Loose Emergency Brake

I think the emergency brake in my '99 is slightly loose. Here is what
I mean:

1) Stop at a slope, pressing the foot brake.
2) Put the gear in neutral.
3) Pull up the emergency brake as hard as I can.
4) Release the foot brake.

At that point, the car starts to roll back. It doesn't roll back as if
the emergency brake weren't pulled up, but it does roll back
nonetheless.

I discussed it with a mechanic at a nearby shop, and he suggested the
following.

1) Find an empty parking lot.
2) Put the gear in reverse and drive at about 20 mph.
3) Make a sudden stop by pressing the foot brake quickly.

I'm not sure what doing that is supposed to do, but he said it's worth
a try before manually adjusting the emergency brake. Please share your
opinions. Thank you.
__
sol

He's right that most cars self adjust the parking brake during rear braking
and this is a common way to get it to do it. Sadly, I don't remember if my
99 has a separate 'manual' adjustment but he's correct that it's not going
to hurt anything to try.

Of course you can always try the google search or check it on Miata.net but,
give it a whirl and see what happens (let us know).

Chris
99BBB


"solamour" > wrote in message
...
>I think the emergency brake in my '99 is slightly loose. Here is what
> I mean:
>
> 1) Stop at a slope, pressing the foot brake.
> 2) Put the gear in neutral.
> 3) Pull up the emergency brake as hard as I can.
> 4) Release the foot brake.
>
> At that point, the car starts to roll back. It doesn't roll back as if
> the emergency brake weren't pulled up, but it does roll back
> nonetheless.
>
> I discussed it with a mechanic at a nearby shop, and he suggested the
> following.
>
> 1) Find an empty parking lot.
> 2) Put the gear in reverse and drive at about 20 mph.
> 3) Make a sudden stop by pressing the foot brake quickly.
>
> I'm not sure what doing that is supposed to do, but he said it's worth
> a try before manually adjusting the emergency brake. Please share your
> opinions. Thank you.
> __
> sol

> 1) Stop at a slope, pressing the foot brake.
> 2) Put the gear in neutral.
> 3) Pull up the emergency brake as hard as I can.
> 4) Release the foot brake.
>
> At that point, the car starts to roll back. It doesn't roll back as if
> the emergency brake weren't pulled up, but it does roll back
> nonetheless.
>
> I discussed it with a mechanic at a nearby shop, and he suggested the
> following.
>

The mechanic's advice will not work. The rear brakes must be adjusted
by hand, at least on the NA and NB models. It's pretty
straightforward. Have the car on a level surface. Raise both rear
tires by lifting under the differential. Put car in neutral, e-brake
off. On the back side of each caliper are two bolts, 14mm I think. The
lower one closest to the middle is literally just a 'cap'; take it off
and then you'll need a 4mm allen key. Use the long-end of the leg of
the allen key to turn the adjuster screw. Very little force is needed.
Turn the adjuster screw inside the hole, while turning the wheel of
the car to gauge the effectiveness of the adjustment. Once you start
to feel a little drag on the brakes and the wheel starts to get harder
to turn, back the allen screw off a bit and put the cap back on.
Repeat for the other side. I think you'll be quite pleased with the
reduction in travel on the e-brake handle in the car and it improves
the brake pedal as well.

Good luck with it.

Chris

On 4/24/2011 1:25 PM, Hal wrote:
>> 1) Stop at a slope, pressing the foot brake.
>> 2) Put the gear in neutral.
>> 3) Pull up the emergency brake as hard as I can.
>> 4) Release the foot brake.
>>
>> At that point, the car starts to roll back. It doesn't roll back as if
>> the emergency brake weren't pulled up, but it does roll back
>> nonetheless.
>>
>> I discussed it with a mechanic at a nearby shop, and he suggested the
>> following.
>>
>
> The mechanic's advice will not work. The rear brakes must be adjusted
> by hand, at least on the NA and NB models. It's pretty
> straightforward. Have the car on a level surface. Raise both rear
> tires by lifting under the differential. Put car in neutral, e-brake
> off. On the back side of each caliper are two bolts, 14mm I think. The
> lower one closest to the middle is literally just a 'cap'; take it off
> and then you'll need a 4mm allen key. Use the long-end of the leg of
> the allen key to turn the adjuster screw. Very little force is needed.
> Turn the adjuster screw inside the hole, while turning the wheel of
> the car to gauge the effectiveness of the adjustment. Once you start
> to feel a little drag on the brakes and the wheel starts to get harder
> to turn, back the allen screw off a bit and put the cap back on.
> Repeat for the other side. I think you'll be quite pleased with the
> reduction in travel on the e-brake handle in the car and it improves
> the brake pedal as well.
>
> Good luck with it.
>
> Chris
Along with Hal's advice about adjusting the rear parking brakes at the
caliper - - It's also possible that the cables have stretched with age
and use. If after adjusting at the caliper, the problem still exists,
I think looking at the play in the cables would be the next step.
A caution was that many shops that do brake repair are not aware of the
Miata's peculiarities, and may force the caliper piston back far enough
to damage the parking brake system. I've been fortunate enough (so far)
to avoid this issue. Repair usually involves some dis-assembly to get to
and fix the linkage etc. between the adjusting screw and the caliper
piston. It's a hard thing to describe, and easy to see once things are
apart. I do have a continuing problem with one rear side caliper. Seems
that several years back, a shop managed to slightly bend the caliper
bracket. The Bracket seems to be unobtanium as far as just the bracket,
and rebuilt calipers come without the bracket.

