Toyota Repair: vm1220@knology.net, rear brake drums, wheel cylinders

Question
I have a 1998 Camry 4 cylinder with about 135,000 miles.  I am as of late running into some problems.  I just replaced the radiator because of a crack.  I had all the brake pads replaced and the drums turned (did not need anything done to the rotars) because of an awful grinding noise in the rear and an occasional soft pedal.  I still have the noise in the rear and took it back to have them check it and they said nothing was wrong.  Could the master cylinder be going out causing the soft pedal and the noise in the rear?  What else could it be?  Also I was told that my rear struts needed to be replaced.  This was by a different auto place that was doing a lifetime allignment.  They said they could tell this by the wear on my rear tires.  I just had them rotated 1000 miles ago so is that logical?  How would I be able to tell?  Thanks

Answer
The master cylinder could be the cause of a low brake pedal unless there is a fluid leak at one of the wheel cylinders, the master cylinder itself would not cause a grinding noise, have someone else remove the rear brake drums for inspection, maybe the other place is missing something, if the rear struts are leaking or feel weak then they should be replaced, bad struts normally don't cause tire wear except if the tread shows a sawtooth or cupping pattern.