mmanus88 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 i always put my ebrake on when i park, but for the first time today i forgot to take it off and drove a fair/short distance with it on without realizing it. smelt the burning rubber when i got out of the car (it was strong). i am assuming driving with the ebrake on once won't do much harm, or would it? feedback/help is appreciated. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melayout Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 When that happened to me the first time, I was like WHY THE FSCK doesn't Subaru have an annoying chime, like the seatbelt, for this one ? Subaru is weird. Mojo I keed I keeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmarko Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Wow. Not sure how you forget to release the e-brake. Don't think I've done that before. How far did you drive? Best case scenario, I'd say, is you having to replace your rear tires. You could have been dragging your tires causing premature wear (flat spots?) on them. A worse case scenario, is you could have damaged the rear portion of the AWD system......the drivetrain fighting the e-brake to move the rear wheels. Or, you could have damaged the e-brake system. Things to keep an eye out for over the next few days to see if something comes up. If you drove more than 100 feet or so, I'd seriously replace all your tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmanus88 Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 HOLY SHIT are u serious? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmarko Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 HOLY SHIT are u serious? About which part. And, yes, I'm serious. Of course that is all the worst case scenario for each possible part you could have screwed up......but it's possible. How far did you drive with the ebrake on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaStaMooN Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Ive done it with previous cars.. tires still rolled, but the car was slow as hell... I think your 250ft/tq is enough to overcome the ebrake.. that smell you had was probably just the ebrake pads or whatever it uses melting away. I could see it locking up the tires when off the gas, but if just drove a short distance and found the ebrake up before stopping or something, you should be fine. Jon - vBGarage Profile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scans007 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 You don't need new tires, Our Ebrake will not hold the cars tires from spinning, you can drive through it. Go home pull it up, give it a bit of gas you will roll a few feet. The bruning rubber you smelt was most likely your break pads so hot and burning off. Best case, just lots of break wear (most likely) Worst case, the heat might have warpped the rotors a lil, so pay attention to vibrations. I did this on my Girls Rav4 - its an auto, and parked on flat ground. Started and just drove...I was like this thing feels sluggish after about 30 feet...looked down and the ebreak was on . Stank of a smell no real damage....prob what all the "clucth stinkers' smell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YBNormal07 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Wow. Not sure how you forget to release the e-brake. Don't think I've done that before. How far did you drive? Best case scenario, I'd say, is you having to replace your rear tires. You could have been dragging your tires causing premature wear (flat spots?) on them. A worse case scenario, is you could have damaged the rear portion of the AWD system......the drivetrain fighting the e-brake to move the rear wheels. Or, you could have damaged the e-brake system. Things to keep an eye out for over the next few days to see if something comes up. If you drove more than 100 feet or so, I'd seriously replace all your tires. You were just pulling his leg with this right? Replacing all the tires just because the e-brake got left on? Seriously....as long as your e-brake still keeps the car stopped on a hill, you didn't hurt a thing (except your pride). The e-brake works similar to old drum brakes, and since the factory doesn't expect a lot of wear using them, the drum pads are some wierd rubbery material..that is what you smelled. It most certainly didn't drag your tires, wear out any portion of the AWD (front, center, or rear diff) or wreck the e-brake system itself. Again...as long as the e-brake still works, you should be a-ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apexjapan2 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Doubt you dragged your tyres - you'd be able to tell if you did, they'd be flat spotted and out of round. However, you were driving with drag on the rears, which depending on how far you went could have got the diff very hot, and certainly the e-brake shoes could be fried (there ain't a heck of a lot of material with which to absorb heat). I have seen someone with smoke coming for the rear of their car after driving half way down a mountain with the e-brake dragging I was trying to warn them and stop coz I thought they had a fire under the rear of the car, but they thought I was car jacking them or something and went faster They finally got the message when I had to pull back due to lack of visibility!! Anyways, serious damage will be obvious - if your car is an auto, the fluid prolly got a good workover if you went a decent distance at speed. Manual, much the same, but there is less give/slip in the transmission, so potential for damage is higher. It really depends how far you went, hard and fast, lots of corners etc., etc. Hope it wasn't far or permanently damaging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-2.5-GT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I agree. The chances that you damaged anything besides the ebrake set-up is unlikely. If anything, you may need to get whatever pads are part of that system replaced. You certainly were not draggin the tires or hurt the AWD system. Its happened to me on previous cars before, but usually only for a few feet before i realized it. Usually after backing or just after pulling forward you feel it hampering your motion. There aren't many cars whose ebrake is able to keep the tires locked when pulling away. Sure it will lock them up if you are moving and yank on it, but thats different physics. You were simply overpowering the brake and probably wore it down. Just out of curiosity...was this an auto or manual? I've obviously done it before on previous cars, but they were all manuals and i just forgot. I see it more often though with people who drive autos and aren't used to always having to use it, as with the MT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red beast Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 there's a new mod. rewire your seltbelt chime to the e-brake light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godwhomismike Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 The automatic is easy to forget to disengage the e-brake. The car easily overpowers the e-brake and I've don'e it a couple of times by accident. I'm used to parking on a steep hill, so from habit I always pull the e-brake. I'm trying to stop using the e-brake altogether since I've done exactly what you did a few times. Myabe that explains why my brakes suck so much The worst I've done was stopped at a rest station and pulled the e-brake when I went to streach my legs and didn't disengage it and floored it as I merged back into traffic and felt the car not pulling and then remembered the e-brake now at almost 60 mph. :eek: - Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godwhomismike Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 there's a new mod. rewire your seltbelt chime to the e-brake light That's probably not a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-2.5-GT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I have to say though, with the location of the ebrake so close to the