My E-Brake doesn't lock up the brakes

[B-Line]

Hey all,

The other day, I wanted to try to lock up the wheels on the X5 by yanking the E-brake. To my surprise, the E-brake didn't perform.
I felt the car slow a tad bit, and the warning light came on, but definately, NO LOCK UP.
I even tried turning off the traction control. Still, no LOCK UP. And I yanked that lever as hard as I could, (and I'm a big strong guy.)

What gives? Is the E-Brake electronically controlled to not lock up or something?

B

[vinuneuro]

Cable needs to be adjusted once in a while. Sure your rear pads aren't low?

[B-Line]

Nope, I'm not sure... I seem to recall they were changed recently but I may be mistaken, it could have been the fronts which would make more sense. But I seem to recall they changed the rears and I was surprised the rears wore out faster than the fronts..

B

[Zulu95]

Cable operated "last ditch" emergency brake trying to stop a large heavy vehicle. SOP I'm afraid.
The only times I ever got one of these brakes to lock up was in the British Leyland Mini or a Ford Escort. In both cases I was doing "hand brake turns" playing at amature rally driving.
It also worked in my 2002 but not the heavier 520/525 or the 2500 series.

[AzNMpower32]

You may need to adjust the actuator cable.

Yes, it can probably lock up the rear brakes. At least on my X3 it did, since I felt the vehicle slide and DSC came on.

[rayxi]

If the E53 is like the E46 then the E-brake uses it's own set of brake shoes. Have the cable adjusted and if it still doesn't lock up then you probably need new shoes.

[B-Line]

Zulu, good point, the "last ditch" emergency brake trying to stop a large heavy vehicle is not very reasonable.
But, I'm not trying to stop the vehicle, I'm just trying to "lock em up"..

I wanted to see if I could induce lockup, in the event I ever wanted to pull a 180 or box park (not on the street of course.)
-- I don't see why the X5 is not capable. It's not going to roll over or anything. And since I've seen much bigger, heavier cars do it, why not the X?
I guess the ABS fuse could always be yanked, but that takes away the fun of an E-brake manuever. And it's not a very convienent way of doing it.

B

[Zulu95]

It is nothing to do with ABS, as it is a non-assisted purely mechanical system similar to main brakes back in the days of pre-hydraulic, cable operated, brake systems. The small size of the braking surface area in the “hand brake” would have difficulty locking up due to the mass of the vehicle it is trying to stop.
My experience with Minis and Escorts and the BMW 2002 was in much lighter vehicles that actually used the rear brake shoes of the braking system on the vehicle not a separate set of small pads.

[B-Line]

Gotcha, Thanks for the info...
Guess I'll have to relegate all my stunt driving to rental cars. lol.

B

[toohotdoc]

I have the same problem with my e-brake, got to click it all the way up to stop the car on a incline in neutral. How can i tighten the adjuster? Where is it? Any DIY instructions anywhere?