looking for brake pads that last.

[Top_Fuel]

I agree that the 2014-15 brakes are barely adequate. I've never seen rotors and brake pads this small. Toss in challenging terrain and some aggressive driving and you've got a recipe for fast-wearing brake pads.

I have a theory on an additional reason why people may be smoking through front brake pads on these cars.

I think the rear brakes may not be doing as much braking as they normally would if they could be adjusted a little better...like on a traditional American drum brake. Give me a second to explain...

I'm used to American car drum brakes with star-wheel adjusters. You can very precisely adjust the brake shoes so they are a hair away from contacting the drum. My last car (Pontiac G5) had rear drum brakes and I kept them very well adjusted. When you pulled up on the parking brake, it would only click 3 times. I know that doesn't seem like much, but I determined that every click of the parking brake handle was worth 3-4 clicks of the star wheel adjuster (which pushes the brake shoes out closer to the drum surface).

If my parking brake handle clicked 5-6 times when I pulled up on it, I knew it was time to adjust the rear brakes. I sold that car with 180,000 miles, and the original brakes (front and rear) still had 50% of the friction material left!

So when I brought my new Mirage home and pulled up on the parking brake handle for 5-6 clicks, I knew the drums weren't adjusted properly. So not knowing about Asian car drum brakes, I pulled the drums off of my car when it was new to adjust them properly. After I got past the shock of having wheel bearings in the drums , I looked at the image below and said to myself..."Where are the star wheel adjusters?!?!?"



That's when I realized that you really can't adjust these beyond yanking up on the parking brake handle. If there's some other way to magically adjust the shoes out a little further, let me know!

On a positive note, the rear shoes on the Mirage are nowhere near touching the drums...so there's virtually no brake drag on the rear wheels. I guess that's a good thing for an extra bit of rolling efficiency.

[Cani Lupine]

I do daily city driving in washington dc

As a NoVA resident, I understand this completely.

[Basic]

70k plus on the OE pads here... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot man... 4 sets!!! Wow. Something is deffo wrong.

[Cobrajet]

I always thought these rear brakes were adjusted with the 'hard stop in reverse' method.

[Top_Fuel]

I always thought these rear brakes were adjusted with the 'hard stop in reverse' method.

Well...that's what I thought until I pulled one of the drums off of my car. I'm certified in brakes, but I've never seen a drum brake setup like this before because I only own American cars. Apparently this is a common drum brake setup for Asian cars. There's no star wheel adjuster and there's no access hole in the backing plate.

The service manual isn't much help. As best I can tell from reading other publications, drum brakes like this stay in adjustment by regular use of the parking brake handle. When you put new shoes on, you adjust them by stepping on the brake pedal, and then pulling up hard on the parking brake handle several times. These cars are so new, I'm wondering if anyone has had to replace brakes shoes yet on their Mirage.

[gone2]

Aaaaa

[daleWV]

That's when I realized that you really can't adjust these beyond yanking up on the parking brake handle. If there's some other way to magically adjust the shoes out a little further, let me know!

I found this procedure in the service manual. It appears that in order to adjust the rear brakes you have to loosen the hand brake cable at the lever then pump the foot brake until the strange type of adjusters (not star wheels) at the rear wheels take up slack, then tighten the hand brake cable adjuster back up as specified. Doesn't seem to be any way to get the rear brakes adjusted any tighter.

PARKING BRAKE LEVER STROKE CHECK AND ADJUSTMENT

STROKE CHECK
Attach the spring balance to the center of the parking brake lever grip. Then, check that the stroke is within the standard value when the parking brake lever is pulled to the vertical direction of the lever with a force of approximately 200 N (45.0 lb).
Standard value: 7  9 notches

STROKE ADJUSTMENT
If the parking brake lever stroke is out of the standard range, adjust as described below:
1.Remove service lid in floor console assembly as shown in the figure.
2.Loosen the self-locking nut to the end of the cable rod in order to allow slack in the cables.
3.Turn the ignition switch to "ON" position, and start the engine.
4.Repeatedly depress the brake pedal until the pedal stroke no longer changes with the engine running.
NOTE:
If the pedal stroke stops changing, the automatic-adjustment mechanism is functioning normally, and the clearance between the shoe and drum is correct
5.Turn the ignition switch to "OFF" position, and stop the engine.
CAUTION
Be careful that the parking brake lever notch number should be within the standard range. If the notch number is too low, rear brake dragging can be caused.
6.Adjust the parking brake lever stroke to the standard value by turning the self-locking nut. After adjustment, check that there is no free play between the self-locking nut and the parking brake lever.
7.After the parking brake lever stroke is adjusted, raise the rear of the vehicle. Release the parking brake, and turn the rear wheels to confirm that the rear brakes are not dragging.

[Top_Fuel]

I found this procedure in the service manual...

Thanks for posting that. I don't know how I didn't see that. Maybe the next time I have my car on a lift, I'll try that and see if I can get the shoes to adjust out a little further.

...imagine going from 65/70 miles per hour to a full on stop on a constant basis because thats basic dc traffic.

LMAO... I hear ya!

[81.Chevette]

Huh. I'm at 37,000 miles. I deliver food on brick streets, so I'm VERY hard on cars. I'm halfway through my third set of tires. and my clutch pedal pad is worn to the metal. Not a peep from the brakes.

[El Kapitan]

3rd set at 37k? wow, that makes me feel a little better about my lousy tire wear.