Parking brake sticks

[2003S]

The last few times I've let my car sit a couple of days, it feels like the parking brake won't disengage. The lever goes down just fine, but getting the car in motion, I feel like the caliper is stuck, and have to rock it a bit to get it to disengage.

Do I just need to replace the shoe or is there something more up here?

[shlim8]

Do you have a screeching noise when that happens ? On mine, it's happened a few times, each time accompanied with a screeching noise when in motion... cleared itself up before I could drive back to my driveway.... suspected my park brakes too...

Mine's a tip so I don't engage the parking brakes now when I'm parked... but would be interested in fixing it too...

[wvboxst3r]

since it just started and where your at could it be moisture and the cold temps. I lived in Fort Wayne IN for a while and had that on other vehicles.

[2003S]

Originally Posted by wvboxst3r

since it just started and where your at could it be moisture and the cold temps. I lived in Fort Wayne IN for a while and had that on other vehicles.

Thought it might be cold related, but the last time the car was in the garage with a temp reading high 40s.

[2003S]

Originally Posted by shlim8

Do you have a screeching noise when that happens ? On mine, it's happened a few times, each time accompanied with a screeching noise when in motion... cleared itself up before I could drive back to my driveway.... suspected my park brakes too...

No screech, once it 'let's go' it's fine.

[thstone]

Assuming that the problem is the parking brake...

First, don't use the parking brake at all for a few days and see if it continues to happen.

Next, "loosen" the parking brake so that the shoes never engage the inside of the rear rotors. This DIY tells you how to adjust it - but instead loosen it completely. http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/51-BRAKES-Parking_Brake_Adjustment/51-BRAKES-Parking_Brake_Adjustment.htm

If the problem goes away, then you know that it was your parking brake causing the problem. Next step would be to adjust it properly. Use the above DIY to do so. It may take an iteration or two to get the parking brake set so it doesn't drag and still engages properly when set.

If this process doesn't solve it, you may have a caliper sticking or some other problem.

[2003S]

thanks much -- will give it a go.

[jcb986]

The parking brake is a shoe on the inside of the rear rotor. I would remove tire, caliper and rotors and clean them up. Not that hard. When I replaced my rotors, I did that exactly because there was a fair amount of dirt and moisture that made it like a sludge.