Even if it turns out to be worst case then it isn't too bad. We can all space out at times. Probably the combo of rarely putting on your e-brake and the wife chit chatting and you being out of your groove is to blame. Easily understandable. Bad luck but it could've been worse.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...justments.html

might come in handy :confused2:

The parking brake on a C5 is different than the rear pads, The E Brake is in a small drum in the rotors and has shoes..

I checked the Baer Eradispeed website and their rotors have a zinc coating to prevent rust. That's probably what heated up and burned onto the center hat. Since some of it chips right off, I will try cleaning it up first and see what happens depending on how many layers of coating were originally applied. If I notice any rust forming, I will then remove the rotors and paint the center hats.

I guess the good news out of all this is that I learned a lot about the C5 braking system today.

Awhile back I replaced my rotors and pads, tightened the axle nuts, replaced the parking brake shoes and a bunch of other stuff. I normally never use my parking brake so I didn't notice it was applied when I was done with the job. Hell, I drove clear to Austin, NV, about 55 miles with the brake applied and noticed a smell. The plated rotors had gotten hot enough to discolor them. I'm sure I probably used the shoes up a lot, but like I said, I never use the p-brake anyway. At least I know the shoes are fitted to the drums about as perfectly as you can get them.:rock:

man oh man, some of the advice here is so far off...:ack: Someone once said, "the great thing about the internet is, anyone can contribute; the worst thing about the internet is anyone can contribute". Ok, here is what happened...you pyrolysized your parking brake linings. Here is the definition:

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures without the participation of oxygen. It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro "fire" and lysis "separating".
Pyrolysis is a case of thermolysis, and is most commonly used for organic materials, being, therefore, one of the processes involved in charring. The pyrolysis of wood, which starts at 200–300 °C (390–570 °F),[1] occurs for example in fires where solid fuels are burning or when vegetation comes into contact with lava in volcanic eruptions. In general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces gas and liquid products and leaves a solid residue richer in carbon content, char. Extreme pyrolysis, which leaves mostly carbon as the residue, is called carbonization.


Your brake pads may not be damaged...it all depends on how hot your rotors got while burning off the P brake material. That ugly liquid product is a normal product of pyrolysis, smells very bad....may be hard to remove once caked on, but can be burned off if necessary. It is the organic material, ususally cashew nut oils or similar, that binds the friction materials together, thus making a "pad".

Get him to tell you how it got from the shoes out to the outer hub, and why it's only on the coated hub and not on your chrome wheels. You have nothing to worry about on your brakes, you can chose to believe that last post if you wish. Brake shoes have been around for 100 yrs, I've never seen any turned to liquid.

A fancy word for "got hot". The OP isn't the first person to ever leave the parking brake a little bit engaged by accident, and he won't be the last. (Although now that cars are switching electronic buttons to engage the p-brake...). I highly doubt his brake got hot enough to cause damage.

Also funny that you mention something about anything being able to contribute, yet quoted wikipedia.

To the OP, if the p-brake still works, you've nothing to worry about in terms of brake functionality.

Whoops! Good thing you didn't get too far. Nothing too crazy going on here that you can't fix. Parking brake on = parking brake shoes applied to inside of rotor. You going down the road created a lot of friction as it tried to do it's job - stop the car - so the rotor got overheated and the paint/whatever was on the outside of the rotor burned up.

You might want to pull them off and see how much material is left on the shoes and inside of the rotor. Depending on how bad it was and how much wear was on them already, they may or may not need replacing.

This took some doing on your part or tour parking brake doesn't work very well. Mine wont hardly move with parking brake on. But I think you'll be fine.

Per the earlier thread posted, I followed the advice and re-calibrated the parking brake cable by engaging and then releasing the parking brake quickly three times in a row.

As mentioned, I rarely use the parking brake so when I tried moving the car without the parking brake engaged, I had some good roll. When I engaged the parking brake, I could still move it a little, however much less roll. Then I performed the cable recalibration described above and after engaging the parking brake, I could barely move or roll the car.

The good news is that the parking brake still works and perhaps since the cable had some play before I recalibrated it, I didn't damage the rear brakes/shoes/rotors that much while driving.

And thats why I never use mine !

Reminds me of an old Mitch Hedburg joke

Looks like everyone has given the same/good advice. Pull your wheel off, clean it up, these cars are beasts of mechanical engineering. My GF (19) is learning to drive a stick with mine and where it engages is still in the exact same spot...

Still going to get a new clutch anyways - told her ride the clutch because if she grinds the gears I am going to want compensation :thumbs:

You will be just fine.
Next problem?

A quick update. I pulled the rear wheels today and cleaned as much gunk off the rotors as possible. I believe it was the zinc-treated clear coat that burned onto the hats. I used some brake cleaner and a flat blade to scrape as much off as possible.

The rotors and pads are over 7 years old and the calipers/brackets could be freshened up as well. Might be performing a brake upgrade later this year. I have always wanted to have the calipers/brackets powder coated vs. just painted so now may be a good time.

http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps81258e09.jpg

http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/r...psdfac9717.jpg

Thanks for all the help and feedback!

:cheers: