Emergency Brake question

[da BoMM]

Stoopid question:

If you drive with your emergency brake on, what kind of damage (if any) and to which components are you doing to the E.B. or primary brake system?
The parking brake is apparently mechanical:
does it use the primary braking system or is it separate?

I did it again today for about the 5th time --
are my rear axles gonna break in half??? (Hope not)

[Flanman]

The parking brake is a drum brake system on the inside-backside of the rear rotor. At the very least you will wear down the brake shoes in the p-brake. I would think that if you drove long enough you would cause an excessive amount of heat buildup from the friction, which isn't good.

[PaulFix]

The E brake on LX's is pathetic, my mum borrowed mine and drove it with it on and she said " it does have a lot of power...( the motor).." and the brake was shagged.

Then she mentioned the little red light and the chime.

The dealer has adjusted mine twice now ( once after the above) as I tell them it wont hold on hills.

It is working fine now but I wish it was a hand brake not a foor type

[Daniel454]

.... It is working fine now but I wish it was a hand brake not a floor type

That is one of my few nitpicks about the Mag, is the fact they used a floor E-Brake. MUCH prefer the hand brake.

[da BoMM]

That is one of my few nitpicks about the Mag, is the fact they used a floor E-Brake. MUCH prefer the hand brake.

Agreed!!!
Would minimize the "leaving the brake on" syndrome.

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

well ummm... it's not an e-brake.. it's a parking brake....

and mine works very well... it was recently adjusted when my new rotors where put on, and I can not roll the car esp backwards if I have it on without the car fighting me...

now the chime and light are lame... on my Impala and on my Camry if the parking brake is on and you put the car in gear the chime won't shut off until you release the brake.. our chime dings like once every 2 minutes... and is hardly noticeable.