FIRST . . . NOT to talk "good" about off-shore parts, BUT out-of-round new brake drums has nothing to do with where they were made, it is how they are WAREHOUSED. To conserve space, the boxes the drums are in are warehoused ON THEIR EDGES, not flat. The weight of the drum is resting on that ONE point of its circumference, so deformation is prone to happen. Such deformation like this has been around since brake drums have been made, I suspect. I know that a pair of new USA-brand drums I bought for one of my cars were "out of round" from whenever they came out of the box! This was a very known issue, back then, in the later 1980s!
Out of round enough to cause brake pedal pulsations (in the pedal or in how the car felt stopping). Knowing that I wanted to get some more hot/cold cycles on the drums before they were cut, I drove the car like that for a week or so, THEN got them turned, and they have remained smooth every since.
To what "finish smoothness" did the friction area of the drums get turned to? Nothing generic, by several variabilities of surface finish/smoothness. The rougher the finish, the longer it takes the shoes to wear the surface smooth. The rougher the finish, the more fade and "smells of heat" will happen and for longer.
SECOND, did you do the normal "break-in" procedure with the new brake shoes? Which involves stops of different speeds and decel rates. Slow and then progressively harder and faster. This is to "cook out" and "cure" the linings, as the manufacturing resins heat up and are cooked-out over time. Once that procedure is complete, everything should be smooth and silent.
Which brand and type of brake shoes did you purchase? Did the new shoes match the width of the worn shoes, exactly? Who machined the drums for you? Were the shoes "arc'd" to match the drum inner diameter?
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
