Chris,

	Has it rained recently by you?  Or have you run through any puddles
prior to parking?  What about morning due on the car?  The reason I ask all
this is when I wash my car or if it rains and I park the car using the
emergency brake, the rotors rust binding the pads to the rotors.  The only way
to free it is to get the car moving rendering a very loud BANG as the pads
brake loose from the rotors.  So now if it rains or if I wash the car I always
park the car in 1st gear and leave the emergency brake off until things dry out.
Or possibly the emergency brake system/assembly has some rust and needs some
TLC.

Hope this helps.

--
Mike Bigus
Tornado Red
'96 GTi VR6
(too many mods to list)

Chris Collier wrote:
>
> Hi all, chris collier here,
>
> Question: has anyone every had their rear brakes locked shut? On two
> occasions now, i have released my e-brake, but the rear calipers stay
> locked.
>
> Simple deduction would point to the e-brake assembly, i have gotten that
> far, i just wanted to know if anyone else had experienced this, thus
> aiding in a short cut to the solution
>
> chris
>
> I will be posting my intervention story about confronting the lady who
> hit me. I will post tomorrow, as i am not able to write it all
> tonight............

This happened to me a couple times last winter. Turns out I needed new pads
and rotors. I doubt this was the cause, I suspect rusted/frozen cables.
Being summer I doubt that frozen cables would be a cause in your case. I
never use the parking brake anymore, I always park it in gear.

Good Luck
Brendon


>
>Hi all, chris collier here,
>
>Question: has anyone every had their rear brakes locked shut? On two
[...] 24 lines deleted

My Father and one of my best friends had the same problem (my friend
had his repaired SEVERAL times.)   My Father is a mechanic with a
'95 Golf GTI and my friend has a '96 GTI 8v as well.   My friend
apparently had a rusty brake cable but my Father had no idea why his
brake froze-up (and he's a mechanic!)

Sincerely,
Todd Taylor
www.venommotorsports
www.toddtaylor 

> Question: has anyone every had their rear brakes locked shut? On two
> [...] 14 lines deleted

On Wednesday, July 7, 1999 8:17:32 PM, Chris Collier wrote:
> Simple deduction would point to the e-brake assembly, i have gotten that
> far, i just wanted to know if anyone else had experienced this, thus
> aiding in a short cut to the solution

Chris, sometimes the rubber boot which protects the end of the e-brake cable
can crack and allow moisture to enter. As a result, corrosion can occur, and
freeze up the cable. The obvious related problem is the literal freezing of
the cable in the winter. You may be able to free it up with a little
lubricant on the cable- allow it to drip down the length of the cable. Do
this carefully, and of course, make sure that you don't get any on the
braking surfaces. A good hard stomp on the brake pedal could free it up too.
If the brake still locks, try disconnecting the cable and see if it frees up
then. If not, the problem isn't going to be the e-brake, and you're probably
in for a new caliper or at least a rebuild on it. As someone else wrote, my
car's e-brake will freeze up temporarily after washing the car or after a
rain. It frees up immediately after trying to drive away, though.
Chris

I have this problem everytime I wash my car and let it sit out for a while (even
after it rains.)  I first stopped using the e-brake, just leaving it in gear.  but
the pads still seem to get stuck to the rotors, but not nearly as bad as when I used
the parking brake.  I can only avoid it by driving the car before the rotors/pads
completly dry out.

-Jesse

Mike Bigus wrote:

> Chris,
>
>   So now if it rains or if I wash the car I always
[...] 10 lines deleted

I have the same thing as Mike after wet weather..

[...] 67 lines deleted

Well along with cold weather comes problems. My
windshield cracked, no real reason why, it just wanted
to. The real problem is my parking brake cable, its
sticking. Is there a bandaid easy fix or is it better
to just replace the cable?

Sean
88 16v GTI
97 VR6 GTI

Sean,
I feel your pain man.  Look at it this way, your insurance usually covers the windshield as
part of your Comprehensive coverage and most peoples' comprehensive deductable is only $100.
This way you can get those damn tiny rock marks that bug you when it's sunny out.
Plus, it doesn't make your insurance go up.
As far as your ebrake...that sucks.  I started getting that problem when my car was about 3 yrs
old so count yourself lucky (mine's a '98).
Unfortunately, I don't have a fix.  I think some others here do.
What I do (still do) is just park it in a very flat spot in 1st gear.  
But on those days when I forgot my easiest fix (w/o actually touching the cable) is to let the car
run and warm up for a bit.  The heat from the exhaust will usually "de-freeze" your cables.
It will take a while but all is not lost.
I'm sure there are other fixes but thought you'd like to get my ideas...
Later dude,
Nater

Hi Sean -

As you've probably already noticed, the problem with your parking brake
cable is that one (or both?) of the rubber boots over the end of the cable
at the caliper is torn, allowing in water.  The bad news is that I don't
know of any good way to just replace the boot; even if there was one, I
don't know how you'd make sure all the water was gone from the cable.

The good news is that replacing the parking brake cable yourself isn't so
bad.  I'd put the level of pain on the order of changing the front brake
pads (no worse).  Also, the last time I had to do the change, the new cable
was only about $20 from the dealer (maybe it's a bit more now).

If you don't have a Bentley manual, this might be a good time to get one.
There's a good description of what to do in there.

Good luck,
- Bob T.
  '96 GTI-VR6 182k miles