A steel, or stainless steel pop rivet will have much greater shear strength than the brass rivets that were used for decades. the average brake lining has at lest 10 or 12 rivets holding it onto the shoe. Also, the pop rivet has a solid shank through it, rather than the hollow brass tubing in a conventional brake rivet. Brass brake lining rivets were made for quick assembly in a production shop, not necessarily maximum strength.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!