Went to leave from work today and the passenger rear tire is frozen. It has to be the parking brake. I replaced all rotors and pads 3,000 miles ago.

I had to leave the car and will take a bunch of tools to work tomorrow to try and free it. Already cycled the brake handle several times and cycled in drive and reverse with no luck. The tire just skids on the pavement. No other signs or warnings prior to this.

Car is a 2012 Base FWD model with 28,000 miles.

If I can't free it, I'll just cut the cable and replace it.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Caliper seized maybe

 

I don't think so. They seemed to be in great shape when I changed the brakes. Seems to be related to parking brake.

 

Too add to that, the pads appeared to stay put when the rotor moved slightly while I was rocking the car. This leads me to believe the parking brake is stuck on. If I can't free it I suppose I'll just cut the cable and replace it when I get it home.

 

The car only has 28K miles ... is it still under warranty?? If it is, y didn't you take it to the dealer so they can check that out??? The basic warranty is 4 years 50K miles bumper to bumper....
Just my

 

Here is the culprit. One of the shoes was adhered to the rotor drum.

 

Here is the rotor

 

That's why most people don't engage the parking brake at all, unless parked on a slope.

 

The garage I park in has a slope to it. I always set the parking brake. It adhered like this after being parked for one work day. Nothing unusual except the rain yesterday morning. These brakes had not seen any substantial rain or snow over the 3,000 miles they have been on there up until yesterday. I have not personally seen a brake shoe adhere to a drum in this manner under normal, regular use.

It's loose now and the car is drivable. I will replace the shoes and clean up the drum in the next few days.

 

One time I ran over a plastic bag and it logged between the rotor and caliper and on my way to work. When I went to leave the car would not move. I put the car it neutral and got a tow from a friends truck, after about 50ft it popped and all was well. I did have to dig out the rest of the plastic by taking off the wheel and caliper.

 

did you adjust the rear parking brake after putting on the new rotors 3K miles ago? If not, they could have been contacting the whole time and allowing a layer of pad material to transfer and melt eventually causing the whole thing to stick.

 

Interesting. How did you get the rotor off when the brake pad was seized?

 

Pulled like hell.

The new rotors I installed have a black coating on the I.D. of the rotors. I think the coating may have been applied to the braking surface for the parking shoes. I don't know for sure, but I had to sand off quite a bit of something from both sides to get down to bare metal.