Parking Brake Test

[shogun]

Having a functional parking brake is important for 2 reasons, 3 if you're an autocrosser.

Importance of the parking brake:

Keeps a car from rolling when parked.
Acts as a backup brake in the event of a catastrophic brake failure such as a major fluid leak or a damaged master cylinder.
(If you're an autocrosser) Rotates a car through a corner, shaving seconds off your lap times!
How to test the effectiveness of your BMW's parking brake.
(Note: This test is for hand-operated parking brakes ONLY!)

On a secluded strip of road away from traffic or any potential hazards, drive in a straight line at approximately 25 mph.
Make sure your seatbelt is on tight.

With constant throttle and a firm grip on the steering wheel, place your hand on the parking brake.

Depress the button and KEEP IT depressed.

Smoothly and slowly pull up on the parking brake and pay attention to what happens. Be sure to keep the car pointed straight.

Immediately return the parking brake to it's "off" position.

Did you rear wheels skid?
Did your car slow down?
Did nothing happen at all?

Your BMW gets an A+ if your rear wheels skid or lockup and a B if your car slows down. Anything less than quick deceleration, a C or below, is not acceptable. If you were unable to slow down your BMW quickly, please continue on for how to solve this problem yourself.

One of the reasons parking brakes fail is that they aren't used enough. If a parking brake system is rarely or never used, it can begin to collect buildup on the shoes and lose its effectiveness. Here is a quick procedure to clean the surfaces of the shoes and restore their ability to bring your BMW to a stop.

How to burnish your parking brake:

On a secluded strip of road, away from traffic or any potential hazards, drive in a straight line at approximately 25 mph.
Make sure your seatbelt is on tight.

With constant throttle and a firm grip on the steering wheel, place your hand on the parking brake.

Depress the button and KEEP IT depressed.

Starting gently and moving toward more agressive applications, pull up the parking brake and quickly let it back down repeatedly.

Continue to engage the parking brake on and off approximately 20-25 times.

If after 20-25 quick parking brake applications you still haven't achieved the desired results, abrupt slowing of your BMW, there is a problem. We recommend you give one of our service advisors a call and schedule a parking brake inspection.

If you have achieved the desired results, congratulations! You have successfully burnished your parking brake, ensuring that it will not only hold your car in place on hills but could save your life someday.


(Note: If you don't feel comfortable tackling this procedure yourself, please request a thorough parking brake inspection and test w/ your next service.)

written by by Ron Newell

[joshua43214]

Nice post Shogun, I never use my parking brake normaly, so I always aply them lightly while driving about once a month or so.

[angrypancake]

never considered it that way. back when i had the piece of **** 89 honda accord, every time it rained i would yank that sucker and slide around every curve i could. its a wonder i'm still alive....

[TheEndIsNear]

Same here when I had my '89 Mustang... Pull the break, slide around, and send the tires spinning with a down shift...

[shogun]

Probably that is the most important reason


Acts as a backup brake in the event of a catastrophic brake failure such as a major fluid leak or a damaged master cylinder

But my neighbour in the former place where I lived found one morning his car half under water in the small lake we had in front of our houses on a small slope. He is now very eager to keep his brakes fully working :p

[jjw]

Who is the joker who wrote this? Parking brake is never designed to stop a moving car, it is only designed to hold a car stationary. FMVSS 105 requireds the parjing brakes muct hold the vehicle stationary for 5 minutes on a 30% grade in both forward and reverse directions. And it is not "emergency" brake as oftern mistakenly called. The parking brakes on our cars are so small and not designed to be used to stop the car, and it can be blown just by pulling it when the car is moving, maybe can be used on a drum brake car, since parking brake and real brake is the same brake, only operated differenly. And as for pulling the parking brake to "rotate" the car on a autocross is totally bs. I have been autocross many years and have not even heard that stupid move, it can only slow your time on an autocross course. It is not WRC we are talking about, and on WRC cars, the parking brake is operated by hydraulic, just like regular brakes. Anyway, you will see your service advisors sooner if you do try out the "procedure".

[Espen]

I t worked great for me. Did that while driving yesterday, the first times nothing happened, after 5 times the car started to slow down pretty good from 25mph when applying the brake.

