My SWM's drum brakes have my attention at the moment and searching for improvements to drum brakes came across a few references to using 2 pack paint hardener on the brake linings to 'pep' them up. These threads were from afew years back....and not posted April 1st.

Seems the linings were lightly sanded down then 2k hardener was painted onto the linings, left to dry for a day, then sanded down again, refitted and hey presto (shazam may work too?) improved brakes....although why this should work no one knew?

Anyone doing this these days?

(Obviously no substitute for properly maintained brakes I will add...just curious)

Edited December 8, 201411 yr by iconic558

watching this one with interest !!!!

I would just get yours set up correctly with new shoes/ thicker linings to suit the drums, SWM brakes are pretty good to start with and it would also give you a baseline to judge any improvement on. All I can think of off hand is that the sanding process increased the surface area in contact with the drum or the hardener softened the linings somehow increasing brake performance, might be easier to get some different linings though.