Parking Brake Adjustment Question

[TostitoBandito]

I'm trying to adjust my parking brake after getting it all reinstalled, per the instructions in Bentley or on Pelican.

My question is around how much rubbing/noise from the parking brake is normal when spinning the rear wheels? I initially tried to set the adjusters in each so that I could spin the wheel with zero noise at all from the shoes rubbing on the rotor (and obviously no resistance). However, after doing that it seems like there's not enough bite after starting to adjust the nuts on the lever. Also, just after pulling the brake lever and releasing it, my wheels will spin more or less freely but with some rubbing/noise. After fiddling with it a bunch it doesn't seem possible to adjust them for zero noise/rubbing. As soon as I touch anything or set/release it there's some rubbing.

My guess is that this rubbing is normal kind of like brake pads and they'll more or less get out of the way while the car is in motion. Assuming this is correct, should I just restart my adjustment and just adjust for meaningful physical resistance and not for noises I hear?

Also, this really sucks on a car with wheel studs where you can only get to the adjuster with the rotor off.

[hli]

Adust to the point where you are not able to spin the rotor by hand anymore, then back it off 2 clicks or so and you're set.

[TostitoBandito]

Ok, I was overthinking it. What you described worked fine, though I think it was more like 8 clicks in my case (which is also what Bentley says).

[RRSperry]

It's 8 clicks for the handle in the car. The rear adjusters are backed off two clicks.

[TostitoBandito]

Ah, well, I backed mine off more. Still works fine. Parking brake locks them up good and tight when the lever is pulled.

[blckstrm]

Ah, well, I backed mine off more. Still works fine. Parking brake locks them up good and tight when the lever is pulled.

This is super helpful - I've had the same issue since I did my rear wheel bearings. I've got the cable about as tight as I can get it, and it's just enough to hold the car on an incline. Hopefully I have a loose stud I can pull out and get to the adjusters easy.

[TostitoBandito]

Yeah from what I gather from taking it apart and putting it back together and seeing how it all works, is that the purpose of the adjuster in the drums is to set the resting width of the pads to match your rotors. This can vary depending on your rotors and the amount of thickness on your pads. With the cables slack you should get them as tight/wide as you can without them causing any resistance.

The cable adjustment on the lever is really just to pull up any slack in the cable so that when you pull the brake it immediately begins engaging the mechanisms in the drums to spread the pads apart. In my case I followed the instructions and tightened such that when I had the lever pulled up 4 clicks (about halfway) I could barely rotate the rear tires by hand with heavy resistance. Pulled up fully it's not moving anywhere.