pulling the Ebrake while moving

[Takumi Fujiwara]

Ive been having problems with my brakes ( in my opinion ) working 100% properly. Id say they are at about 89% efficeny. But as a test today, I was driving and tried just pulling the ebrake as hard as I could strait up. the car didnt even feel like the brake was on. just felt like the car was slowing down slightly faster than just downshifting ( auto ) so I tried hitting the brakes a little bit before and while on the pedal pulling it and the car gave a good jolt. Is the car supposed to Hollywood slide when the ebrake is pulled : or power drift. I tried it in a turn and got no results.

Keep in mind Im not looking for fun and game, Im looking for the brakes to be working right. Is my setup responding normally? 1997 Auto fully loaded.

[LD]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Takumi Fujiwara:
Ive been having problems with my brakes ( in my opinion ) working 100% properly. Id say they are at about 89% efficeny. But as a test today, I was driving and tried just pulling the ebrake as hard as I could strait up. the car didnt even feel like the brake was on. just felt like the car was slowing down slightly faster than just downshifting ( auto ) so I tried hitting the brakes a little bit before and while on the pedal pulling it and the car gave a good jolt. Is the car supposed to Hollywood slide when the ebrake is pulled : or power drift. I tried it in a turn and got no results.

Keep in mind Im not looking for fun and game, Im looking for the brakes to be working right. Is my setup responding normally? 1997 Auto fully loaded.<hr></blockquote>

when I pull my ebrake up it locks up both of my back tires instantly. If I were to pull it while going anything over 25 I'm sure it would be all over the road.

[mcjoslyn]

You should notice a significant drag if you engage the emergency brake while moving, and at slower speeds, you should be able to lock up the rear wheels. Keep in mind that you have a smaller swept area with an emergency brake on a disc brake rear than you do with a drum brake rear so the effect won't be as pronounced.

[Jason McCallister]

If you have drums on the back, your rear brakes need to be manually adjusted. Your tires should lock up at 60 MPH if you pull the e-brake THAT hard.

For us with rear discs.... the e-brake is independent of the rear disc calipers.

[camaro_speedemon]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Jason McCallister:
If you have drums on the back, your rear brakes need to be manually adjusted. Your tires should lock up at 60 MPH if you pull the e-brake THAT hard.

For us with rear discs.... the e-brake is independent of the rear disc calipers.<hr></blockquote>

How do you manually adjust them? I have the same problem.

[Harry94]

My e-bake went out for a while. I'd push the pedal and the rear brake would work. Pull the lever and they wouldn't. SOLUTION, change the brake shoes. I thought I still had a lot of material on the shoes, but I didn't compared to the new ones. Now I can do sweet e-brake u turns like in the movies! [img]tongue.gif[/img] But seriously change the shoes. Your brakes overall will work much better.

[Takumi Fujiwara]

I have really new pads, and I have Disc brakes. I just got a video camera, if someone would know of a place I could upload a video Id post me pulling it full force at 50 to freak out my friend. Im like hold on ready. Pull it . He pisses himself, and the car is still rollin at 50.

[FirebirdGT]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Jason McCallister:
For us with rear discs.... the e-brake is independent of the rear disc calipers.<hr></blockquote>

Not true for a 97.

The e-brake cable pulls the outer pad inward. With the wheel off the ground, spin it and pull the brake handle. My caliper bracket pins were bent (salvage "kit") and the pads were not engaging the rotor properly.

[Jason McCallister]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by FirebirdGT:
Not true for a 97.

The e-brake cable pulls the outer pad inward. With the wheel off the ground, spin it and pull the brake handle. My caliper bracket pins were bent (salvage "kit") and the pads were not engaging the rotor properly.<hr></blockquote>

That's interesting..... On mine, when I removed my calipers to paint them, the ebrake was still preventing the discs from turning. I didn't remove the rear disc, but it appears to have a mechanical "racheting" device or possible a mechanism similar to a drum brake on the inner side of the disc. Also, if I pull my e-brake while moving slowly forward, it sounds more like a metal on metal sound which is not typical of brake shoe/disc contact. I'll need to remove my rear disc and check this out and see how this works on the newer models. I didn't have rear discs on my 96 so I was unaware of that. [img]graemlins/dunce.gif[/img] ;)

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>How do you manually adjust them? I have the same problem <hr></blockquote>

Drum brakes are supposed to adjust themselves each time you apply the brake, but sometimes it just requires some manual adjusting. If you've ever taken the drum off the rear, you'll notice there's a wheel with teeth on it. There's a racheting device that allows the gear to only go one way. There's a brake adjusting tool out there that will make this process easy so I suggest getting one before you begin. It looks like a screwdriver that's bent slightly. Put the drum back on (if you've removed it), remove what looks like a drain plug on the back side of the brake shield. Insert your brake adjusting tool and turn that racheting wheel (should click as it turns) until there's just enough friction to stop the drum if turned by hand. Don't tighted too tight otherwise you'll be dragging your tires behind you all the time and you'll never get the drum off! ;) You still want your drums to turn by hand easily, you just don't want them to keep on spinning.

It's a little difficult to understand by reading it but once you get to playing with it, you'll understand. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] I'd recommend removing the drum and turning that wheel to see what it does before attempting the adjustment. Be sure to pull that ratchet device out to allow the brakes to move back inward so you can get the drum back on! ;)

[ July 06, 2003: Message edited by: Jason McCallister ]</p>