That old design is correct, GM used the star adjusters way back to 1964 in the Malibu. They were useless in those and the S10’s of the 80’s

 

My lil woman's Mopar has that old design as well on back, & they work superb.

& in 10 years of ownership, I have NEVER needed to manually adjust them "self-adjusters".

 

My 1st S-10, a 1985 wasn't too bad on self adjusting. The 2nd, a 1998 was really good about it.

 

My 1983 S10, was like the HHR , adjusted the rear drum brakes every oil change

 

My Dad's 63 Impala had the same setup

 

Ill tell you one thing, I think the HHR's rear brakes are the single biggest let down. Too finicky for my taste. Also, quite the pain in the ARSE when they need changing. DAMN YOU E BRAKE CABLE AND RETENTION HORSESHOE AGHHHHHHH

 

Back in the 4 wheel drum days they pretty much worked OK, you could actually hear them click sometimes. The problem was that many times they would not start out equal and the tighter ones would get tighter and the looser ones would get tight.

There is nothing "New" about self adjusters, on the HHR there are 2 designs used. I have seen another design on my Mazda that seems far superior; they are just adjusted, they don't click.

The horsehoe spring is easy after you read the directions. took me 5 or 6 times.

 

The E brake cable is a breeze, you just need to learn how to compress the spring,





or pop the console and loose up the cables.


This tool is for the horseshoe springs

 

This is what I was thinking of. The Medieval torture tool doesn't come with instructions.

 

I knew about the e brake cable tool, and plan to get one, but the spring tool just made my jaw drop. WANT