I know the golden rule is not to re-use brake parts, but do drums count? I've recently bought a 150,000-mile Opel Astra estate as a daily driver, after I incinerated my old Renault 19 (see the post about it on here by me ) and I found out that the handbrake isn't exactly outstanding (perils of living in the fens, you only find out your handbraker kack when you take it somewhere with a decent slope!). I've had the drums off, the nearside one has about 1/2 it's contact area doing anything, the rest is pitted with corrosion. New drums are anythign from £25 each so I was considering a low-mileage scrapper. Not re-using hydraulics is understandable, but surely I'll be OK with a pair of drums?
p.s. when buying a used car, if the vendor promises to put a years ticket on it, check said ticket when you get it, as is states if an advisory note was issued. Mine had one, which the vendor neglected to pass on, and I didn't find out about it until today. Listed on it were corroded front brake discs (part-seized single-side calipers) movement in both McPherson strut upper mounts and nearside rear tyre near the legal limit. This is why you don't take your kids when you shop for a used car, they distract yout too much from the job in hand!!!!
p.p.s. if you want to check your cars M.O.T. history, click on this link and have your cars reg & current M.O.T. number handy.

If the drums look good enough to fit then they will be fine, I must admit that I have swapped complete front suspension legs with disk and drive shaft in the past as its easier than removing the drive shafts in the scrapyard .I have even reused pads when they look newish, after all its no different to the worn out used parts on your car.
Paul

No problem with the drums --- just degrease and roughen them up a bit with 80or 120 grade production paper.

The half working contact area is probably down to the shoes not being properly fitted, hold down springs or self-adjuster not fitted correctly.

Some cars have considerable free movent in the strut top mounts from new --- not sure about this model.

Id never reuse what I deem to be consumable, handbrake cables, brake hoses, wheel cylinders or (usually) disks/pads.

Calipers, master cylinders, drums, backplates etc are all fair game though, just check them over carefully before you fit them!

I've had the same problem on my mini, and in Cyprus mini spares for the newer spaced drums are hard to come by, so I ended up getting mine skimmed on a lathe at a local engineers for about a fiver - only took off about half a mm, but got rid of all the corrosion and pitting, and they lasted a bloody long time until I sold it.
You can also do it at home with sandpaper, but might take ages.

Skimming drums especially on 7" BL drums is something to avoid, the problem is it reduces the stiffness of the drum, unlike discs drum experience significant elastic deformation when subject to the presure of the shoes.

A better choice would have been standard drums and spacers.