I just noticed that I could push my car (with it out of gear) even with the handbrake on in my garage and I could get it rolling without much effort. I went inside and pulled it on harder, and I could feel the increased resistance in the wheels, but I could still push it. is there an adjustment where I could make the handbrake tighter or something? or is this normal?
My sister has an 86 IROC-Z28. in that car you can put the handbrake on as hard as you can with the rear wheels elevated. put it in gear and the wheels would still turn. Seems that's just the way that car is.

 

Submitter's Name: Bill Matera

I posted this fix several years ago, but it was lost in the software upgrade... When My C5 was new the e brake barely worked,, I took it to the dealer, and was told that brakes are a wear item and that I would have to pay for new shoes.. the car had less than 1000 miles on it .. the e brake only engages when the car is stopped so how could they be worn.. Any way I decided to take a look ans see if i could do anything..I was not crazy about the dealer touching my car anyway.. OK.. here we go.. the e brake works similar to the e brake on most cars with rear drum brakes.. with that in mind... jack up the rear of the car...remove the wheels...then remove the bolts for the calipers...then the calipers and pads...you will see the caliper bracket.. it has two bolts that hold this to the brake backing plate.. they are very very tight... but they will come off ( They are 125 ft pounds with loctite)... Once the bracket is off you can remove the rotor ( make sure the e brake is not engaged ).....Next.. you will see how the system works.. it has a set of shoe brakes .. and the rotor has an internal drum... In the last few years I have found that many many C5 come from the factory with poorly adjusted e brakes... Now locate the star adjuster.... turn it out to make the shoes grow in diameter...( Mine were out 33 clicks)... I did ten clicks at a time and the slid the rotor back on.. I did three sets of ten before I could feel any drag... I then clicked five more and could not get the rotor on...I then backed off two clicks and got the rotor on.. it was tight when I started it on the shoes but when i finally seated it it was perfect.. I then did the other side.. it was out exactly the same amount.... I then put everything back...Now for the test...When I engaged the e brake.. it locked up the brakes at a point about 45 degrees.... 90 degrees being straight up.. the lock up was so positive...I knew I did it right..next .. to check the release .. I took the car to a hill... set the e brake .. car in neutral and it stayed there ... then to check on the release.. I slowly disengaged the ebrake...and found that the shoes where totally retracted after only an inch of lever release...after this fix I could stop the car using only the ebrake with the car doing ten miles an hour...The ebrake also has an auto adjust feature.. but it will only work if your e brake lever is between 45 degrees and 55 degrees..if your ebrake is out further than that the e beake will not auto adjust..... ( AUTOADJUST feature ) roll the car backwards on a hill.. or in reverse @ 5 mph..pull up on the e brake lever... this will slam your car to an abrupt stop.. the engagement of the shoes to the drum while the car is moving backwards will cause the shoe assembly to flex.. it is the flex that causes the blade to click the adjusting star one click... Do this three or four times and it will expand your shoes.. you can not over tighten thes shoes... if it needs two clicks to get to max... and you do four clicks.. it will only adjust the star two clicks.. Also remember to use loctite on the brackets and caliper bolts..If you have any questions on this repair .. feel free to e mail me or instant message me.. Good Luck.. Many people have emailed me with their positive results from this fix... Bill

 

 

awesome! thanks for a great post, I won't be able to give this a try for alittle while but I definitly will.