I have had noting but trouble with them. Im in Pa and this time of year its always a problem, between salt, snow, slush ice and road dirt, its a problem every year. They are junk. I throw new hardware at them every year, they work great for a few months, then its back to junk. If drums were ok or better, they would be on the front of cars as well. Very few new cars have rear drums. Motorcycles did away with them years ago. The last gen for dual actuated drum breaks were very good but required alot of adjustment as well.
When I say rear bias I do not mean the rears are doing more stopping than the fronts. The fronts will always do between 60% and 80% more work. Thats why I run 13" 4 piston cobra calipers up front and 11.5 singes in the back. Perhaps I should just say more rear bias than stock. I mean the rears engage just before the fronts, and lock just before the fronts.
As a driver, I never want my front brakes to lock first. All control is lost at that point. To much rear brake bias is a big problem, you have to go look at the skid marks on a down hill lock up. The goal is for all 4 lock up with in a few inches of each other with the back locked first. Tell me, going down hill in rain or snow what good does it do you to have the fronts locked up with the rears still turning? With the rears on the edge of lock or locked it puts more weight over the front axle for more grip, if the fronts lock first it can actually unload the weight tranfer as the back of the car tries to rotate over the front. you know were your at getting max stopping power with the fronts still turning. If you have to lock up all 4 things have gone very bad and there is not much else to do. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />