Subaru Impreza "Battlewagon" Ep. 2: Drum Brakes Gone Wrong... 

Oh man... I am envious of that lack of rust under there! Funny that brakes were the first thing to go wrong after I lifted mine too. Rusty line broke right off one drum & the other side locked up & ate the wheel bearing with sparks flying all over. Ended up swapping over to a full WRX brake setup with AN fittings/line. Stops the big tires no problem now!

Oh man am I glad I have rear brake rotors. That looks like a total pain. Nothing is better than when the car breaks when you have modding plans haha. Loved the video and can't wait for more!

I'm considering painting my calipers and drums, so cheers on the drum walk-through. Those springs would have caught me by surprise

Nice work man! Glad my 96 Outback uses disc brakes instead of those drum brakes, they looked like a nightmare.

Love your videos man! Fellow Subie head. When doing brakes and changing tires you can put a small amount of anti seize grease between the hub and the back of the drum and a small amount on the face of the drum. This will make wheel changes and brake jobs much easier in the future. Do not ever use anti seize on wheel studs/ lug nuts and make sure you retighten your lugs in a star pattern. Happy Wrenching

loving this series of Subaru Impreza.

Loving the videos!

Nice job on your videos. Your brake squeal was likely caused by those broken spring retainers, which allowed the shoe to ride a little cockeyed in there and grind on the the drum. If your drums were out of round, you would have felt it in the brake pedal. Out of round won't cause squealing, and you probably didn't need to have them turned at the machine shop. The odd wear pattern on the shoes was from someone driving with the parking brake engaged. As has been mentioned, it is best to use just a bit of anti-seize compound on the hub center of the drum, so the hub center of the wheel doesn't get stuck on there over time. Not too much, a little goes a long way. Also, please tighten your lug nuts in a star pattern. Cranking them down tight in a circle will have a tendency to warp the drum or rotor. Drum brakes are very simple. They're just different than what most people are used to working on nowadays. Always do one side at a time, so you have a reference for how they go back together.

I just picked up a 2002 bugeye outback sport, this channel is awesome! could you switch from drum brakes to disk? or would it even be worth it?

Love you're video man.I have impreza 98 my question is did you had speedometer problem cuz when I got mines it wasn't working so I had to ask if you had videos on how to fix or change?

Thank you for this vid i have a 2002 foz and i got the same thing soon as im about to stop right at the end i hear this squeak loud as hell. Now i know what i have to do i had changed the rear brakes it help but then came back .. Thanx aging . i didn't know what the hell was going on. .

I owned a 1972 Ford F-100 a long time ago. All four wheels were drums on that thing. I got really good at rebuilding drum breaks, bout all I have to say about that. Drums still are a pain.

I love both of these cars. I own the Bugeye wagon and the Impreza outback sport. Unfortunately for mines I had it parked for about 3 weeks and went out to finally drive it and as I put in reverse it would not move later figuring out the brakes locked up in the rear because the shoes slip off. Both cars are amazing I just hate drum brakes 😂🤦🏻‍♂️ probably will convert them eventually to pads.

Thank you the trick with bolts help me a lot :)

Dope you went to JNU. That's my hometown.

I’ve been having a similar type of problem except my brakes have been failing completely sometimes and it sounds like grinding metal like you dead but also super loud thumping

the noise was most likely because those two hold down springs for the shoes, on that one side were off.

Where where do u get ur parts / mods ?

Doing a disc swap on these is not hard. Highly recommend. Should be able to accept the brakes from the Legacy or Outback.

Hey I’m really wondering how much did you pay for the that little cnc machining

Bruh... Was that a club on your steering wheel...?

I can't believe you bought this Impreza for $125. I bought mine 1999 for $1900 and it looks worse than yours. What I have done?

And ya saw the young Ltjg Sonnega

Currently fighting with my 98 impreza drums and I wanna blow the whole fucking car up

To make life easier invest in a bearing puller for your wheels. My Subarus wheels seize to the hub all the time so instead of using a mallet I use a bearing ouller with one nut still on loosely. Loaded easier and faster