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

[spearfish25]

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: