will i cause damage if over the next week i only use my hand brake? i'm in the process of figuring out how to swap out the pads, but don't want to cause any rotor damage by using the foot brake

yes you can screw up your damn axles

Not to mention risking running into something. That li'l ole handbrake only operates on the rear wheels.

Hope you read this in time - praying for you, buddy.

i know it only operates the rear wheels, that's why i'm using it... the problem was i didn't want to ruin my front rotors. how will that screw up the axles? which the front or the rear?

i know it only operates the rear wheels, that's why i'm using it... the problem was i didn't want to ruin my front rotors. how will that screw up the axles? which the front or the rear?


the rear axles, and your hand brake operates on a flexible cable, so chances are you will snap that as well if you try to use it while moving.

haha what an idea. :smile: personally i'd like to see someone doing this because it would be pretty hilarious but yeah its pretty bad for the car.

ya wicked hilariuos, f23...

god i hate people who just come here to do anything besides sharing real information. if you wanna chat get out of the tech forums

so what exactly happens when you pull the hand brake. There is a cable that just stops your back axel right there. Does the cable break if you are going too fast? How fast is too fast? How resilient is the cable?

ya that's what i wanna know... i mean i've used it on and off and way more brutally than i am using it now and it hasn't snapped, adn i haven't found any trouble w/ my rear axle.

well NO BROKEN AXLES or anything dumb like that. the car did not get ruined. after some time the effectiveness of the break went down pretty rapidly. using it excessively will loosen the tension in the parking brake cable. this was fixed in under ten minutes w/ minimal tools however, and is back to normal. now front and back brakes are all set

good. so it doesn't hurt your car that much. thanks for the info. what did you have to do fix the cable?

When i'm drunk I like to rip up on some e-brake on the way home and do some slidin'. Hasn't hurt my car (yet.)

skubydobdo - same here. love sliding around w/ my ebrake. myrrdex - it's in the haynes manual in the brake section, it's just tightening it. basically remove your armrest console, and you'll see where the single cable from the ebrake handle connects to two individual cables. turn the nut on the connecting piece clockwise to tighten (do not tighten too much). if you need me to i'll upload pics

god i hate people who just come here to do anything besides sharing real information. if you wanna chat get out of the tech forums
Well the "real information" you need is... You are an IDIOT!!
Why the Hell would you want to take the chance of killing someone by driving around with only a hand brake? Go buy a manual and change the front pads (It's very simple) or pay someone to do it for you.

Yup a certifide idiot. When you use the e-brake assuming you have rear drums you are only applying on of the two shoes and also the majorty of the braking is applied by the fronts so you also run the risk of heating the rears up and warping the ever loving shit out of them. you probably had slack in the handle after doing this because you probably wasted 50 % of the pad/shoe life.

i have rear discs, but the slack was not due to wearing them out it was lost tension in the cable

would it be a problem to post pics. I would like to see. Thanks. What is the haynes manual?

ok just google'd the haynes manual and it looks like there is only a 19981999 manual. Do you think that would work for my 2002 since it is the same model? Does anyone know of any big differences?

i'm assuming that if you need me to post pics, either a) you're car's adjustment spot is either somewhere else/nonexistent or b) you didn't go outside and look. check the link in my sig to go to my cardomain page, i put pics at the bottom of the page for you. i didn't bother to edit them to show exaqctly what to do, but seeing those you should be able to tell. where the one wire from the ebrake cable connects to the splitter to 2 cables for each rear brake, it's not a fixed connection - there's a nut so you can move the connector as you like, tightening/loosening tension in the process. and haynes manual is available for every model of every car, almost anyways. go to any pep boys or auto zone and they'll have a specific volume for 99% of the cars on the road. around 10 - 15$. personally i feel that you should not even be able to post in anything related to basic car procedures until you've bought this book. also, i've been told helms is better, but haven't been able to find them except through online retailers. the haynes manual is w/o a doubt the most cost effective thing i've ever gotten regarding automobiles, period. get it, read through it (entire thing!!!) a few times, and you'll be much more in touch w/ your car. trust me it's worth it, shoudl come w/ the damn cars

That adjustment will only adjust the handle it will make it seem like its adjusted but actually the only thing that you are doing is pulling the cable and in escence applying the brakes. Basically its like this if you tighten that adjuster yes you take slack out of the cable but once you pass that point what you are doing is starting to apply the brakes and make them drag. If they are rear disc then the ebrake will adjust by itself as the piston moves out of the caliper. If its rear drums the proper way to adjust it is to remove the drums and adjust the star adjuster to move the shoes out towards the drums. People make the common mistake and over adjust the adjustment under the console and make it so the handle is tight in two clicks when it is also slightly dragging the brakes. Remember honda specs say 8 clicks to get it tight on the handle thats the spec.

i didn't mean to imply anything other than that procedure was for adjusting tension in the cable. and like he said be careful about tightness.