Does the handbrake in your Corolla come up way high before the rear brakes engage? If so, then see this video and do a manual adjustment to improve your braking performance.
This video was created to see if the auto adjusters on the rear drum brakes worked in 2 situations
1. When using the handbrake
2. When using the footbrake
Handbrake:
Both brake shoes moved, although the front shoe moved less than the rear. No movement of the adjuster “turnbuckle” was noticed, no relative movement of the adjuster plate in the front brake shoe could be seen and no clicks were heard when the handbrake was pulled up by 6 clicks.
Footbrake:
When the hydraulic cylinder actuates the shoes, both shoes move with the rear more so than the front. The adjuster plate can be seen to move relative to the front shoe with the 2nd and 3rd brake pedal pushes. Also I could see the turnbuckle assembly turning and the adjustment clicks could be heard on release of the brake. Note, the shoes normally do not move as far as the 2nd & 3rd pushes, so your adjuster will not come off the front shoe like mine did.
So, I think, the Auto adjuster only works when the foot brake is used. The handbrake seems to have no effect on the auto adjusters when used.
I was able to take out around 20 clicks of adjustment on my 30K mile corolla, still had free wheel movement and the handbrake engaged much sooner.
On my daughters 117K mile corolla, I could take out 44 clicks of adjustment and the handbrake is now effective, it wasn’t before. Also the regular braking is more defined, instead of being spongy and having a long travel on the brake pedal.
So I doubt the auto adjusters actually work on these 2 cars and at that 100% rate, all corollas probably have this issue.
Can they be made to work?
Do the shoes move far enough inside the drum to allow the adjusters to work?
I don’t know the answers to these questions
Perhaps we DIY’ers should just do a manual adjustment whenever the engagement point on the handbrake exceeds 6 to 9 clicks???