That grinding noise can't be good

My son is an assistant instructor in a Tae Kwon Do class for special needs children and he teaches every Saturday morning.  Since my wife had another event this morning I had to drive him.  Why not drive the Z?  After loading his gear we take off for his class, running just a bit behind.  I turned into the parking lot and hit the first speed bump; immediately afterwards a grinding noise began from the rear of the car.  I pulled into the closest parking spot I could find.  My first thoughts were something rubbing the wheel or maybe one of the half shafts or propeller shaft rubbing against something.  My second thought was that I needed to be at another event in a few hours and if I needed to be towed I was going to be late.

After getting my son into the classroom, I slowly moved the car into a shaded area and tried to pinpoint the location of the noise.  It sounded like the passenger rear wheel.  After parking the car I jacked up the car and removed the wheel.  Spinning the brake drum confirmed that this wheel had a problem.  I was able to pull the brake drum off and then the problem became obvious... the lower spring on the brake shoes had broken and was dragging inside the brake drum.  Of all the things that could have caused a grinding noise, this was definitely one of the better options as I could make it home without this spring.

I removed the broken spring and returned the drum and wheel to the car.  I was amazed at all the looks I received as I worked on my car in the parking lot, one nice person even asked if I needed a ride to the auto parts store.  After class was over we returned home.  I had a new spring on hand from my box of awesomeness and was able to quickly get things back in proper order.  Once finished I quickly got cleaned up, jumped in the Z again, and headed to my afternoon event arriving just on time.