'06 Mazda 3 Parking Brake

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ROCHESTER, NY
Car: '06 Mazda 3 2.0L w/automatic tranny
4 wheel disk brakes just installed 4 new rotors and pads in April this year.

I installed Centric Premium rotors(black e-coating) and Centric Posi-Quiet Ceramic pads all around. The brakes are the best that this car has had and they're super smooth/quiet with great stopping power and no noise as before. Man, were they loud and there was nothing wrong with them except all kinds of noise. Screaching/scraping/squeeling/moaning/groaning. The brakes didn't make all of those noises all at once, just different noises depending on weather/tempurature. I have mentioned this in other threads.

The issue is, the parking brake doesn't seem to hold the car(strongly) under light acceleration "ONLY" with the praking brake fully on. The P/brake does hold the car in gear w/o pressing the accelator but, when pressing the pedal just a little(1500-2000 rpm) the car move forward but stops when the pedal is released. Doesn't lunge or leap forward, just move slowly.

I don't think that the car will pass NY State Motor Vehicle Inspection but, I'm not sure what the full criteria of this inspection is for the P/B.

I just want to be clear in my statement to all of you and I want to say that the P/B does hold the car on a hill, in gear just fine but, it's when the accelerator is applied that the car move forward a bit until I let up on the gas pedal.

The Parking Brake handle/lever inside the car works fine and is not out of adjustment. It pulls easily(with a nice connected feel) and returns normaly when the thumb button is pressed in to release.

This car uses the rear disk brakes as the parking brake, as ther is no seperate drum style parking brakes under the rotor hats. Anyone familier with this type of brake system will understand.

I'd like to add that all 4 wheels were blead and I did replace on caliper due to a broken bleeder screw. All 4 calipers are working flawlessly as I lubed all the sliders and the backs of the pads nicely

Anyone have any opinions/ideas?

Much Thanks,

CharBaby
 
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Originally Posted By: Scorch
I would say that all sounds pretty normal to me?


Even the car moving forward under light acceleration?


My other cars(4 cars total) don't do this. Although I have had one car with rear drums that did this once. I don't remember failing State inspection but that was a long time ago. Today they're a bit tougher.
 
That sounds average for modern parking brakes. The parking brake doesn't apply any force itself, it's just a lever that's attached to the rear brakes via a cable. So if you want it to hold on harder, pull it back harder/further.
 
Is a "car moving forward under light acceleration" "parking"? Does the parking brake hold the car when stopped on a hill? If it does then its purpose is accomplished.
 
The Accord is the first car I've owned with just disc parking brake (not drum in disk or drum rears) and the parking brake is very weak, always has been.

So, maybe it's normal?
 
Thank you everyone. It sounds as though some of you have experienced the same thing and nothing is wrong with the P/B. Most of my vehicles P/B will hold the car stopped under very hard acceleration(almost a brake stand) all by them selves. This is why I am concerned.

Originally Posted By: cmf
That sounds average for modern parking brakes. The parking brake doesn't apply any force itself, it's just a lever that's attached to the rear brakes via a cable. So if you want it to hold on harder, pull it back harder/further.


No, this isn't what I'm talking about. The parking brake lever only pulls up a little before stopping(rear brakes fully locked). Let's call the P/B lever at rest, 0 deg's, OK? There is no further adjustment as it only pull up about 15-30 deg's and the parking brakes are on. I can't even pull it further to about 45 deg's. Completly dissconnected, the lever would pull up to 90 deg's(straight up). I hope that I am explaining this so you can get a good visual.

The rear brakes themselves are as tight as they're going to be(on the rotors) when pulling the P/B lever. They just don't hold the car under light acceleration(maybe it's the ceramic compound, IDK). This is my only concern but, the P/B does in fact hold the car fully stopped, in "D" on an incline(which is it's job).

I am just a bit concerned about the State Inspection that I have this Wedensday the 17th. I just don't want to hear that the car fails because of this issue(maybe not an issue!)

Originally Posted By: tom slick
Is a "car moving forward under light acceleration" "parking"? Does the parking brake hold the car when stopped on a hill? If it does then its purpose is accomplished.


P/B holds fine in all cercomstances even on an incline in "D". Except,,, in "D" while accelerating lightly, 1200-1300 rpm. Only then does the car move forward.

Originally Posted By: The Critic
You can adjust the parking brake tighter if it bothers you.


There really is no more or no need to adjust as I stated above cause there is already little pull in the P/B lever. 2 men and a small boy couldn't pull it further.

And as I stated in my OP, the brakes them selves work beautifuly in all weather.

Thanks again,
CB
 
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When the parking brake is shared with the service brake, it is often advised to firmly apply the service brake while then applying the park brake lever.

There is also the issue of static vs sliding friction. If you can get it to "stop" and not roll, it's not going to then spontaneously roll.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
When the parking brake is shared with the service brake, it is often advised to firmly apply the service brake while then applying the park brake lever.

There is also the issue of static vs sliding friction. If you can get it to "stop" and not roll, it's not going to then spontaneously roll.


I'm not sure what your getting at!

