DIY: Fix your crappy Parking Brake...make it work!
 

Since I got my car two years ago, I've thought my parking brake was horrible. I had to pull the damn thing as hard as I could to even begin to slow the car. It took multiple successive yanks to ever get the rear tires to lock. Some time ago a thread was devoted to discussing just how bad our e-brake is, and even the Fifth Gear guys couldn't get the rear to lockup for a drift maneuver at one point. See video here:



Well, I've fixed the problem with mine, and I'm guessing this affects more people as well.

There are two adjustments for the parking brake. Within the rear hub (remove the rear wheels) there are ratchet adjusters to set where the parking brake liners (the brake pads) sit in relation to the hubs (the brake rotor equivalent). Unless you're having issues with the car not rolling at a stoplight (the e-brake is constantly engaged slightly), you probably don't need to mess with this adjustment. I fixed mine without ever touching these ratchets.

The fix is found in the center armrest (see step 3 and step 8 in the image below). Pull upwards on the cupholder in the center armrest and gently move it out of the way. If you look down in the hole, you'll see the parking brake lever assembly along with a bolt and nut. Tightening this nut removes slack in the parking brake assembly cable (the cable pulls directly on the brake liners in the rear hubs to lock the rear wheels). I tightened the cable adjuster nut about 20 turns (about a 1/4" more of the bolt now sticks out). After tightening the nut, give the e-brake handle a pull and you'll see it requires more force to engage. Per the manual, the proper force/engagement click number is 44 lbs of force to get 6-7 clicks. Before doing this I got 6 clicks with maybe 5 lbs of force. A quick test drive just confirmed that a moderate e-brake pull locks up the rears easily. To confirm you didn't overtighten the nut, test your rolling resistance in neutral. If the car rolls easily, you're golden.

Enjoy your new e-brake functionality and find a parking lot to try this:


http://www.the370z.com/members/spear...4-19-16-pm.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/spear...4-22-00-pm.jpg

Nice write up. I don't understand why they come so far out of adjustment from the factory. Mine isn't as bad as some but I still have to pull it up further than I should.

All it took was a drive in my car to realize your parking brake sucked :ugh2:

My ebrake worked fine.

WIN! going to do this today :tup:

Interesting, I'll prolly take a peek at this over the weekend.

yeah.. I'm gonna wait till some more members confirm this mod, than I will do it to my 7AT. This will actually really help me slide around alittle more and have some fun :D

Thanks for the info spearfish25!

My NISMO e-brake works perfectly. I have to yank it but its nothing outrageous. Maybe because of better brakes and suspension?

my ebrake doesnt raelly do much since the day i got it. park the car on my drive way, yank it up as far as it can go and the car would still roll down. so def need to get this tweaked.

Don't see how this would factor in at all. You have the same brake rotors and the e-brake is totally separate from the rear brake caliper and pads (the e-brake shoes make contact with the inner drum on the rear rotor).

More than likely yours was just in better adjustment from the factory than some of the others.

My first question when I saw the thread title was .... why?! OK, ok.... drifting/racing reasons. Besides that, mine works perfectly. Just a slight pull and it engages. No hefty yanking required on mine (never has been).

Very possible. On my Cobalt SS, I had to take off the e-brake handle cover and tighten the nut that determined how tight or loose the handle was. I tightened it up about twice as much as stock and I could lock up the rear wheels pretty good. And Cobalt's have a weak parking brake compared to most other cars.

Sometimes they can come loose from the factory if they aren't tightened down enough, or they can just loosen over time.

same thing here

350Z to 370Z... same thing, different car. I may have to look into this, but I definitely have a habit of leaving it in gear since owning the 350Z.

I just tried this out. Parking brake is soo much better now. Literally took me like 5 mins

Glad you guys like the adjustment. The only pitfall would be overtightening leading to a constant drag of the ebrake. This would cook your brake liners. Just make sure the car still rolls easily with the ebrake disengaged and you're golden.

As was said before, the ebrake is separate from the regular brakes. The out of factory adjustments just vary in our cars.

Rep +1 for you!

Ive never had any issues. PB works great for me!

Awesome spearfish. I need this fix as well. +1!

thanks spearfish.
will check this out most definitely..
also, i'm enjoying the power sliding tips from this guy..

thanks again bro bro

Driving in reverse with the brakes on (backing out of the driveway, ect...)should automatically adjust the ebrake.

That only adjusts the brake shoes, doesn't account for slack in the cable up front which is what some people had.

Always adjust the brakes first at the rear wheel before you adjust the cable at the center console.

Mine works great. Went drifting Wednesday at Houston MSR and yanking the e-brake worked great!

Did this today in about 5 minutes. Didn't realize it was out of spec till I read the sheet for the 6-7 clicks under certain pressure. I checked that first and I was way off. I had like 6-7 clicks with hardly any tug at all. I tightened a few turns pulled up to check clicks and tension. Then would put down e brake and make sure car would roll then tightened a little more till it felt right. I feel I'm at about 6-7 clicks with proper tension now. Much more comfortable using the e brake.

can anyone provide the required extended socket size? my craftsman tool set doesn't have the right one. thank you

well anyways, got it done with a 10mm extended socket

i did 40 1/4 turns and it locks up easy enough to smoke the tires at 20-25mph.

i used to be able to lift my ebrake up with my pinky up to 7-8 clicks, now it's much more firm and locks at 3 clicks when im rolling down my driveway.

My altima is the same way, barley holds when I yank the parking brake.

Not trying to thread jack, but did anyone think the results of the fifth gear test would have been different if they used a 370z coupe instead of the roadster?

No. And don't jack the thread.

Thanks for clarifying that I wasn't jacking the thread. :rofl2:

Well mine seems to do the job... but definitely not tight enough for any maneuvers. May have to look into this....

:iagree:And... most people don't really want to lock-up the rear wheels at speed. They just want an e-brake that does its job... to hold the rear wheels while parked.

:gtfo2: lol jk :iagree: :tup:

ThE trick for ebrake drifting is to clutch in while yanking the ebrake. Jus pulling on it won't do anything without the clutch depressed

hmm thanks for bumping this up. Need to look into it.

I don't know about you guys but I'm seriously impressed that Nissan was thoughtful enough to use a separate Drum Assy in the rear rotor for Ebrake. Coming from a 2012 Honda Coupe EXLV6 - damn nice car, but Honda used the rear disc rotor for Ebrake. I must use the Z e brake due to parking on a hill. I'm happy that my calipers aren't being used for Ebraking. Nice Job, Nissan!

Did it today. Big didference!