[henrydbrown]

My wife drove my car last night about 11 miles with the handbrake set. She commented "it didn't drive very well" and "smelled funny" - then she realized she had failed to release the handbrake..

I didn't get to the car until hours later, it seems fine, parking brake releases and engages normally.

Do I need to inspect anything or just count myself lucking everything didn't melt?

[roundel]

If you want to be anal, just pull the rear rotors and make sure the shoes are OK, but if everything is working and there appears to be no issue, I bet everything is fine.

[NoPaint]

Check the brakes. 11 miles is a long time to drive with the brake on. It is possible that it was holding pretty well at first and then slowly wore out the shoes to the point where it wasn't holding much at all. If she realized WHY it was driving poorly and released it I suspect there is the need for an inspection. Safety first. Oh and if your mechanic finds that it is all OK in there, you should still replace all parking brake shoes and probably star wheels and associated hardware. Again, that is a long, long, long time to drive with the parking brake on.

[Dr K]

Originally Posted by NoPaint

Check the brakes. 11 miles is a long time to drive with the brake on. It is possible that it was holding pretty well at first and then slowly wore out the shoes to the point where it wasn't holding much at all. If she realized WHY it was driving poorly and released it I suspect there is the need for an inspection. Safety first. Oh and if your mechanic finds that it is all OK in there, you should still replace all parking brake shoes and probably star wheels and associated hardware. Again, that is a long, long, long time to drive with the parking brake on.

Oh, come on worry wort. Like you've never done that. You just need to pull the parking brake up an extra notch.




In all seriousness, if the parking brake uses different shoes than the main brake, holds the car now when fully engaged, and the regular brakes apply evenly, do you really need to disassemble the system? On a track car, sure, but on a street car?

Peter

[LPM911]

i'd check it, especially before your next trip to the track. i find that the parking brake is instrumental in getting the car to rotate on corner entry...

[Alan Herod]

try a few emergency brake turns to confirm it works. The emergency/parking brakes uses its own brake pads and they are the drum style brakes inside that big hat. They are almost never worn unless people drive a lot with the brake on.

[Steve@Rennsport]

As Alan said, the parking brake uses two brake shoes per wheel and they might be toast, depending on how many miles are on the car and how much tension was on the parking brake cable on that 11 mile drive.

The worst case scenario is that the $58/each, E-brake shoes need replacement.

Personally, I'd have a look in there.

[Landjet]

Steve, I'll check with you toward spring about those 2 piece AP slotted rotors you were telling me about. I'm surprised at the quick deterioration of the 350mm 997 discs. Only did 6 track days on this set and the cracks are pretty large but not connecting or going to the edges.

[Steve@Rennsport]

Originally Posted by Landjet

Steve, I'll check with you toward spring about those 2 piece AP slotted rotors you were telling me about. I'm surprised at the quick deterioration of the 350mm 997 discs. Only did 6 track days on this set and the cracks are pretty large but not connecting or going to the edges.

Hi Larry,

I'm not surprised at all,....they are OEM-grade components and as such, were made for cost containment and not designed for track use.

Real racing rotors such as those AP's were designed and intended for the track and are FAR more durable. As mentioned previously, one can offset some of the big front brake bias by using different pads in the rear (as long as one has the experience and skills to handle more rear brake bias).

[markwemple]

How many clicks does it need to engage? THAT is the question. If not to excess, then don't worry and this is coming from someone who pulls everything apart.