driver, you have to really not be paying attention to leave it up. I know we've had this heated argument on here before, but personally i still don't get why people with automatics use the ebrake on anything buy a steep hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolesun Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 That's not as bad as this pass weekend when I saw some guy forgot to put the ebrake on at the mall and when he came back, his Acura CL; which was automatic but he left it in neutral for some reason slammed 2 parked cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scans007 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I have to say though, with the location of the ebrake so close to the driver, you have to really not be paying attention to leave it up. I know we've had this heated argument on here before, but personally i still don't get why people with automatics use the ebrake on anything buy a steep hill. +1 which is why i did it for the few feet in my girls car, needless to say she doesn't use it anymore. Her excuse was cuz she used to have a standard....so I let it slide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-2.5-GT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 That's not as bad as this pass weekend when I saw some guy forgot to put the ebrake on at the mall and when he came back, his Acura CL; which was automatic but he left it in neutral for some reason slammed 2 parked cars. How can this be?!?! I've never seen any automatic car which you could take the key out without the car being in park. Except for maybe old cars made in the like the 80's or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolesun Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 How can this be?!?! I've never seen any automatic car which you could take the key out without the car being in park. Except for maybe old cars made in the like the 80's or so. I have no idea, but I'm positive that it was an automatic cause some other guy was telling him that "P" is for park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melayout Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 There is an E-brake test which says the normal maximum number of ticks to full lock should be about 5-6 ticks, if it takes more than that then that E-brake material has been consumed a lil and the dealer I think can either replace E-brake pad material, $$$, or just retighten the E-brake cable. manus, because you could have used up some of that E-brake rubber material and to make sure the E-Brake is still effective I would suggest you go the dealer and tell them to tighten the E-brake cable. Replacing all tires, that only works on the other sex. NO OFFENSE. Mojo I keed I keeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmanus88 Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 melayout, thanks i like that answer a little better , taking my car to the dealership thisweek (had ot get some jthings fixed anyways) will tell them to do that. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmarko Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 You were just pulling his leg with this right? Replacing all the tires just because the e-brake got left on? Actually I was serious. And like I said in my statement, worst case scenario. If the tires were dragged (which you guys are saying isn't likely or possible----and that may be the case), he could have flat spots burned/scraped onto the tires. Through my years of owning AWD cars and reading/learning, it was always noted that you need all 4 tires matching in diameter (even a few mm off can cause damage) as closely as possible as to not cause damage to the AWD system (how this works was explained in some R&T article or something). Having 2 tires sized differently (as what would happen with the flat spots), COULD cause the axles to rotate at different speeds, putting stress on the AWD system. Granted, like I stated, this is a worst case scenario, however, I'd rather spend $500 now and be sure rather then wait 50K miles and have the AWD have serious problems. Not sure if that makes sense. Hope it does. I guess I'm the type of person who would rather be "safe than sorry". And I also look for the worst case scenario in these kind of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Th3Franz Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 in my 5MT my car does not move at all with the e-brake on, which I found out one time when I was engaging the clutch and then realized I left it on when I was going nowhere. -Franz The end of a Legacy http://www.youtube.com/th3franz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melayout Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Actually I was serious. And like I said in my statement, worst case scenario. If the tires were dragged (which you guys are saying isn't likely or possible----and that may be the case), he could have flat spots burned/scraped onto the tires. Through my years of owning AWD cars and reading/learning, it was always noted that you need all 4 tires matching in diameter (even a few mm off can cause damage) as closely as possible as to not cause damage to the AWD system (how this works was explained in some R&T article or something). Having 2 tires sized differently (as what would happen with the flat spots), COULD cause the axles to rotate at different speeds, putting stress on the AWD system. Granted, like I stated, this is a worst case scenario, however, I'd rather spend $500 now and be sure rather then wait 50K miles and have the AWD have serious problems. Not sure if that makes sense. Hope it does. I guess I'm the type of person who would rather be "safe than sorry". And I also look for the worst case scenario in these kind of things. Not to put you down, logically, if he did drag the tires, they would have screeched and he would have realized it much earlier without causing any damage or wear on his E-brake system, but he specifically stated that he drove around for a while which totally eliminates this worst case. Mojo I keed I keeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmarko Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Not to put you down, logically, if he did drag the tires, they would have screeched and he would have realized it much earlier without causing any damage or wear on his E-brake system, but he specifically stated that he drove around for a while which totally eliminates this worst case. Mojo It's cool..... you can put me down (or in my place) all you like.....I'm here to learn as well (I'm new to Suby's). My most recent AWD "performance" car was a DSM, and I've seen friends do silly stuff like this and having dire consequences (replacing rear's and stuff).....so I'm always a little overly cautious about things. But the Suby's aer built better and more powerfully than those cars, so I was just kinda stating what is possible (or not I guess). And who knows, maybe the thread starter pumps his music up really loud. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YBNormal07 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Not to put you down, logically, if he did drag the tires, they would have screeched and he would have realized it much earlier without causing any damage or wear on his E-brake system, but he specifically stated that he drove around for a while which totally eliminates this worst case. Mojo That is the information I was looking at also. Besides the fact that flat spotting will not affect a tire's diameter enough to cause any issues with the center differential or front/rear diffs. The AWD systems we have are sophisticated and durable enough to handle fairly long distances with different diameter tires on them, as I've seen a few cases of those that have plus-sized their tires use the donut spare without any problems at all. Granted it's not something you should try to do long term, but for short drives of 60 miles or less with reasonable speeds, won't hurt it a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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