E-brake at highway speed?

[Palut]

What kind of mechanical problems, if any, can arise from using the e-brake to slow down while at highway speed?

Putting wear on just the rear brakes is the obvious thing. Will this damage the e-brake mechanism or is it fine?

 

[Palut]

P.S. By slow down I mean dropping 10-15 mph, not slowing to a stop.

 

[Shannow]

Depends entirely on the system, and how it's used. Remember that applying the handbrake can result in a really wild slide.

If it's a drun on the driveshaft (less common these days than it was), there can be some pretty nasty results mechanically (registration inspections down here won't even test a driveshaft mounted parking brake due to the risks).

Drum brake rears, just more wear (and chance of slide).

Direct actuated disks (cam or screw arrangements) more wear (and chance of slide).

Mini drum inside disk big chance of causing some costly damage.

 

[Palut]

To be specific, 1995 Honda Accord. 4 wheel disc brakes.

 

[Quest]

Why would someone attempt to use e-brake during highway speeds? Is it one of those TeeVee stunts or just pure foolish?

Remember this:

On a FWD car, the front braking system is the actions are (80%) whereas the rear is approx 20%. Pulling your e-brake during highway speed, other than breaking away from proper traction (if you are successful in locking the rear tires) you'll have a very *interesting* spinoffs and you will throw your car into a very chaotic maneuverbility situation (or even rollovers on highway.



It's not going to slow your car down you know.

Yes, I agree with the rest of the folks that it may cause serious rear braking system damage as well.

 

[Palut]

Not yanking the e-brake, just gently pulling it up a few clicks. It's handy for gently dropping a few mph when you don't want give yourself away with brakelights or nosedive.

 

[pzev]

LOL Palut, I have done that. I have also attempted pulling my E-brake at highway speeds only to be greeted with nothing. While perfectly capable of holding the car in position while parked, it does not seem to poses the capability to actualy lock the rear wheels...at any speed. Being young and stupid has led me to attempt drifting by cranking the car a direction and pulling the e-brake...only to be rewarded with nothing.

Now lunch trays under the rears wheels.....


My car has rear drums

 

[oilyriser]

consider a way to wire your radar detector to the brake light switch, so that the lights are disabled when signal strength is really high

 

[michaelc80]

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Not yanking the e-brake, just gently pulling it up a few clicks. It's handy for gently dropping a few mph when you don't want give yourself away with brakelights or nosedive.

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So you're either trying to scare the guy behind you that's tailgating or you're speeding and see an officer and try to slow down without him noticing, right?

If you see the officer he already knows how fast you're going. I doubt very much the emergency brake trick will do much. You'd be better off just slowing down a bit to begin with.

If you're trying to scare the tailgater behind you then there are better ways handle it.

Either way using the emergency brake to slow you down is a bad idea.

 

[Rand]

Its all about kinetic energy if you are going 30mph
the energy at 60mph is 4x what it was at 30mph.

The ebrake will lock tires. try it at about 20 on a deserted
stretch of parking lot.

 

[shanneba]

My owners manual suggests activating the parking brake while moving ocasionally to keep the corrosion off the pads and drum. It suggests pulling it up until you feel the brake apply and driving about a 1/4 mile. It also says the brake lights are deactivated during the application of the parking brake so only do it when no other traffic is close.
I usually do it monthly or after a trip through the carwash.
My parking brake is a drum type on the rear disk brake rotors.

 

[DriveHard]

If your parking brake disables the brake lights, you could lift it just enough to disable the brake lights, then use your regular brakes to slow down.

 

[pajim17057]

If you want to slow down a little. Take your foot off the gas. Parking brakes are designed for parking. Its not a slow down brake.

 

[rcy]

Parking brake, yes, but also an emergency brake as I found out when a brake line on my old '92 Maxima was cut by the wheel. I was at highway speed (110km), and fortunately I was just slowing down for a curve, not for traffic. Felt the pedal go right to the floor, aimed for the shoulder and grabbed a handful of parking brake. I slowed down, but it took a looong time. Just another reason to keep your parking brake in working order.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Okay... An E-brake turn has landed more policemen into the ditch then just about any other stunt that they could think to pull. IF you know what you are doing AND the conditions merit, a police vehicle CAN be made to rotate within it's lane such that it points directly back from whence it came, all while at highway speed. Why? So that a policeman can quickly get around and pursue somebody. The "Is it worth it?" part I shall leave alone...

