rear parking brake adjustment

Hi,
I recently changed the rear brake pads on my inlaws Acura TL 2.5.
Everything went well except that I wasn't sure how to adjust the
parking brake. I didn't want to just take up more cable on the
adjustment bolt. I just couldn't tell how to tighten the parking
brake cable again after I screwed the pistons back into the caliper.
Can anyone point me to a web site with instructions on how to do
this? TIA.

 

if you've done the pads right, and they're fully self adjusted, you
shouldn't have to touch the cable.

 

----------------------------

When in doubt (on US cars anyway), you can try driving backwards slowly
and yanking up on the brake lever repeatedly. It (on some vehicles)
notches up the adjusters to where they should be. Did you look at the
brake stuff at www.tegger.com?

'Curly'

 

doesn't work on hondas tho. all adjustment is done by application of
the service brake.

 

How many clicks of the handle are needed to fully apply the parking brake?

If you're between six and ten, you're fine.

Overtightening the parking brake cable will cause the rear pads to drag and
overheat.

 

It wouldn't work for my Chrysler either. It has separate shoes for the
parking brake, the rear disks are just for regular braking.

 

After brake replacement on my Accord I thought that my parking brake
required too many notches (10 or so). What I did was to back out of my
driveway (not too slowly) and then step on the brake. After several times I
noticed a significant improvement--down to about 7 notches.
MLD

 

the effect you observe may indeed true, but backing out of the driveway
has nothing to do with it - sitting on the driveway and simply pumping
the brake pedal hard will have exactly the same effect. next time you
rotate the tires, take off a brake drum and check out the braking
mechanism - it's a cunning design that takes advantage of the service
brake for self-adjustment.

 

It's more than 10 clicks. Before the brake pad change the parking
brake handle
would end up approx. 20 degs up from horizontal. Now it is closer to
75 degs.
It still catches enough to keep the car from rolling, but from working
with other
cars I know that less than 10 clicks is the norm.

 

The angle of the handle is irrelevant. It's the number of clicks that
matters.

If the number of clicks needed is eight or above, then the cables
probably do need to be adjusted.

However...

-- Make 100% certain the parking brake cable ends are pivoting properly
on the calipers' levers. This is critical.
-- Make sure you're NOT using aftermarket pads.
-- Make sure both pistons are moving freely in their bores.
-- Make sure neither the calipers nor the pads are seized.
-- Make certain that BOTH parking brake caliper levers rotate when the
handle is pulled, and that BOTH wheels are held by the parking brake so
that you cannot spin them by hand (if one is still spinnable while the
other is not, then something is seized somewhere).

If the above five items are proven to be true, then:
1) back the cable adjustment off so that both caliper levers are sitting
against their pins;
2) then adjust the cables so that the parking brake takes six clicks to
fully hold the car on an incline.

With the cables thus adjusted and the parking brake OFF, BOTH rear
wheels should spin freely when spun by hand. Both wheels should
conitinue to spin when you stop pushing, and should spin about equally
freely. With the handle pulled up, neither wheel should be spinnable by
hand no matter how hard you push.