bLAQUEmALE

I took my car in for a seized left brake cable. The dealer replaced the cable and after I drove about 5miles on the highway, the car started wobbling. Later on, I noticed a burning smell from the rear tire.

I had the car towed the next day and the dealer found out that they had mismatched the lengths of the left & rear cables. Therefore, the right cable (now being shorter) pulled as I drove.

The dealer then re-adjusted the cables to be the same length and car no longer wobbles on the highway. The dealer also said they looked at the rear pads and rotors and they looked good.

Well, I've just been reading up on the brakes in the forum and realized the e-brake uses the drum brake system. So it's possible that the burning smell came from the friction between the drum and the brake shoes (which cannot be verified without taking the drum apart).

Does anyone have suggestions on what I should do or if there is cause to worry? I wonder how much could have been affected by driving for 25miles (mostly highway) with the e-brake engaged. It doesn't seem like re-adjusting the cables was sufficient in addressing the problem.

nfnsquared

I'm pretty sure you can attribute the burning smell to the pad dragging on the drum. Yes, they would have to remove the tire and pull the caliper and drum to check the shoes. For an 04TL, e-brake pad thickness is 3.2 to 1 mil thickness.

If I were you, I'd press them to replace the pads on both sides due to their mistake. If they won't do that, then I'd press them to show you that the pads (and drums) are still within specs.