Emergency brake stopping at high speed!

[jalexquijano]

I have an issue with my emergency brake! If i want to stop the car with the E-brake it is not posible. It will only stop with the floor brake. However it does lock when parked in a hill and the car will not move. what could be wrong here? will i need to replace the brake shoes or pads or else?

[Zed Head]

However it does lock when parked in a hill and the car will not move.

It is working correctly.  It's a parking brake not an emergency brake.

[jalexquijano]

This is weird. I use to have a 1959 VW bettle which used 4 drum brakes and one day the floor brake did not engage and i stopped the car using the emergency brake without bumping another car.

[psdenno]

This is weird. I use to have a 1959 VW bettle which used 4 drum brakes and one day the floor brake did not engage and i stopped the car using the emergency brake without bumping another car.

 I've limped home using the hand brake when a brake hydraulic line broke on the front caliper of an older Porsche I no longer own.  On that car, the hand brake was located on the left side of the driver's seat, rather than between the seats, so the driver could down shift and brake using both hands.  Clever, those Germans.   I have a friend who used to do nifty handbrake turns with his Honda CRX in parking lots.  A good all purpose feature with uses other than just keeping a parked car in place.  

Dennis

[Zed Head]

I agree, the Datsun hand brake seems really weak,compared to other cars.  I remember driving in my friend's new Toyota Celica with another friend who used to enjoy grabbing the parking brake and locking up the back tires while we were driving down the road.  And he did this from the passenger seat.  He got a lot more enjoyment out of it than the rest of us.  Eventually he was extruded from the group (it was high school).

 

I can lock the back wheels on my car but it takes a lot of pull on the lever.  Not really conducive to driving it that way.

[jalexquijano]

So bottomline, it just works to lock the wheels when parked, period!!

[Stanley]

According to the manual there's an adjustment for the parking brake. Looks a bit tricky, though.

Wonder if the rally Z's have a mod to improve the hand brake. Seems like it might be handy. Back in the 70's, my mom got a new VW bug. I found that using the handbrake helped me break the back wheels loose, so I could get around the dirt road twisties faster. Sorry mom!

[Fred Sigarto]

In an emergency as stated by psdenno in post # 4, yanking on the parking brake is the only way to stop. However, I've heard, continually yanking on it will stretch the cable, even when parking the car. 

[siteunseen]

I've always been told to NOT lock the parking brake when the rears are hot, holds all the heat in when the shoes are pressed against the drums.  Also stretches the cable like mentioned above.  I don't use mine unless I'm on a hill.

[TomoHawk]

It is working correctly.  It's a parking brake not an emergency brake.

Correct.  Why do people keep calling it an "Emergency brake?" 

 

Yes, you could use it in an emergency, but you're better off downshifting and then finally using the Handbrake.  But it was originally designed to  keep the vehicle from rolling away after being parked.  Remember the old foot-operated parking brake?  Your dad (or grandfather) would push it with his foot to engage it after parking the car (or pickup truck, flatbed, 50s sedan, etc, as my dad had) and then pull a release handle to disengage it before driving off again.

Edited July 30, 2015 by TomoHawk

[jalexquijano]

How come a Volkwagen beetle hand brake can be use to stop the car while rolling? This car is supposed to be superior!

[psdenno]

How come a Volkwagen beetle hand brake can be use to stop the car while rolling? This car is supposed to be superior!

 

 

And it's not superior just because of the difference in hand brake operation compared to a 40 HP air-cooled VW Bug?  How's your lock and key problem coming along BTW?

Dennis