Don't emergency brakes normally not hold well going backwards, but do hold well going forward? At least that's been my experience on all the other cars I've owned. In fact, you can back up quite easily with it engaged, but not drive forward.

 

I've found that my e-brake will hold only if I push the footbrake all the way down and hold it there while I pull the handbrake up all the way.

When I first got the car and just pulled the handbrake up, mine wouldn't hold either until I figured out the above.

Wonder if this would work for you guys...or if you've already tried it.

 

I have a 2000 and the Emergency brake sets hard, holds the car. No problems. AFAIK, has never been adjusted. My driveway is steep and I often stop the car, set the ER, leave the car running and get out to pick up the mail.

Seems to me that if the ER doesn't hold the car that it needs to be repaired and if the dealer cannot do it, find another shop.

Regards,

Cole

 

I've had mine adjusted several times. This last time they seem to have done it right. You may end up having to adjust it using the star wheel - just like drum brakes of old.

 

I agree!

 

Last month I took my 01 for inspection and thought I'd fail the e brake
test.

Decided to do the back up adjust.

I backed up and tugged on the brake 2 - 3 times and sure enough,
I felt it grab hard about half way up.

Passed no problem and holds great.

...George

 

[B]Does anyone know if the below really works?



Parking Brake Adjustment -- 1 of 1
Date Published: 2002-05-01

Submitter's Name: Bill Matera
Email Address: wmatera@snip.net
Corvetteforum.com Member Alias: Evil-Twin

I posted this fix several years ago, but it was lost in the software upgrade... When My C5 was new the e brake barely worked,, I took it to the dealer, and was told that brakes are a wear item and that I would have to pay for new shoes.. the car had less than 1000 miles on it .. the e brake only engages when the car is stopped so how could they be worn.. Any way I decided to take a look ans see if i could do anything..I was not crazy about the dealer touching my car anyway.. OK.. here we go.. the e brake works similar to the e brake on most cars with rear drum brakes.. with that in mind... jack up the rear of the car...remove the wheels...then remove the bolts for the calipers...then the calipers and pads...you will see the caliper bracket.. it has two bolts that hold this to the brake backing plate.. they are very very tight... but they will come off ( They are 125 ft pounds with loctite)... Once the bracket is off you can remove the rotor ( make sure the e brake is not engaged ).....Next.. you will see how the system works.. it has a set of shoe brakes .. and the rotor has an internal drum... In the last few years I have found that many many C5 come from the factory with poorly adjusted e brakes... Now locate the star adjuster.... turn it out to make the shoes grow in diameter...( Mine were out 33 clicks)... I did ten clicks at a time and the slid the rotor back on.. I did three sets of ten before I could feel any drag... I then clicked five more and could not get the rotor on...I then backed off two clicks and got the rotor on.. it was tight when I started it on the shoes but when i finally seated it it was perfect.. I then did the other side.. it was out exactly the same amount.... I then put everything back...Now for the test...When I engaged the e brake.. it locked up the brakes at a point about 45 degrees.... 90 degrees being straight up.. the lock up was so positive...I knew I did it right..next .. to check the release .. I took the car to a hill... set the e brake .. car in neutral and it stayed there ... then to check on the release.. I slowly disengaged the ebrake...and found that the shoes where totally retracted after only an inch of lever release...after this fix I could stop the car using only the ebrake with the car doing ten miles an hour...The ebrake also has an auto adjust feature.. but it will only work if your e brake lever is between 45 degrees and 55 degrees..if your ebrake is out further than that the e beake will not auto adjust..... ( AUTOADJUST feature ) roll the car backwards on a hill.. or in reverse @ 5 mph..pull up on the e brake lever... this will slam your car to an abrupt stop.. the engagement of the shoes to the drum while the car is moving backwards will cause the shoe assembly to flex.. it is the flex that causes the blade to click the adjusting star one click... Do this three or four times and it will expand your shoes.. you can not over tighten thes shoes... if it needs two clicks to get to max... and you do four clicks.. it will only adjust the star two clicks.. Also remember to use loctite on the brackets and caliper bolts..If you have any questions on this repair .. feel free to e mail me or instant message me.. Good Luck.. Many people have emailed me with their positive results from this fix... Bill ( Evil-Twin )

 

There is a procedure for this on the forum somewhere. I printed it out when I did mine. Basically your take the rear rotors of and use a screwdriver to the star adjuster until it is working. This is a common problem. Once I adjusted mine it has been fine ever since. Unfortunately I learned the hard way. Pull into my steep driveway with the engine running, pulled the ebrake, jumped out. Then watched my baby roll down the driveway across the street into the neighbors yard. I was lucky, NO DAMAGE.

 

[QUOTE=Rob4092xx][B]Does anyone know if the below really works?

Yes, it works. That is the procedure I used.

 

I have to pull mine all the way up before it'll keep the car from rolling. It's quite annoying.

 

mine didn't work either, but the problem wasn't the adjustment in at the brake, it was a problem with the actual handle. There was some old grease on there that had basically locked up the ratchet mechanism and it wasn't allowing the handle to engage the gear that tightens the cable. I took it apart and cleaned all the old crappy grease off and it works like a champ!!

 

For those of you who have trouble getting the e-brake to hold the car when set you might try this. On the C3 when you replace the e-brake shoes the service manual recommends that you "burnish" the new shoes in by driving the car around 40 or 50 mph and set the e-brake on (don't get crazy with it) and off several times over a 1 mile distance to seat the new shoes. I don't know if this will help the C5 but it might be worth a try.

I'm guessing they may not recommend this anymore because there are so many people out there that might end up off the road by getting carried away with the e-brake. You know how some people are.

 

Although, getting the rotors off to slide off at the beginning can be a real pain in the a$$!