Not sure if any of you would know, but obviously our ralliarts have 4 wheel discs. I was wondering how the ebrake worked. I know there are two types, either some mechanism pushes the caliper into the rear disc on either side, or there is a seperate, mini rear drum that is used only for the ebrake. I was wondering which it was.

 

I hope it's the kind with the mechanism built into the caliper. Drum-in-disc is a stupid idea.

 

anyone know?

 

Well, I just went out to see what I could see (it's dark, and raining here in Chicago) and couldn't see any mechanism for the built-in-caliper type of e-brake.

So, until someone pulls off a wheel to get a better look, I think we have the drum-in-disc type.

Looking up brake parts on autozone.com is inconclusive, and partznet.com doesn't have a parts catalog for the 04MY yet.

 

I can't figure it out, I will have to look closer. I hate putting the ebrake on right after doing some hard driving. Those solid rear discs and pads are nice and hot and I hate the idea of having the pads against the rotors while they are piping hot.

 

Drum in disc. Pull the e-brake then take a close look at the rear caliper, the pads aren't engaged.

 

Crap.

WhoTF thought of this type of e-brake?

 

My 1993 3000GT has the same "drum-type" e-brake....never have had any problem with it over 115,000 miles. One advantage is that there is no wear on the shoes, so there is no adjustment needed over time, automatic or otherwise (unless the cables stretch).

 

Drum in disk for sure....get under there and look at the cable that comes out from the floor it attaches at a diferent point on the read assembly...you can then trace the cable to the caliper. it's not that bad/...just not as much clamping force.

 

I got the 4 wheel discs because I friggin hate drum brakes, and it turns out them sneaky engineers put them on, anyway.

 

the only real disadvantage to the drum-in-disc is the fact that it adds weight to the rear of the car... plus... like stated above... no wear or adjustment on them cause you dont use it regularly to stop the car like regular brakes.. then again the weight in the back isnt all that bad... at least it helps to somewhat keep the rear on the road under higher mph

 

So the ebrake is for sure a drum type? IMO that isn't a terrible thing. The drum is more than strong enough to hold the car. AND it has nothing to do with the regular brakes. PLUS there is no wear. PLUS the very hot rear calipers are not touching the disc, making warping more possible. It's like doing some really hard braking and then sitting at a red light in one spot. I always slowly creep up after braking hard to continue moving the pads around on the rotor, so one spot on the rotor doesn't get really hot. A mechanic told me this will help the rotors stay true, making warpage less possible.
I also think adding an ebrake drum is cheaper than designing a system to mechanically hold the calipers against the rotors.

 

I never warped a rear rotor in my DSMs by putting on the e-brake after hard braking. Ever. I put ~350k miles on among three cars, and pounded the heck out of them regularly.

The front brakes in those things would warp for no particular reason, it seemed. Even if I properly torqued the lugs, and let the brakes cool down after hard stops, they'd still warp before it would be time to change the pads again.

 

Different cars seem to warp easier. My friend's Sunbird would warp the rotors ALL the time. Of course he drives that commuter like I drive my RA, so I guess that makes sense. Also my dad's Jag S type R has warped rotors in the back (if you have seen the brakes on that car, you know how difficult it would be to warp the rotors).
I find it odd that most cars have solid rear discs. The only one of our cars with vented rears is our trailblazer...