[freemansteve]

I hear you! From anecdotal info, the only possible explanation is that, as is common, a manufacturer uses many suppliers for some of the basic parts during a production run, and some are OK and some are poor, and stick.

I have been lucky with my current Citigo car, and other recent cars with drums (and every car I have owned over 45 years, and my drum-braked 5th wheeler) to not have had sticking rear drums.

 

[911ts3]

Took my (non-sticking) drums off today for a clean out as it was a nice day, see pics.
Car has done 16300 miles, in 19 months. High-quality Ferodo shoes, no rust on the friction surface of the drums, apart from the very inner and outer edge, where there was about 1/2 a millimetre of a "lip", which proved to be a build up of brake dust and minor rust. Cleaned them out, took the half mm lip off easily with some 120grit paper, cleaned out the brake backplates, refitted the drums after repainting. didn't take long, so did the same job on the wife's Tsi aswell. Exactly the same rear brakes as the Gti. Her car is 3 years old at the end of March, with 18500 miles. Same minimal wear, same sort of dust build up inside, same Ferodo shoes, same drums. Would be nice to know if anyone else has different make of brake shoe, which could eliminate one potential cause of the sticking that some people have experienced. Mine took 3/4 hr a side because I repainted the drums, wife's took 30 mins per side.

 

[Charliefarlie]

Took my (non-sticking) drums off today for a clean out as it was a nice day, see pics.
Car has done 16300 miles, in 19 months. High-quality Ferodo shoes, no rust on the friction surface of the drums, apart from the very inner and outer edge, where there was about 1/2 a millimetre of a "lip", which proved to be a build up of brake dust and minor rust. Cleaned them out, took the half mm lip off easily with some 120grit paper, cleaned out the brake backplates, refitted the drums after repainting. didn't take long, so did the same job on the wife's Tsi aswell. Exactly the same rear brakes as the Gti. Her car is 3 years old at the end of March, with 18500 miles. Same minimal wear, same sort of dust build up inside, same Ferodo shoes, same drums. Would be nice to know if anyone else has different make of brake shoe, which could eliminate one potential cause of the sticking that some people have experienced. Mine took 3/4 hr a side because I repainted the drums, wife's took 30 mins per side.

Ferodo produce several qualities of friction materials.... For instance they produce one quality for the likes of the EBay marketplace and a superior set for the what I call proper market. The EBay versions are built and made down to a price the proper stuff is more expensive for obvious reasons.
How do you know which ones you have ?

Ferodo are not alone in doing the above. Far from it.

 

[911ts3]

Of course they do, but its been my car from new, never had the drums off before, nor replacement shoes, absolutely minimal wear. I wouldn't have thought VAG Group would supply new cars with a "lesser" quality. Neither of our cars' handbrakes are sticking either.

 

[Charliefarlie]

Of course they do, but its been my car from new, never had the drums off before, nor replacement shoes, absolutely minimal wear. I wouldn't have thought VAG Group would supply new cars with a "lesser" quality. Neither of our cars' handbrakes are sticking either.

If the technicians were deciding we would get the better kit. If left to the accounts I bet we wouldn’t.
Maybe there’s a clue there ? Some it seems stick some don’t...👍

 

[911ts3]

That's why it would be interesting to know if anyone else has had theirs apart, to see if there's more than one brake shoe manufacturer being used....

 

[freemansteve]

And the drums may not be from one single source for a run of 8 years (?)

 

[911ts3]

Quite possibly