I've had the friction material come loose from their metal backers on the drums and discs of my metro, then it moves around and hangs up alote. The most recent was during my current tank and I could tell something was off. My coasts were terrible and like coyote X said, the wheel was warm that was causing the trouble. These were old rusty brake parts though. All mine are new now and once in a while I'll jack up each end and make sure none of them are dragging.

Thanks for all the responses guys. Tomorrow Im going to swing by the shop and have my mechanic friend look into the issue.

Yes there is a nut to tighten/loosen the ebrake lines. I dont have my console in right now and I can see it. There is slack in the line. As to the automatic adjusters these days, I have no clue, the car is 13 years old.

And here's something I forgot to mention. Lately I noticed my "brake" light on my dash was coming on every so often. This is the light that tells you the brake is still drawn. Well, I would be driving down the road and it obviously not drawn. Now it is doing it all the time, esp. in turns. Another reason why I think they may be dragging...

back up
 

How often do you use reverse? I know on some cars (maybe most cars), automatic brake adjustment only happens when you back the car.

MOST cars self adjust when you back up and hit the brakes (its how you get your rear brakes aligned after you bled them or put new shoes on. gotta drive forward and stomp on the brake and reverse stomp on the brake.)

but SOME cars require you pull up and down on the parking brake handle a bunch of times. usually asian import cars...but not all.

but all cars about 30-40 years ago to present are self adjusting

Not much, its screws up my FE. My odometer rolls backwards..

Nope - check your brake fluid reservoir. The other thing that light tells you is when your fluid is low. The float is dropping when cornering. (Which is likely just a sign the brake surfaces are worn out, but it could be something else.)

Haha, your right, its low. Ill fill it tomorrow.

Im just trying to find a reason for my sudden drop in mpg. I might be able to scrape 50mpg this tank.

Hey, seeing as though you are taking it by a mechanic, might have him do a full brake fluid flush. That stuff does go bad, just like motor oil. If you are running DOT3, you can go to DOT4 and get a higher fade temp out of it.

English MF'er, do you speak it?:D

I've steadily increased my FE and now generally get mid to high 50's. So, scraping 50mpg is terrible for me...

don't forget your front brakes, i had my right side caliper hanging up so hard that I could barley spin it when it was on the lift. cleaned out the slide pins and lubed them up, and took the pads off and lubed where they contact. much better mpg now ;) . tho it does seem like your rear could be the culprit