using the e-brake

[etlsport]

was talkin to a friend of mine about using the e-brake when parking an automatic, so got curious about how many people use the e-brake when they are parked.. so...who uses it?

[castigan]

using park to hold your car on any kind of incline will eventually ruin your trans. use the e-brake... and park....

basically... stop the car.... put it into neutral ... then apply the e-brake.... (handbrake over here) and let your foot off the brake. then stick it into park.... this takes the pressure off park from holding ya car for you.

[Dumke]

I agree. course i didnt do the whoel neutral thing btu will now :p



I was told will ruin transmission. Plus if placing it in park and letting you "park" be ur brake doesnt hurt ur trans then what would it hurt be on cautios<sp> side.



But look @ it this way u ever park on a hill and left in park and ur truck gets the jult to settle??? Well that cant be good. Do the e-brake/hand brake and it wont make that jolt or "settling" (whatever you want to call it) Course be sure to put brake back down when u go.... One too many times have backed up and realized ruh roh brake still on :(

[etlsport]

yea i always use mine... pull into the parking spot, with the regular brake fully depressed i pull the e/parking/hand brake... put the car in park then release the regular brake.. ive always been told itll be easier on the transmission to use the hand/parking/e brake... i know if u are on a hill it can be difficult to get the car out of park if you dont use the e brake.. cant be good for the trans!

[Triathlete]

Use mine all the time when parked. Don't know why...just always have. Also use it a lot when wheeling to lock up the back LSD when a little extra traction is needed to get over an obstacle (poor mans locker)

[WyrreJ]

E-brake is definitely misleading, makes people think its for emergencies only.

[JHarris1385]

Im glad this post came around. Everyday I park in front of a gate in my driveway prior to getting into the parking area. Everyday I hear the clunk when coming in and out of park.........Sad part is, the girl actually uses e-brake evertime at the gate and I told her it was stupid.

Oh yeah the gate is on an incline...
...I feel slightly stupid now, but hey I was never taught it was for anything else other than emergencies. At least I do feel smart about adding 6 quarts of oil when I do my changes thouhg.

[MZ-N10]

fyi the emergency brakes are also called "PARKING BRAKES".

[djkymar]

Using when im on the hill or any roude that not in level. STOP. KEEP PUSHING BRAKE. PULL E-BRAKE. PULL INTO PARK.
P.s some people asking me sometimes oh wow why you using e-brake its not stick shift and i just laght back lol

[ZEUS]

Never knew there was a proper etiquette for parking an auto. I have always had manuals. I'll have to get used to pulling that little lever. Thanks for the thread etl.

[IndianaVX]

is that what that lever is for?!? :confused:
im just kidding, but i rarely ever use the e-brake. but when i have, it has been on a hill, for all the right reasons, avoiding the clunk. so in honor of this thread, and my friend etl, when i got gas thismorning, i used it before i put the truck in park!!!
good post......its all the little things you do that make a vehicle last longer, and this one is on my list now.:cool:
thanks for posting

[tom4bren]

I used to use the PARKING BRAKE religeously (stick or automatic). Then I spent 7 weeks in Alaska during the winter for work. I was told when I got the rental that under NO circumstances should I use the EMERGENCY BRAKE. It would freeze engaged. It was -20 the day I got there (+60 the day I left). I just never got back in the habit of using the HAND BRAKE ... maybe I should.

Thanks ETL for the thread - interesting stuff. I seriously doubt that it will really make any significant difference on the life of the Tranny but should certainly make life much easier and longer for the shifter linkages.

[circmand]

Have never used it on any of my cars with automatic T. Put many a miles on them and never had a transmission go out on me. I had all the cars for at least 8 years and lived in the North East for the most part with high Mountains It is not a bad idea but the E brack can get stuck in cold weather this happened to me a few times with my stick vehicles, but what can you do there? Transmissions are built tough and wont be damaged by using PARK for Parking of course the E Brake will not be hurt by doing this and it keeps the e brake in shape and lubed for whenyou need it

[Chopper]

I use the handbrake alot. When you get the brakes good and hot, then need to stop like at a light, the pads against the rotors can warp them...handbrake. Trailbrake into a corner to get rotation....induce oversteer in loose dirt....lock up the rear...bleed off highway speed without lighting up the brake lights ;) ....oh yeah, and to park

[Mark B]

In Florida we do not have many hills. I never use the e-break but after reading this thread, I will start.

