I've had my WRX for a couple months now.

Yesterday when i went to park it, i pulled the parking brake, and got out of my car. To my chagrin, it started rolling down the hill. Luckily i was nimble enough to hop back in and stop it. I thought to myself "hey dumbass, way to forget the parking brake". I moved my hand down to engage it, and realized that i had in fact already put it on. I know the cable hasn't completely snapped, because there is SOME stopping power, just very faint. Is this something i (car novice) can fix myself, or should i schedule service with my dealer? I don't really like the thought of waiting a week to get this fixed though.

Thanks.

There's 2 ways to tighten the Parking brake. The right way is to first adjust the shoes - it's done by turning (prying really) the adjuster star wheels that are inside each rear hub. Then if needed one can adjust the cable - that's easy and done at the base of the parking brake handle. A lot of folks ignore the shoe adjuster and do all the adjustment at the cable. Easier, but not as good for brake power and shoe life.

I'd take it to a dealer - it shouldn't be out of adjustment in a "couple months" and adjustment is under warranty.

Thanks :)

With drum brakes, you can adjust at the shoe adjuster. With rear drum-in-disk set-up, all adjustments should be done with the cable and not the shoes. Adjusting the shoes will make them wear out.

Also, adjusting the shoes is much easier than adjusting the cable. It can be done with car on the ground. The adjuster holes are easily accessible. Adjusting the cable requires disassembly of the center console, which takes much longer. Still, I urge you to adjust the cable and not the shoes if you have rear disks.

Or just take it to the dealer if the car is under 1yr/12miles.

Originally posted by vvk
With drum brakes, you can adjust at the shoe adjuster. With rear drum-in-disk set-up, all adjustments should be done with the cable and not the shoes.

Well the Subaru Service manual specifically states the rear parking brakes are to be tightened at the adjusters on page PM-21 in the Periodic Maintainence section of Volume 1. Also in the Parking Brake section of the Chassis Manual it states that if the lever stroke is incorrect to adjust the Parking Brake and refers to the shoe adjustment. THEN it says to adjust the cable length if needed.

I'm not sure it really matters which way it is done, though keeping the brakes 7 clicks from the engagement point would seem best done at the shoe adjuster, there is no reason they will wear quicker when properly adjusted at the shoes - especially as these are brakes that should almost NEVER wear in any appreciable way as they are really not intended to be used to stop the vehicle. And using the cable to adjust the brakes does mean that you are keeping the cable under tension, which could result in it stretching more and sooner.

Originally posted by Alan

> Well the Subaru Service manual specifically states the rear parking > brakes are to be tightened at the adjusters on page PM-21 in the


I know it does, I've done it myself a couple times.

Alan, I am not trying to say you are wrong. But think who the service manual is intended for. Subaru is not going to direct its dealer service people to spend the time to disassemble the center console if they can just spend 5 minutes and adjust at the drums. If the car needs this done withing 1yr/12m adjustment warranty, Subaru wants to pay for 5 minutes. If this causes the shoes to wear slightly, so be it. And the issue is really not that great. If you do it once or twice, the shoes are not going to wear by any significant amount to cause a problem.

The only common reason that the brakelever will be comming up higher is P-brake shoe wear. If you engage the brakes when you park and then release before you drive, there there will be zero wear. If the mechanism gets bound up with rust and corrosion, then the shoes don't retract properly and drag and wear.

So if they need to be adjusted, then they need to be opened up and investigated. Unless it's a brand new car and the shoes came misadjusted from the factory (happens all the time) or there has been work done that required rear brake disassembly and the P-brake was not adjusted properly (also happens all the time).

Adjusting the P-brake just treats the symptom, not the desease. The dealers like adjusting the P-brake, then they get to later replace the shoes and probably the rotor, which means new pads too $$$.

My dealer would not cover tightening the e brake because it was an adjustment of normal wear & tear

I think we agree about the way the adjustment and wear occur. I've had the center console apart numerous times, it takes a few seconds to pull off the cover and get to the cable adjustment - no screws or anything time consuming, and I've done the parking brake shoes once, which was easy, but not as easy as access to the cable adjustment. So I judged that doing the cable was the EASY way. Of course I've been pulling off the center console cover to do all sorts of things unrelated to the actual brake cable adjustment - maybe it's harder than it looked.

And I think the shoes being adjusted ONCE, to compensate for the initial bedding into the drum is pretty normal. I wouldn't expect to do it again for many years.