Can Brake Drums Warp?

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The warping of brake drums occurs whenever its surface is uneven or rough from deposits of brake pads material on it as a consequence of the extreme temperatures associated with forceful braking.

When the brake drum is warped, it leads to a spongy feel in the brake pedal or sometimes even vibrations in the vehicle especially when you try to brake at high speeds.

Certainly, brake drums can warp very easily too, most especially if you are not careful enough or you do not service them regularly.

Both brake rotors and drums have specified discard measurements. Therefore, if you fail to replace them when such is required, there may not be enough material to dissipate excessive heat, and in turn, this may cause the rotor or even the drum to warp.

In most cases, the cause of brake drum warping is your brake shoes or pads when they are severely worn out so much so that extreme heat can accumulate which could significantly affect them.

When brake drums are warped, they commonly assume an odd oval shape and do not allow for any optimal clearance between the brake shoes and its drums.

Should this happen to your brakes, about the only viable option is to get the brake drums replaced altogether?

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What causes brake drums to warp?

Brake drums or rotors have specified discard measurements. Therefore, if you refuse to replace them whenever you ought to, there is the strong possibility that the material left in them may not be enough to dissipate the heat generated in the brakes regularly.

This in turn is easily capable of warping both the rotors and drums alike. In most cases, your brake pads or shoes might have worn out severely so much so that they allow excessive heat to accumulate and that is what causes them to warp.

This happens if there is not enough material in the brake to dissipate heat effectively, which implies that the warping of the rotor or drum is more or less inevitable. Essentially, therefore, your brake drums warp when extreme heat in the brakes makes its metallic components extra malleable.

A development that can distort the drums or cause the materials of the brake pads to rub off on the rotors.

This makes the surface of the rotors uneven or rough, while the brake drums look oval. This is what happens in the warping of either brake rotors or brake drums.

How do brake drums warp?

Brake drums normally become warped if too much heat is allowed to accumulate in them such that the metal parts in the brake pads and the drums become a lot more malleable.

When this happens, the parts in the brake pads can progressively get deposited on the surface of the rotors so that as time goes on, their surfaces can become quite rough, corrugated, or uneven.

And the brake drums look oval and out of shape when they are warped. When this happens, you will likely begin to feel vibrations in the vehicle when you try to brake it to a stop and the brake pedal may feel spongy too.

Essentially, therefore, when your brake drum becomes warped, it is due to the inability of the braking system to effectively do away with any heat that might have accumulated in the brakes.

This is more so since the application of the brakes leads to the generation of extreme friction, which in turn causes severe heat to develop.

If this heat is not effectively dissipated, it causes damage to virtually all the metal parts of your brake, among which is the warping of the drums.

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Does warp affect brake drums?

Warping does affect the brake drums which in turn can severely compromise the efficiency of your brakes as well.

When your brake drums are warped, the first thing you may notice is that they look oval and out of shape. Again, the vehicle may begin to vibrate whenever you attempt to operate the brakes by pressing the brake pedal.

In addition, the vehicle may also start to generate squealing or squeaking sounds and your braking efficiency and distance may also become very poor too. Warped brake drums are known to allow extreme heat to accumulate without proper dissipation in the brakes.

This can in turn systematically begin to cause brake pad materials and other metals to start peeling off or getting disfigured and bent out of shape.

Brake drums are also not spared in this heat disfiguration of the brakes. When the brake drums are distorted, they are capable of significantly reducing the effectiveness of your braking system.

So, yes, warping affects brake drums as much as it does other brake components with obvious consequences.

What happens depends on how warped the brake drum is. All the same, warping severely affects a brake drum, although a good auto mechanic can straighten it out.

How often do brake drums warp?

Specifically, brake drums are housed in a very strong casing that can last for as long as between 150, 000 and 200, 000 miles, whereas brake pads can last for as long as around 40, 000 miles.

Although you should know that these statistics are rated for normal driving situations, which can be made to change significantly under certain conditions.

For instance, how soon your brake drum warps is dependent on first, the quality of the drum itself, and second, on your driving habit0 as well.

It can also depend on the qualities and conditions of other brake components. For example, the more the quality of your brake pads, the longer your brake drum is expected to last.

With inferior brake pads, your brake drums tend to warp as quickly as possible. Put in another way, your brake drum should not get warped until it has been used for about 200, 000 miles, although this can change under certain conditions.

What happens when a brake drum warp?

A lot of things happen when your brake drums are warped which depends on the extent of warping, the quality of the brake drums, and the style of your driving too.

For instance, whenever your brake drum is warped, it is most likely going to look bloated and oval. In addition, it can lead to the vehicle vibrating irritatingly whenever you apply the brakes, particularly at high speeds. In addition to this, you are also likely to hear squealing or squeaking noises from around the brakes.

Furthermore, a warped drum will affect your braking efficiency, distance, and overall control of the vehicle. Again, unless you resurface or replace any warped brake drums, it will be meaningless to install worn-out brake pads with new ones.

This is because no sooner would you install the new brake pads than they would be quickly worn out too due to the warped drums or rotors. In other words, warped brake drums usually accelerate the rate at which your brake pads wear and tear.

If your brake drums are warped, their shapes are distorted such that they may take a kind of oval outlook which does not permit much space between the drums and the brake shoes. At this stage, their total replacement is the most eligible option.

How do you know if your drum brakes are warped?

Whenever your brake drums are warped, there is a tendency that you will feel a kind of abnormal pulsation in the brakes.

This is because the drum brakes hardly make any contact with the shoes. As a result, you will find that the shoes may simply bounce up and down or in other directions thereby causing an obvious pulsation in the brake pedal when pressed.

One way to ascertain the condition of your brake drum is to inspect its thickness. If your brake pads are not up to about 2/32 of an inch, make sure that they are replaced without any delay, and the same goes for the drum brakes as well.

A very prominent manifestation of warped drum brakes is the fact that the brake pedal is likely going to have an abnormal feel when pressed. In addition, if the brake drums are worn out excessively, vibrations can even be felt in the brake pedal.

They are also very capable of causing shuddering and pulsations which are most noticeable after stepping on the brake pedal.

For you to be able to determine whether it is your front or rear drums that are warped, apply the parking brake while the vehicle is still moving. If it feels smooth, then, know that your front drum is warped. If it feels otherwise, inspect your rear drums.

Can Brake Drums Warp – Conclusion

Your brake drums can become easily warped with a significant reduction in braking effectiveness and distance.

It, therefore, becomes something of paramount importance to know what you should do in such situations.

In most cases, when your brake drum is warped, the brake pads are an accomplice since it is part of the brake pad materials that are deposited on the brake drum. This makes it very important to choose your brake pads carefully, lest you continue to suffer from warped brake drums or rotors regularly.

Luckily, various signs and symptoms are used so that you can easily identify whether your brake drum is affected or not.

There are also vibrations in the vehicle which could be associated with bent rims, unevenly worn tires, rims out of alignment, or bad road conditions, and not just warped brake drums and rotors.

Luckily, a simple process of careful observation will reveal whether these vibrations are due to any warped brake drum or other causes.