How it's done: Well, on the older Ford PC's the E-brake was designed NOT to catch and hold while the transmission was in gear. This allowed the driver to simply nail the E-brake and cause the PC to rotate. The E-brake pedal would hold as long as the driver pressed it down. A vehicle that locks ONLY it's rear wheels will ALWAYS rotate around 180 degrees such that the rear, sliding wheels lead and the rotating wheels follow. The rear wheels are locked and the driver steers the front wheels sharply to one direction or the other to break the PC loose. It will then rotate in that direction. The problem is that the crown of the road will also influence this rotation and must be considered. That Ford E-brake release feature was removed sometime in the mid-90's and I don't think that it has returned. Chev PC's operated differently than Fords as regards the E-brake. The Chev brake would lock when applied regards of transmission condition. How many times did I get into a Chev PC and see a shotgun shell propping open the E-brake release lever... After a short drive it usually became clear that the car was now a 'thumper' after some idiot had badly flat-spotted the rear tires. I am not certain as to how this beats up the rear brakes (if at all) with continued practise but it makes short work of the tires.

If a vehicle's brakes fail for whatever reason and all that the driver has at his disposal is the E-brake, then use it - just don't panic and LOCK it. I would expect that the transmission (engine compression) would provide as much or more braking force than the E-brake. It would also mitigate control issues.

My three cents...

John.

 

[eljefino]

There's a federal safety standard for emergency brakes and how much distance they can use to decellerate from speed (forget how fast, 50 mph or so.) So, mechanically, it will work, at least once. I wouldn't do it with 4 wheel discs with "top hat" tiny drums though as those little shoes would wear down quickly.

Moonshiners used to install under-dash toggle switches to disable ALL rear lighting... so they could lose the revenuers on twisty mountain roads and/or slam on the brakes for a side street without being detected.

Electrically, the e-brake has a switch for the dash indicator light (and sometimes FRONT daytime running headlights) but won't cut out the service (pedal) brake lights.

If a cop is following you, and using his certified speedometer to pace you, he may have rules to follow, eg, must stick to you for 1/10 mile. Can't hurt to inconspicuously slow down. He may not be running radar and might not even be assigned to highway speed patrol... so may not be rabidly searching for speeders. This gives you a window to inconspicously mesh with lawful speed limits.

 

[TallPaul]

I think these things are designed to be used as a parking brake and the term emergency brake just developed by consumers who didn't use them for parking. With the ratchet mechanism on them, they are poor emergency brakes as they are inclined to create their own emergency as described above. Still, if your regular brakes fail, you will be glad to have a parking brake. With the hand lever, you can hold the release button and use it to stop, but with a foot pedal parking brake it is pretty difficult to hold the release.

 

[TallPaul]

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If a cop is following you, ... He may not be running radar and might not even be assigned to highway speed patrol... so may not be rabidly searching for speeders. This gives you a window to inconspicously mesh with lawful speed limits.

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True. Once I was running without a license plate (it got lost and I was trying to get home) and a cop followed me a mile down a residential street. I was sure he would notice, but when I got to the main road and turned left, he turned right. Whew!

 

[RD400]

Using the e-brake on a gravel road can lead to a perfectly executed bat-turn

But you didn't hear it from me.

 

[Palut]

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If you see the officer he already knows how fast you're going. I doubt very much the emergency brake trick will do much. You'd be better off just slowing down a bit to begin with.

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I don't brakecheck people, so that's not an issue. Somebody tailgates me, I just continue driving as normal.

My goal is always to drive without needing to touch the brake or the shifter. My front brakes have over 90,000 miles on them with 50% of the pad left, and the rears have about 65,000 and are in great shape! But sometimes there are times when the brakes need be used:

Picture one of those instances where you're going a little over the limit, and a cop is coming down the onramp next to you. He can't radar you yet because of cosine error. He can't pace you yet because he's not up to speed. If you maintain your speed, once he gets up to speed he'll see that you're going faster than him and know you're speeding. If he sees your brake lights and then notices that you're now going his speed, he may deduce that you were speeding, and you may attract unwanted attention. If you simply come off the gas you won't slow down fast enough and he'll see you speeding. But if he gets up to speed, hasn't seen your brake lights, and you're now going close to the limit then everything's peachy.

My car will gently slow with the e-brake on. I'm quite aware of what happens when one locks the rear the wheels, but I never pull this thing up more than about 1/3 of the way. I'm a very careful driver.

I'm just curious if there is harm to the e-brake mechanism or anything else by engaging it partway at highway speeds.