Recorded a video of the noise. It happens when braking, and kicks in below 7 mph or hard braking. I had my wheels balanced and rotated yesterday, and this started this morning. Is this something I can fix at home with limited car knowledge?
When where the brakes last serviced? Toyota says 36 months or 30K miles IIRC. Rear drum brakes are quite reliable, but do need occasional attention to keep them that way. The thing I find that crops up the most is the points of contact between the shoes and the backing plate: they should be lightly/carefully regreased with a high temperature grease, at the aforementioned service interval.
So I took it to toyota saying it happened after I left the dealer yesterday. They checked the noise, and its a warped drum. Luckily enough to be that. Picking a duralast one up and the issue should be resolved
Never heard of drums warping but i have heard shoes making rubbing against backing plate like Mendel said. Not saying it cant happen, but based on how shoes operate ??. How many milles you got?
Drums warp all the time, just like discs. Add heat, some water and thats it. I used to machine my own on my MG. Thinking a duralast one is going to solve the problem? For a short time I guess. Brembo’s are 18.93 each at Rockauto and you really should replace them in pairs.
Lack of lube meant they weren't releasing, overheating? The retracting springs are very strong though: they'd be making a lot of noise, for a long time, before anything else happened. Three years or 30K miles: check them them, and relube, and they'll outlast the car.
I agree with Mendel, with proper lubrication, i've never had a rear drum warp or fail. With proper maint they'll last a very long time. Ive had to replace some when they wore out, but usually long mileage. but no warping
The lube points are shown in the attachement. The main think is the three points on the back of each shoe. I've found if you just remove the clips on the retaining springs for each shoe, they relax enough that you pull them away from the backing plate, sufficient to just sneak some fresh (high temp) grease in, where the shoe touches the backing plate (3 points). I've found that in itself is enough, to keep them going near-perpetually.