I jacked up the car and found parking brake cable position on the driver side rear is pulled tighter than the passenger side. Therefore, it appears the pads are rubbing against the rotor constantly, which could be the cause of the smoke. The driver side hub does not turn as freely as the passenger side. The passenger side pads seem to contact the pads as well, but not as much (is this normal?). Any ideas on cause and solution?

 

smoke???? I hope you're not driving it like that! Sounds like the e-brake cable is froze up. Happened to me in the winter. Ended up just leaving the car in gear till summer before I used e-brake again. For a temporary fix try grabbing the cable with yer hand where it hooks up to the rear caliper and tugging. This will hopefully unbind it from wherever its stuck so you can drive around as long as you don't use it again.

 

I tried that already, but it doesn't seem to help much.

Is it normal for the pads to be in contact with the rotor without the brakes depressed?

 

thats nothing, my front brakes spark when i hit them hard....

 

Anyone have suggestions? I don't have search permissions so I can't do a search, but I read on another thread of a similar problem. Does this sound like a seized e-brake problem? If so, do I need to replace the caliper, the cable, or a "boot" on the cylinder?

 

Yes, disc brakes normally 'rest' with the pads barely touching the rotor. There is the slightest amount of clearance between the moving parts so it doesn't cause much friction. There should be very little drag when spinning the rotor.

If your parking brake cable is causing one caliper to drag, do something about it immediatley. Smoke from the brakes is a Really Bad Thing. Worst case, disconnect both parking brake cables at the brake and don't use it - but get it fixed ASAP. I would not trust my 1st gear to hold the car still.

Dave

 

Thanx for the reply. I am not driving this car until I get this fixed, as I didn't think it was too safe to drive after my brakes were smoking. Currently, I can turn the rotors by hand, its just that it does not turn as freely as the passenger side. I would try adjusting the e-brake cable at the lever, but I'm wondering why the driver side is different from the passenger side. And when I manually pulled the e-cable at the caliper, there seems to be decent slack (it does not seem to be pulling real tight, so I'm thinking the calipers are shot.