I put front pads & rotors on my 2005 Cavalier sedan at 75,000 miles, and now at 125K the (aftermarket) pads are 80% gone and the rotors have started to pulsate again. Planning to do it all at once, I was wondering how much rear shoe life was left, but couldn't get a drum off--suggesting the shoes have worn a lip on the drum flange. I wasn't in the mood to unwind the adjuster and wrestle a drum off when I didn't have new parts to install at the same time. So, I'm still wondering: about how far do rear shoes go? The car makes an easy 60-mile commuter round trip every weekday on mostly open roads and is driven pretty easily--no teenagers. What has been your experiences?

 

the ratio i think used to be braking is 80% front and 20% rear. the only real way to tell is to inspect them. not sure if you can get the drums turned down or not is theyre OEM then you should be able to as long as theyre not too far gone

 

I used to own a 2005 Cavalier. What Irish Alley said is true, particularly on the Caviler. Mine ate the front disk brakes up much more so then the drum rears. I didn't have the issue of the drums not coming off, but they were still plenty good enough to run until I bought my 2015 Malibu, so I just did the the fronts and they did wear out more quickly then I would have expected with all the freeway driving on open road, getting to work, particularly as I downshifted the 5 speed stick lots coming up to a stop to save the front brakes. That said, I liked my 2005 Cavalier a lot. Chevy built that model for 23 years, compared to the Cobalt that replaced it at 4 or 5 years.