I think this is the 7th day that I've been working on my 2008 Chevy HHR LS's rear drum brakes. They just wouldn't stop making noise no matter how many times I disassembled, reassembled, and pressed the brake pedal to center the shoes... the noise just wouldn't stop! Every time that I'd apply the weight of a wheel to the studs, it's rotation would start to cease. Then it would get worse with each lug nut that I hand tighten on.
Finally, I realized something that wasn't there before. I had my parking brake cables detached from the shoes because one was previously broken. Well, I replaced the bad one, connected them to the system and tightened the system all the way down the adjustment stem of the parking break pedal.
So, I disassembled both wheels again, and separated the shoes from the parking brake cables. I then reassembled both sides and attached the parking brake cables as they were untensioned this time. Well, I got rid of the grinding noise, but right now, I need to tension them more.
