What's a good brand?

I went out to start my '98 this morning and when I pushed in the clutch, it immediately rolled backwards (I park on a sloped driveway). I was afraid of the dreaded disintegrating parking brake shoes, but my fears were confirmed mere moments ago when I got the rotors off. The parking brake shoes on both sides had come off. These were installed less than 6 months and 2000 miles ago. I'm going to try to get them replaced under warranty, but I don't expect any different results. You know what they say about doing the same thing but expecting different results. Anyway, I'll give the manufacturer a chance to stand behind their product before I ask for a refund but I may preemptively buy a set to have on hand to minimize the downtime on the next occurrence.

I use the parking brake every time I park, whether I'm on level ground or not. My driveway is sloped (away from the house, thank goodness). The way I set the parking brake is this: park on hill, put my foot on the brakes, set the parking brake, remove my foot from the brakes to confirm the parking brake is holding, push down more on the parking brake pedal if needed to prevent rolling, then put the transmission in gear. I suspect my parking brake sees more use than the average parking brake. Most people I know (who have automatics) never use the parking brake (a bad practice IMHO).

 

Parking brake should never "wear out".. they normally die of old age and unbonding. 6 months sounds early... Your right, I have 3 vehicles with auto transmission and I never use the brake on any of them... probably for 10 years.

 

I assume you live somewhere flat to be able to do that. You should at least use it every couple weeks to keep the cable from freezing up inside the sheathing but then again, you may not care.

I got the new parts in last night and I'm back on the road again. They're kind of a PITA to install until you figure it out. But, I'll probably forget everything and be back on the learning curve next time it happens.

Parts were replaced free of charge, no shipping, no return shipping, nothing (other than my time to install them). I just hope the first parts were defective as opposed to the issue being related to an inherent design flaw. If it's a design flaw, then I guess I know what I'll be doing in about 4 months.

 

Unfortunately, it's a pretty common issue and you'll likely have a chance to refresh your memory on the easy way to do these (if there is such a thing). I found they are pretty easy to change if you have the axles out to replace wheel bearings and axle seals.

-Rod