock-up..


soundcontrol

Quote from: 1 Wild R/T on September 27, 2020, 09:31:12 PM
If they just got soaked brake clean will help, if the fluid leaked on them & sat for a month you will probably wind up replacing them... The lining changes & the brakes will grab causing unpredictable wheel lock-up..

They sat for almost a week now, been raining here and I got the car on jackstands. I'll do it tomorrow!Hopefully it will be OK.

I use brake cleaner when I get oil stains on my stones in front of the house, only thing I tried that actually works on those.

Soak overnight in vinegar sounds interesting also, I use vinegar for a lot of other stuff, it will clean up a lot of stuff I thought was
unusable.

soundcontrol

Nope, tried everything except the owen. Brake cleaner, paint thinner, alcohol, 24% vinegar för 30 Hrs.
Ordered a new set from RockAuto now, wait another week....

RUNCHARGER

Good call, they're done. Riveted.most likely pretty old.
Sheldon

soundcontrol

Quote from: RUNCHARGER on September 30, 2020, 06:41:33 AM
Good call, they're done. Riveted.most likely pretty old.

No, they were new, just changed.


MoparLeo

Should have gone with bonded lining. Riveted shoes will crack between the rivets many times.  Todays bonded linings are the better shoe.  Always safer to discard badly contaminated friction materials. They are not simple sponges that you can dry out. They are a composite of several materials. Like soaking a piece of particle board, not good. :stayinlane:
moparleo@hotmail.com  For professionally rebuilt door hinges...