[shogun]

Have a look at the size of a BMW handbrake?
http://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/adjusting_parkingbrake/RemoveRearRotor1.jpg
http://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/adjusting_parkingbrake/RemoveRearRotor2.jpg
http://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/adjusting_parkingbrake/OpenDrum_OverviewShoesAndAdjuster.jpg
http://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/adjusting_parkingbrake/OpenDrum_TurnAdjuster.jpg

[Paul in NZ]

shogun your post omitted to mention that you must brace yourself for the dreaded DING....My brake is quite good.In the manual it actually advies to apply the handbrake whilst moving every now and then.My car squats noticeably to the left rear esp if i am on a hill.

[CharlesAFerg]

Who is the joker who wrote this? Parking brake is never designed to stop a moving car, it is only designed to hold a car stationary. FMVSS 105 requireds the parjing brakes muct hold the vehicle stationary for 5 minutes on a 30% grade in both forward and reverse directions. And it is not "emergency" brake as oftern mistakenly called. The parking brakes on our cars are so small and not designed to be used to stop the car, and it can be blown just by pulling it when the car is moving, maybe can be used on a drum brake car, since parking brake and real brake is the same brake, only operated differenly. And as for pulling the parking brake to "rotate" the car on a autocross is totally bs. I have been autocross many years and have not even heard that stupid move, it can only slow your time on an autocross course. It is not WRC we are talking about, and on WRC cars, the parking brake is operated by hydraulic, just like regular brakes. Anyway, you will see your service advisors sooner if you do try out the "procedure".


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never considered it that way. back when i had the piece of **** 89 honda accord, every time it rained i would yank that sucker and slide around every curve i could. its a wonder i'm still alive....

Heh, so many stories with that, one of my best buddies down here is a nissan fanatic, or he was. He had a 240SX with some crazy motor he put in... He was a mad drifter.
I don't like doing it in our cars because it's too big and it's too special to me to risk it, especially on public roads. I almost wrecked more than once in my 5 and I'm not doing it ever again. I almost died in an E39 M5 because of bad driving in someone elses car, so I especially won't do anything crazy with friends in the car, it's not fair to them. Besides, some of my friends died doing that drifting stuff in public...
But all I have to say is, to eachs own, you can't stop these guys from doing it in neighborhoods and areas with traffic... I just discourage my friends by setting a good example by driving, instead of sliding, more professionally.

[zygoteer]

Who is the joker who wrote this? Parking brake is never designed to stop a moving car, it is only designed to hold a car stationary...

So you are saying that if your footbrake fails, you are going to refuse to try the handbrake as an alternative !

... hmmm ... well I guess it takes all kinds of people to make a world, even those that ignore context.

[SharkmanBMW]

Who is the joker who wrote this? Parking brake is never designed to stop a moving car, it is only designed to hold a car stationary. FMVSS 105 requireds the parjing brakes muct hold the vehicle stationary for 5 minutes on a 30% grade in both forward and reverse directions. And it is not "emergency" brake as oftern mistakenly called. The parking brakes on our cars are so small and not designed to be used to stop the car, and it can be blown just by pulling it when the car is moving, maybe can be used on a drum brake car, since parking brake and real brake is the same brake, only operated differenly. And as for pulling the parking brake to "rotate" the car on a autocross is totally bs. I have been autocross many years and have not even heard that stupid move, it can only slow your time on an autocross course. It is not WRC we are talking about, and on WRC cars, the parking brake is operated by hydraulic, just like regular brakes. Anyway, you will see your service advisors sooner if you do try out the "procedure".


Before calling Shogun a "joker", read up on the content of his posts... he is brilliant, with an answer for almost any BMW issue.
You may not totally agree, but if your brakes fail, something tells me you will reach for the handbrake... good luck if yours doesn't work.

[jjw]

The article is not written by Shogun. If you read to end, it is written by some dude call "Ron Newell". And I am not saying you should not reach for your hand brake if necessary, just saying that it is not designed for stop the car. The way was descriped in the article to test the hand brake is not the way to do. I would guess people will see whatever they like to see.

[John 535is (Sydney)]

[written by by Ron Newell[/QUOTE]
The post by Shogan (Ron Newell) effectivley adjust the auto-adjust mechanism that any drum brake car does every time you put your foot on the peddle. Becuase its only used on these cars once when you park, it gets a bit gummed up and doesn't adjust itself. This proceedure just adjusts the drum brake mechanism.
I also agree with JJW, these are heavy cars, and this is a small brake mechanism. get over excited with it and it will just explode.
If you want to do ralley style hand brake turns, install a hand brake onto the disc pad system.

John 535is (ex datsun rally cars too, but I was a lot younger then)