Replacing wheel bearings on my 70 442.Thought I would share .Many old timers have seen this I’m sure. I never knew shoes were paint marked to match corresponding hardware. Are these still asbestos?

 

Unless you got ahold of 1970 NOS brake shoes they are not asbestos. Springs are colored and have been to correspond with service installation procedures and to make sure they go on the proper side and in the right order.

Remember in a drum brake set up the shorter shoe goes towards the front. This is true for 2 and 4 wheel drum braked vehicles that use the primary/secondary shoes. The rear shoe does more work thus requires a larger brake surface area.

 

I think he is referring to the matching paint marks on the shoes beside the springs.

 

Yes, thank you. I’m pretty confident these are still the first shoes the car was born with. So it sounds like the asbestos is a yes also ?

 

If they are the original shoes then yes they contain asbestos. I don't think they fully got away from asbestos until the mid 90's.

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I'll believe that anything is possible...but...the likelyhood of original brake shoes at this point in time is so small as to be nearly impossible.

I've never read anything in a service manual about color-coded shoes.

First Guess: Part of a "brake-in-a-box" shoes and hardware kit, designed for aftermarket installers including D-I-Y. Color codes reduce screw-ups by poorly-trained repairmen.

 

According to the EPA, "some brakes, especially imported ones, may still contain asbestos."

Fookin' Communists.

 

I will stick to my guns and say they are the original shoes. So far almost everything on this car that I have replaced was original to the car. I have owned it since 1982 which is also when I first started working in the auto parts business. I have never seen any aftermarket shoes color coded as primary and secondary in my entire career of 35 plus years in the industry. That is why I thought I would share. I was hoping one of the respected elders here would chime in to confirm . Maybe it hasn’t been noticed before because when the shoes are being replaced they are worn out? It seems like most of the paint is on the friction itself.