Other than to step down "HARD" on the brake pedal and then apply the parking brake(pull up Hard on the lever)?
 
My car will drive with the parking brake on and you won't even notice it. Just tried this out with my Mothers brand new 2011 Edge, it won't go forward or reverse just putting the car in gear, but even just a slight rev and it will move forward or backwards.

Modern parking brakes are to keep the vehicle stationary while parked, not while in gear and under acceleration. I would say you have nothing to worry about.
 
After logging off of BITOG this morning, I went outside and dove into the rear brakes/parking brakes. After careful examination of both sides of the rear brakes I noticed that the driver side P-brake is not functioning, only the passenger side is.

Either the cable is frozen or it's completely disconnected form the P-brake lever in the center console. There is no rust to speak of on the cable that is showing, and the rest of the cable is wrapped in extra hosing and rubber and leades through the body of the undercarrage up into the P-brake lever in the center console.

So, this is why the P-brakes aren't holding the car under acceleration. Only one side of the P-brake is "ON"...Pass side!

From what I can see is, either the center console or the exhaust system will need to be removed or both, in order to see what is amiss here. It may just need reconnecting or that the cable is frozen. Car isn't that old!

If I drop the exhaust system, then I'll need to remove the aluminum shield from beneath the undercarrage to see the rest of the cable and where it's going.

If I have to remove the center console, this too is tricky as the shifter may give me the most trouble, I don't know!

I did find the adjustment for the P-brake by removing a little tab in the center console and there was the adjusting screw. I adjusted it a couple of turns but all it did was tighten the Pass side P-brake too much causing the brake to be on all the time so, I readjusted to where it was before and it still holds as I stated eralier.

I'm going to get the inspection and hopefully it passed as everything else is working perfectly. If they do try to fail it, maybe I can put up a little fight in the cars defence that the brake holds fine on and incline. If it passes, I'll fix it at my leasure sometime before next Aug. 2012
smile.gif
 
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Originally Posted By: Scorch
My car will drive with the parking brake on and you won't even notice it. Just tried this out with my Mothers brand new 2011 Edge, it won't go forward or reverse just putting the car in gear, but even just a slight rev and it will move forward or backwards.

Modern parking brakes are to keep the vehicle stationary while parked, not while in gear and under acceleration. I would say you have nothing to worry about.


Thank you Scorch this is great info. What I'm really concerned with is that NY State is becomming a real PIA for everything! And I mean everything!

Wish me luck and a prayer.
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
IT PASSED with flying colors. Thanks everyone!


That's great to hear! Told you that you would not have any problems!

On the other hand, I'm very glad Michigan does not require inspections...
 
But now you are not under the gun, do find and fix what is causing the parking brake problem on one side. Most likely, it will be the cable but it is too early for it to rust even in upstate NY.

How is the rest of the car holding up? I am not too keen on Mazda but my son's heart is set on a Mazda 3. My general impression about Mazda is that they do not last as long as other Japanese brand.

- Vikas
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
But now you are not under the gun, do find and fix what is causing the parking brake problem on one side. Most likely, it will be the cable but it is too early for it to rust even in upstate NY.

How is the rest of the car holding up? I am not too keen on Mazda but my son's heart is set on a Mazda 3. My general impression about Mazda is that they do not last as long as other Japanese brand.

- Vikas


This is the first Mazda ever in our family and so far, so good! It's an '06, purchaced in '09 w/ 50K miles on the odometer. My daughter has had the car 2 years now and the only thing that we have replaced are items such as tires, brakes, battery, wipers.

I think that the one P-brake cabel is either dissconnected or snapped. There are 2 seperate cables on this car, one for the Driver-side rear and the other for the Passenger-side rear brakes but, both are connected to the one P-brake lever. Kind of a cool design really. And because it holds fine, your right, I'm taking my time fixing it.

As-far-as liking this car, she loves the car and I do to but, lots of people are having rust issues with the paint/body and I can see their concern as each time I wash the car, I notice another little spot of rust/pitting or bubble in the paint where there shouldn't be(even on a flat surface such as a panel). Not on a corner or seam.

The drivetrain is wonderfully smooth and responsive and it's only the 2.0 L w/ auto tranny. The brakes are strong and the handling is near sports car capable. The ride/handling and straight line tracking at 80, 90 and 100 mph is great. Best in class as far as I'm concerned. This is with me doing the driving as she can't get tickets per her job requirements so, she drives like her grandmother. It's the look of the car she likes, not what it's capable of.

As stated, the drivetrain is smooth and quiet and the car is solid but, the interior lacks insulation so, there is lots of road noise. Not wind noise per/say coming from leaks, just road noise! Even with the quietest tires, there is surface noises from the road and even with quiet brake friction material, we can still hear some brake friction especially in the morning or after a rain. But, otherwise I have reduced those noises by using better quality(quieter) brakes/tires.
 
The body rust is my main problem with Mazda of similar era. The only make of cars which I find rust in late model cars are from Mazda in our parking lot.

We had a old Accord with one cable frozen and had to really hold our breath during the annual inspection in New Hampshire but that had at least 10 years and 140K on it.

- Vikas
 
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