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This isn't about adjusting the cable or the shoes. This is a totally useless thought wondering if there is a diy way to improve the thumb button feel so it does not feel both loose on the tensioner as well as wobbly within the handle. It is a very minor topic, but one which continues to annoy me on my 3rd C5 since 2000.
One immediate option in mind would be a C6 unit. Do they feel more solid? I presume they would bolt in or be easily adapted.
If I get bored between projects I may disect a C5 handle to see if I can somehow firm up the button or limit the wobble travel.
The function is spot on and no different among any of my C5s or others I have driven. Much like some people (myself now included) have taken it upon themselves to replace the u-joints in the factory shift linkage to remove the factory slop from cheap joint and pins, I am eyeing the e-brake button with interest in making the button itself smoother. I'd love to make it like a plunger so it no longer feels as though it is loose in its bore. Not sure if that can be done. And I may try to find a C6 when car shows open up around here finally after Covid to see if they work differently. I suspect it would be easier to swap to a better designed unit (if it is so) than to modify oem.
If the button had a longer shoulder inside the e-brake shaft then I think it would remove a lot of the slop you feel. I think that’s what you’re referring to when I read your posts. Do you have any access to a 3D printer? Maybe make one if you know anyone with one.
After the dealer replaced my rear axles I found the E-brake was barely working. Took it back - don't know what they did but it is now solid as a rock (at least to stop from going backwards)...
E-brake pads are easily adjusted with, for lack of the correct term, a star nut which expands the shoe outward to improve contact with the rotor. You just have to pull the wheel / rotor /caliper / bracket.
Here's what the button looks like with all the coverings off, notice that the sheet steel surrounding the button is open at the bottom. If a new button could be made and secured with a set screw to fit further down the connecting rod it would both reduce the button travel, be removable and allow an insert to be installed. The insert would center the button and stop the side to side movement.
E-brake improvement
