Golf 3 spongy brakes - ideas?

I don't like to any stone unturned & took the back wheels/hub assembly back off yet again last night to inspect the brake shoe assemblies.

As explained in one of my other posts I've had this car for nearly 3 years & apparently the brakes had been replaced by the previous owner & in the time I've had her & covered almost 50K the back shoes are still brand new & now which I've become suspicious about there actual operation when braking & if they've been set up correctly.

Thats if there is a correct procedure to adjust them correctly etc before putting the hub back, looking at the Haynes manual its a straight forward remove & replace description.

Anyway with the hub off, the engine running I pressed the brake pedal & viewed the rear brake cylinder movement & to my surprise it turns out that 3 out 4 of the moving plungers between each rear cylinder are seized solid & probably have been since I've owned the car, !

The misleading thing about this & why I've never bothered to check before is that I always hear a squeaking sound from the inside of the hub when operating the pedal when driving & visually both cylinder plungers look shiny & unworn & no signs of leaks etc although the bodies of both are rusty etc ?

Which would explain why the rear brake shoes have never worn down over the last 50k miles.

Initially when the brakes were bled the pedal was solid before & after the engine running, left the car undriven for a few days & the pedal is only slack after the engine has been started.

I can only assume that the spongy pedal will have something to do with the defected rear brake cylinders.

I believe air has been gradually creeping into the rear brake cylinders via the seals entering through the hub housing, as when I wiggled the drivers side brake shoe assembly one of the plunger seals started to leak & the other side shot off under the fluid pressure.

I will post an update when the work has been done.

:beerchug: