[george kujanski]

I've read all the above and considering that the fronts lock up and the problem is stated that it does not want to stop, I'd say you are not getting stopping help from the rear drums.

Check to make sure that the mechanism and the self-adjusters are working, the shoes are at the proper initial adjustment, and finally that the proportioning valve is working correctly to get some pressure back there without totally relying on the fronts.

A previous post states that metallics get hotter; well, that's how brakes work. kinetic energy of the moving car gets converted to heat energy in the brakes. In order to stop, all of the kinetic energy in the car needs to get converted to heat...the same amount of energy gets dumped regardless of the type of brake pad being used.

If true, one explanation may be that one type of pad doesn't stop as effectively; i.e. more stopping distance, therefore more rotor revolutions and some of the total heat getting to the atmosphere due to more revolutions of the rotor (most front rotors are ventilated for that purpose).

George