gearbox wrote:I have a S4 with less than functional parking brakes. You pull the umbrella handle and you get a slight grip, but a 10 degree grade easily over comes that. I have spoken to several knowledgable Dyed in the wool Lotus owners who all tell me it is a useless endeavour and have all deleted the component from their cars. Leaving the car in gear while parked is not a good solution for me (personal choice) I would like to repair or mod the brake system to work correctly. Any ideas? Thanks Allan
In my first few years of Elan ownership I went through handbrake pads on a regular basis, I was forever adjusting to take up pad wear and even new pads needed regular adjustment. I fitted springs to hold the caliper arms apart but even then the pads still wore away very qiuickly.
I rebuilt the car in the 80s and overhauled the calipers myself. I completely stripped the handbrake mechanism and carefully studied how it was meant to operate, it was only then I learned the significance of the 'Centralising strips'. I had dutifully removed and refitted them every time I replaced the pads but mistakenly had thought their purpose was something to do with keeping the pads in place so had never 'reshaped' them.
If the caliper and linkages are not too worn and the various pivots free to move the Elan handbrake is more than up to the job, my non scientific test is to see whether it will lock the rear wheels (on gravel!) at 25mph.
Nowadays I actually use the handbrake as I would on any other car and only adjust the handbrake once a year prior to the MOT. I have not fitted new pads because of wear in the last 10 years, but I did need some because two fell apart when rust penetrated the friction material bond.
I dont know what dye or what wool the so called knowledgeable Lotus owners use but their assumptions are way off beam. Deleting the brake seems an odd way to cure the problem!
Ian