[creeg]

I use the handbrake alot. When you get the brakes good and hot, then need to stop like at a light, the pads against the rotors can warp them...handbrake. Trailbrake into a corner to get rotation....induce oversteer in loose dirt....lock up the rear...bleed off highway speed without lighting up the brake lights ;) ....oh yeah, and to park

I wanna go riding with you, Chopper.

[spaceCADETzoom]

I never knew people DIDN'T use the parking brake. I learned to drive that way and was surprised years later when I found a buddy who never used it. I just took engaging the parking brake as part of the "process"...like taking the keys out of the ignition.

dunno. My first automatic trans car was the vehicross. It was honestly the second car I've ever driven that wasn't manual. I learned to drive a certain way and couldn't easily drive another (I drive LOTS of cars...but my family always chose manual over auto and all of the cars I wanted to drive that were other people's were performance based ..i.e. requiring the driver to, well, DRIVE..changing gears is as part of the process as steering is.)

People don't think there's a transition from manual to auto like there is to auto to manual. I disagree. I kept shifting to neautral and mashing on the brake (i dont know why I compensated for my dead clutch leg by mashing hard on the brake with my rt foot....but I did).

Anyway. point of all that? backgrounds and experience is different all around...we take practice for granted. What you know to be right, some people get away with not doing. I'm sure there are people that don't know they have to change their oil...and it works for them...

[VehiGAZ]

Almost never - only in extreme parking circumstances. Never at home - and my driveway is sloped downward a little, too. The VX transmission seems very heavy-duty and doesn't seem to mind. It would probably be a good idea for me to use it, but I don't.

The wife's A3 with the DSG transmission seems to get a lot of strain on it when doing the same, but she doesn't use the parking brake despite my suggestions.

By contrast, I ALWAYS use the parking brake on the 928... I saw Risky Business, and I learned my lesson!

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

besides on hills....I use mine alot because I learned from my mechanic that in the rustbelt if you don't use it...things don't stay freed up and tend to stop working.
Case in point...I had more troubles with the e-brake on my Fiero than I care to mention. After repeatedly soaking cables & linkages with penetrating oil to get them unstuck...I started using it daily and didn't have trouble anymore.

[WyrreJ]

I used to use the PARKING BRAKE religeously (stick or automatic). Then I spent 7 weeks in Alaska during the winter for work. I was told when I got the rental that under NO circumstances should I use the EMERGENCY BRAKE. It would freeze engaged. It was -20 the day I got there (+60 the day I left). I just never got back in the habit of using the HAND BRAKE ... maybe I should.

I learned that when its wet and still really freakin cold you should only apply the break ~80% - then when it freezes you pull it to 100% which breaks the ice and then you can release it back to 0% with no problem. I haven't lived in alaska, but I did live in illinois for too many years and never had a problem in the winter.

[tom4bren]

Good to know. Doubt I'll ever need it. If your 80-100-0 trick doesn't work, what's the next step? Piss on your wheels? LOL

What a PITA it was to plug in your car every time you stopped for more than 30 min. I'm sure construction is a PITA having to put 110 outlets at just about every parking spot. Beautiful countryside though. Would love to go back in summer just to see the difference (& get to use my parking brake too)

[Chopper]

I wanna go riding with you, Chopper.
Every morning, when I turn a key.........It's LeMans

[Mark Miller]

I only use mine when playing in the dirt.
No hills Here.
I'm sure I would use it when parking in the mountains.

[mdwyer]

Good to know. Doubt I'll ever need it. If your 80-100-0 trick doesn't work, what's the next step? Piss on your wheels? LOL

Well, way back in my high school days, the drivers ed teacher said you just had to put the car in R and roll back an inch or two, and the brakes would come free.

I guess I've never had a problem of ebrakes sticking.

My problem is that I've been driving a manual so long, I roll up the driveway, give the ebrake a tug, turn off the engine and... and the damn thing won't give me my keys back!

Not until I put in in P at least... :p

[Dino]

I use it the parking brake all the time. I NEVER trust an auto trans in park to hold a car from rolling away. If you took a trans apart and saw the little piece of metal that holds the whole works .... wow! Tough little assembly it is, but I'd rather trust the e-brake. :cool:

[castigan]

id like to start a revolution in USA where by the EBRAKE would now be know as the HANDBRAKE.....

SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!!

i mean... ebrake???????? come on. hand brake makes a LOT more sense :)

[mdwyer]

id like to start a revolution in USA where by the EBRAKE would now be know as the HANDBRAKE..... i mean... ebrake???????? come on. hand brake makes a LOT more sense :)

That would take three more letters, and we're lazy. Why do you think we leave the U out of 'color' and 'flavor'? :)

[Chopper]

It's always been a handbrake, when it is on the console, and is operated by hand :) The pedal on the floor is a parking brake...I don't think they've been a true E-brake since Alpha separated brakes into two distinct loop systems, and stuck a small drum brake as a mechanical third on the rear disc (like ours) for the hand brake(think it was Alpha). Kind of moot point anyway...on most high-end cars, it's now electronic...activated by a dash button. Precisely the sort of crap tech that trickles down, diluting the driving experience. Weird at the very moment we are creating the most powerful,reliable, most exciting cars, ever in history to drive, the technology that created them is constantly working to destroy them

[castigan]

It's always been a handbrake, when it is on the console, and is operated by hand :) The pedal on the floor is a parking brake...I don't think they've been a true E-brake since Alpha separated brakes into two distinct loop systems, and stuck a small drum brake as a mechanical third on the rear disc (like ours) for the hand brake(think it was Alpha). Kind of moot point anyway...on most high-end cars, it's now electronic...activated by a dash button. Precisely the sort of crap tech that trickles down, diluting the driving experience. Weird at the very moment we are creating the most powerful,reliable, most exciting cars, ever in history to drive, the technology that created them is constantly working to destroy them

yea... i mean..emergecny brake? id like to know when would be the emergency that would deem the time to apply that brake!!!!

[Ldub]

yea... i mean..emergecny brake? id like to know when would be the emergency that would deem the time to apply that brake!!!!


When you wanna go in the other direction NOW... ;)

[Ldub]

yea... i mean..emergecny brake? id like to know when would be the emergency that would deem the time to apply that brake!!!!


When you wanna go in the other direction, NOW... ;)

[Chopper]

yea... i mean..emergecny brake? id like to know when would be the emergency that would deem the time to apply that brake!!!!
When your pedal goes to the floor and nothing happens....early E-Brakes grabbed the driveshaft itself.

[etlsport]

yep... part of my driving lessons required to get my md license was i had to stop the car without using the brake pedal (pretending a brake line broke or something and the brake pedal didnt respond) good skill to have just in case

[tom4bren]

The only time that I used the handbrake as an emergency brake was when my altenator went bad & I had to drive 45 miles home on battery juice. I used the handbrake as much as possible so my brakelights wouldn't come on & waste the limited supply I had (& no radio or A/C). Most of the trip was in bumper 2 bumper traffic so it was significant. It worked & I made it but it was a nerve wracking drive.

[mdwyer]

When your pedal goes to the floor and nothing happens....early E-Brakes grabbed the driveshaft itself.

My dad told me about the e-brakes on the giant diesel-electric mining dump trucks. Regular braking was done by running the wheel motors backwards and heating up a big toaster-like resistor bank with the generated electricity. If they ever had to use the friction emergency brakes (I think he called them 'service brakes'), they would more or less burn out after one and only one use.

If you did a panic stop in something that large, you pretty much wrote it off and left it by the side of the road until you could go back and do a brake job on it.

[VXIRONwoMAN]

I have always used it. I don't know why, habit i guess...but a good one to have...

[Hotsauce]

On the Saab, the handbrake connects to the FRONT brakes. This makes the most sense if you actually needed it to stop in an emergency where the hydraulic system had failed.

John C.

[tom4bren]

I actually used mine today. I was changing a tire.

[Chopper]

On the Saab, the handbrake connects to the FRONT brakes. This makes the most sense if you actually needed it to stop in an emergency where the hydraulic system had failed.

John C.

Boy, that could be an exciting discovery,depending on when it's made. I will remember that little tidbit. Though, I drive just enough Saabs to know where the key goes...and to realize torque steer IS a manly trait! Squirming like a bag of snakes thru each gear, and still twitching at 100mph! :eek: Whew!

[dkmiller68]

using park to hold your car on any kind of incline will eventually ruin your trans. use the e-brake... and park....

basically... stop the car.... put it into neutral ... then apply the e-brake.... (handbrake over here) and let your foot off the brake. then stick it into park.... this takes the pressure off park from holding ya car for you.

During my brief stint as a professional offroad drive instructor at Biltmore Estate

http://www.landrover.com/ca/en/Owners/Drive_Off_Road/Driving_Schools/Driving%20Schools%20Overview.htm

I learned this...
bring vehicle to stop...engage parking brake...move tranny selector to neutral...release foot brake (by doing this instead of going to neutral first you avoid a situation where you don't (potentially) have control of the vehicle...we were taught to avoid neutral at all times)...go to 'park'.

we were drilled..."The parking brake is the first thing on and the last thing off." (when driving recommences)