I recently bought a 97 dodge stratus from a lady. The car drove great for about a month. Since then I have had the brake shoes replaced twice. It sounds like I am dragging a tree under my back passenger tire. After the brake shoes were replaced, the sound stopped but one day later, it started again. What is the problem??? I also have a brake fluid leak that was fixed but started right back. So far i have spent over 600 dollars on this car since i bought it and I'm a college student and really don't have the extra money to continue to do this.... Can anyone help?????!!!!

 

Inside the brake drum is a complicated setup. There should be a piston that pushes the shoes up into the drum, and a set of springs that are supposed to pull it back away from the drum. If it sounds like you're dragging something, it's likely that the springs are worn, broken, or downright missing. Another possibility is bad brake hoses, which with pressure from the master cylinder, will push the shoes out into the drum, but collapse when bleeding back. This can create extra pressure that can also cause a leak. I would inspect/replace the brake hoses, as well as verify the springs are doing their job too. Also make sure your e-brake cable has a little slack on it when down, as that could cause the same sort of symptoms.

You'll also find that once your brake issues are fixed up, you'll get better gas mileage too