On 4/24/2011 1:25 PM, Hal wrote:
>> 1) Stop at a slope, pressing the foot brake.
>> 2) Put the gear in neutral.
>> 3) Pull up the emergency brake as hard as I can.
>> 4) Release the foot brake.
>>
>> At that point, the car starts to roll back. It doesn't roll back as if
>> the emergency brake weren't pulled up, but it does roll back
>> nonetheless.
>>
>> I discussed it with a mechanic at a nearby shop, and he suggested the
>> following.
>>
>
> The mechanic's advice will not work. The rear brakes must be adjusted
> by hand, at least on the NA and NB models. It's pretty
> straightforward. Have the car on a level surface. Raise both rear
> tires by lifting under the differential. Put car in neutral, e-brake
> off. On the back side of each caliper are two bolts, 14mm I think. The
> lower one closest to the middle is literally just a 'cap'; take it off
> and then you'll need a 4mm allen key. Use the long-end of the leg of
> the allen key to turn the adjuster screw. Very little force is needed.
> Turn the adjuster screw inside the hole, while turning the wheel of
> the car to gauge the effectiveness of the adjustment. Once you start
> to feel a little drag on the brakes and the wheel starts to get harder
> to turn, back the allen screw off a bit and put the cap back on.
> Repeat for the other side. I think you'll be quite pleased with the
> reduction in travel on the e-brake handle in the car and it improves
> the brake pedal as well.
>
> Good luck with it.
>
> Chris

What Chris said plus this link to a mista.net on how to install brake
pads with a note on the bottom that reads "All that remains now is to
manually adjust the rear brakes..." and it has a picture of the
adjustment hole in question. Also, for safety's sake, be sure to block
the front wheels before jacking up the rear and push on the trunk to
test before you go under the car... The e brake needs this adjustment
done periodically during the life of a set of brake pads. you are not
alone.
http://www.miata.net/garage/brakepad.html
ps. sometimes when you pull out the hex key it pulls out the adjustment
bolt too. don't worry, just put the bolt (which has a gear on one end
and socket for the hex key on the other) back into the hole and replace
the bolt that covers it.

charlie > wrote:

> Along with Hal's advice about adjusting the rear parking brakes at
> the caliper - - It's also possible that the cables have stretched
> with age and use. If after adjusting at the caliper, the problem
> still exists, I think looking at the play in the cables would be
> the next step.

I'd suggest that be the first step and, if the adjustment is all taken
up, it should be loosened to somewhere around midrange BEFORE adjusting
at the rear calipers.

Remove the parking brake cover (one screw) and check the cable
adjuster. Again, if there's no adjustment, left loosen it up and then
do the caliper adjustment.


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On 4/25/2011 1:30 PM, XS11E wrote:
> > wrote:
>
>> Along with Hal's advice about adjusting the rear parking brakes at
>> the caliper - - It's also possible that the cables have stretched
>> with age and use. If after adjusting at the caliper, the problem
>> still exists, I think looking at the play in the cables would be
>> the next step.
>
> I'd suggest that be the first step and, if the adjustment is all taken
> up, it should be loosened to somewhere around midrange BEFORE adjusting
> at the rear calipers.
>
> Remove the parking brake cover (one screw) and check the cable
> adjuster. Again, if there's no adjustment, left loosen it up and then
> do the caliper adjustment.
>
>
The cable travel is fairly short. There, to my knowledge, is no
automatic adjustment to compensate for pad and rotor wear.
Thus, checking and adjusting the parking brakes at the caliper is the
best first step in my opinion. At least then you know what to do next,
and likely be done with the problem. Besides, it's a chance to look at
the wear on the rear pads. Speaking of which, it's been several years
since I did any brake work on my 99. It's probably due for some
attention. (Sigh)

charlie > wrote:

> The cable travel is fairly short. There, to my knowledge, is no
> automatic adjustment to compensate for pad and rotor wear.
> Thus, checking and adjusting the parking brakes at the caliper is
> the best first step in my opinion.

I disagree, if the cable has been adjusted as far as possible (likely
since it doesn't involve getting under the car) you will not be able to
adjust the calipers correctly.

Trust me on this one, cable FIRST! BTDT.


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On 4/25/2011 8:19 PM, XS11E wrote:
> > wrote:
>
>> The cable travel is fairly short. There, to my knowledge, is no
>> automatic adjustment to compensate for pad and rotor wear.
>> Thus, checking and adjusting the parking brakes at the caliper is
>> the best first step in my opinion.
>
> I disagree, if the cable has been adjusted as far as possible (likely
> since it doesn't involve getting under the car) you will not be able to
> adjust the calipers correctly.
>
> Trust me on this one, cable FIRST! BTDT.
>
>
I assumed from the original post that the cable, (like most Miatas) Has
never been adjusted. Everyone I've looked at (club cars, anyway) had
never been adjusted.
Whatever floats the boat!

charlie > wrote:

> I assumed from the original post that the cable, (like most
> Miatas) Has never been adjusted. Everyone I've looked at (club
> cars, anyway) had never been adjusted.

I think that's the first thing people try because it's the easiest.
Mine was as far as possible so the arms that work the emergency brake
couldn't go all the way back, that reduced their total travel and
prevents the caliper adjustment from being successful.

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