uneven rear brakes

I have a mk1 golf clipper covertable j plate, car failed mot on uneven rear brakes (drum brakes on rear), I put on a new cable due to one side snapping about a month ago, and for mot put a new cylinder (and bleed them) on the drivers side where the the poor braking is happening and it has failed again with same problem, the pads are only about a year or so old and look in really good condition so im stumped as to what to do next :dontknow: , any ideas??

I had the same problem with my car. I changed both wheel cylinders, rubber flexi pipes. I checked drums which were fine and gave them a good tap with the hammer to knock loose any rust. Adjusted the handbrake and bled all the brakes with new fluid. They were still different pressures but within mot specifacations.

hope that helps

Bit basic I know, but did you check whether the non-working rear cylinder had leaked brake fluid onto the shoes? If so shoes need a good dousing with brake cleaner or replacing. Also have you checked whether the hand-brake lever cables at the adjustment  yoke are tightening and releasing properly?

The shoes looked good and I gave them a rub with a bit of fine sand paper just give them a freshen up, as for working the hand brake seems to be working ok, the mot garage are going to have a look at it tomorrow it just seems weird that it is not working property after all I've done

Really you could do with changing both rear wheel cylinders, then bleed it all up again.

Was there any 'lip' on the inside of the drums, this can hinder brake efficiency too?

With a rear brake imbalance you need to strip both sides down and rebuild them and go from there. If you keep having these problems then you might need to start thinking about those bias valve things on the master cylinder or brake lines maybe?

Also make sure the self-adjusting wedges are pulled down. Use a pointy screw driver thru a wheel bolt hole, no need to remove the wheel just jack up the car.

Turns out self adjuster was knackered