From my experience, unless the handbrake shoes have come unbonded, or the linings are showing signs of cracking, I would never replace the shoes. They don't do a lot of work, and if you replace them with new, invariably the handbrake is relatively poor for sometime until the contact area of the new shoes 'beds in' to the contact face of disc as they only come into contact when the handbrake is applied, not like the pads of the primary brakes. This is compounded when new discs and handbrake shoes are fitted at the same time. The linings on the handbrake shoes aren't particularly thick, and sometimes the mistaken perception is that they are worn more than they actually are.
Of course a few trips up the road with the handbrake gently applied can accelerate the bedding in process, but the operation and contact of the shoes to the inboard face of the disc whilst moving doesn't prolong the life of the handbrake linings, and it can lead to bonded linings coming adrift. Rivited linings don't suffer this issue to the same degree.
A bit like the MOT tester yanking the handbrake on, rather than a very gentle application. I have had cars with similar handbrake set ups loose the lining because of this, which can then result in the rear disc locking up when the loose lining jams inside the disc.
So unless they are totally shot at, personally, I wouldn't change the handbrake shoes.
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Topic: Rear Brakes (Read 16191 times)