brake problem

[95WhiteCamry]

Hi all.
first, apologies about my last thread, i posted before searching.
second, i am experiencing a problem with my hand brake. it doesn't seem to hold at all. on a very slight downhill, i put the car to neutral and let out on regular brakes to let the car roll and as i engage the hand brake, the car keeps moving. my car is the model with drums in the back. should i just change my drums? or is there something that may need tightening?
last, my front brakes aren't giving me the greatest stopping ever they possibly could. should i just change the pads or should i also change the rotors? also, how do i know whether the rotors will need changing? thanks a lot guys!

( this time i actually did search but did not find too much sufficient information )

[chronoti]

well pull your back drum off and see how it looks back there, check the rear drum it see if it worn down too much (the limit is stamped somewhere on the drum)if you still have some thickness on the pad there a thing in the middle you can turn to tighten the brakes. i also have heard that setting the parking brake and going backwards helps to tighten up the back brakes.

[EKam]

You should tighten the hand brakes, it tends to get loose overtime.

[Toysrme]

More importantly, check/replace the brake shoe for the parking brake.
They wear out hella fast.

[rusty9]

first off just have the rear drums cleaned and adjusted. a shop shouldnt charge more than 20-30 dollars.

secondly, what do you mean by "my front brakes aren't giving me the greatest stopping ever they possibly could." do you mean the pedal is soft? does it go all the way to the floor? you have to be more specific about that one. but if youre taking it to a shop to have the rears adjusted, you might as well ask them to look at the fronts.

[95WhiteCamry]

ok, thanks guys. i'm gonna go to the shop about my rear brakes during the week.
in regards to the front brakes, the pedal does feel kinda soft. i don't have to mash it all the way down yet but it doesn't feel as firm as it does like in my dad's mercury or his RAV4.

[MIKEBRAWN1]

Take it to a shop and have them check the brakes out. I work at midas and have all the specs at work for the minimum readings for your rotors and drums. Midas does a free brake inspection so if you take it too them they will check it our for free and show you the problem. And to adjust the rear brakes you back up and hit the brakes just about to the point of lockup. Do this several times and see if it tightens up the rear brakes.

[Knailgun]

cable adjust...same thing happened with mine