Strange brake situation...

It is a waste of time for you to wish that the prior owner should have performed a repair. It didn't happen and you have the responsibility and burden to deal with the current situation. You'd might as well wish for an end to world hunger or poverty. The effect will be the same - nothing will happen as a result of the wish.

It is not OK or safe to drive a car where a wheel might lock up at any time. Maybe there is something wrong with the parking brake mechanism.

I don't understand the assertion that a brake assembly could not be inspected. The inspection process is simple: remove the brake drum, and look at the exposed brake shoes and wheel cylinder mechanism. If something was going to 'spill out' then the car certainly should have been immediately repaired, instead of allowing you to drive away.

I don't understand the assertion that the drums have to be replaced by summer. What is wrong with the drums? If they truly have a fault then they should be immediately replaced. What is the purpose of waiting 6 months?

It is really easy to replace the brake drums. After the wheels are removed, the old drums literally can be pulled off by hand, and new ones installed. In the event that a drum is rusted in place, two 8 mm bolts can be screwed into the two threaded holes in the drum, to force the drum off.

To provide another data point, my 2004 has logged 190K miles and the rear brake shoes and drums are original equipment. Usually the rear brakes experience very little wear because 1) regen braking on the front axle bears most of the braking load when the car is at speed, and 2) the front disc brakes bear the residual braking effort when the car is moving slowly. The rear brakes are mostly there to serve as a parking brake.

 

it is a known issue in snow and salt climates that the rear drums and etc. may need service early on in the cars life. i suggest reading some of the threads here, and then servicing your car accordingly. all the best!

 

whoever told you they couldn't inspect one of the rear brakes was a complete idiot. the technician was a complete idiot too. the rear brake locking sounds like one of the springs broke or wasn't installed correctly. regarding brake drums, if your not getting a pulsation or vibration or something from an out of round drum, there's no need to replace them. if they have been resurfaced to the point of being oversized you would also need to replace them, but I doubt they would be oversized after a single brake job. and how would they know the drum was oversized if they never pulled it? find a good, honest shop and get those brakes inspected asap!

 

Hmm. Since they would have had to remove the drum to make any sort of assessment including whether they couldn't inspect it because of some other issue, I think that statement provides proof that they already did this and found a serious problem. More likely, they probably caused a serious problem when they did this and are trying to cover it up by telling you they couldn't inspect it.

 

Clearly what you are describing IS NOT by any stretch of the imagination a safe driving situation. So no, NOT SAFE.

You have a wheel seizing up. Evidently seized up tight enough to cause a skid mark, and that was at a slow speed.

Since you are not 100% sure what is causing the seizing, you can't be 100% sure it won't happen again. But driving a vehicle with a questionable braking system, and where a wheel is seizing is not safe.

From what you describe? There is no way I would of done anything but call a tow truck. Several miles including highway driving? What would of happened had the wheel seized up at high speed?

There are repair scenarios that allow for planning, budgeting and driving the vehicle into the repair shop. Then there are repair scenarios that just immediately need to be addressed. IMO brake issues and wheel/suspension are the latter.

I wouldn't drive it at all.

 

if the first brake job had been done right, you wouldn't have needed the second brake job. unless the springs were damaged by an incompetent mechanic that when he couldn't remove the drum easily, he pried the hell out of it instead of simply backing the adjuster off like your supposed to do if the drum won't let go of the shoes.
my '04 did get new shoes at about 85k miles, but the only thing I could see that might have been wrong with them, they were a different shade of gray than the new shoes I bought from toyota. they certainly were not even close to worn out. I suspect the previous owner had been suckered with the "clean and adjust" scam and they had cleaned the shoes with the wrong chemical. the reason I bought new shoes was because the rear brakes sounded like they were metal to metal sometimes when I braked. I was very surprised when I pulled the drums and saw that the old shoes were nearly as thick as the new ones.
frankly, I wonder if you even needed brakes the first time; thief mechanics will sell brakes when not needed cause its easy money.

 

Hmm. Now how did I guess

 

congrats on a good outcome. i suppose you might consider pulling the drums and inspecting every 5k with tire rotate.

 

I'm also glad this reached a safe and complete resolution.

And for some reason I'm hungry for spaghetti...