Parking brake problems with Big BREMBOs in a 575m

Friends:

I own and really enjoy my 2002 575M FHP,
and have added the big BREMBO brakes,
which I purchased from
another FChat member.

After a year or two, I find that the rear units
have HUGE wear on the drum surface of the
parking brake drum.

No doubt this accelerated wear is because
the drum is ALUMINUM.

Does anybody have a fix ?

Thanks, Scott

 

If the shoes do not drag there should be zero wear.

 

Scott- You adjust those just like you do the drum brakes on a an old Chevy or pre-65 Corvette. Use the star wheel adjuster to gradually tighten until the wheel and tire will not turn. Then back off until the wheel spins freely. Or have someone else do it. There is no wear on a parking brake shoe or drum in normal use unless you are using it to stop the car. The shoes will get out of adjustment and the cables will stretch, but you should not be wearing the drum, regardless of what material the hat/drum is made from.

 

I guess that the drum wear is because of you either use a handbrake to spin a car or most likely you parkbrake is ovartightened and needs adjustment as Taz says. In this case the drum should be overheating all the time which can negatively affect rear wheel bearings...

 

I have a Brembo Big Brake kit on my 2003 575. I have had similar issues and it was all in the adjustment. I get it checked out every time I bring the car in and it hasn't been an issue since (8 years, now).

-dsd

 

None of the springs are very strong and if not correctly adjusted will not contract correctly. The cable adjuster needs to be backed off and the shoes adjusted as you described. Once the brake is locked it should be backed off 5 clicks. Then the cable should be adjusted. In this way neither adjustment interferes with the performance of the other adjustment and the shoe springs are free to retract the shoes and the cable springs are free to retract the cable. The shoe springs are not strong enough to retract the shoes if the shoes are out of adjustment. Also coincidently it works better too. Not too many of us left that learned to adjust brakes on drum brake cars when they were new.

This was never done at the factory and many cars still have not had it correctly adjusted 20+ years later.

 

Brian- My 61 and 63 Corvettes both had those types of drum brakes. Adjusted them many times and they were still terrible until I put the factory cerametallic shoes on the 63. Those worked fine but ate drums pretty quickly. Think I still have one of those funky brake spring set of pliers lying around somewhere.

 

This discussion makes me feel old -- I still have all those brake adjusting tools and the ones for holding the springs in place. In fact, they belonged to my father for when he worked on his 57 Chevy. (I use the process Brian wrote about and it works just like he says.)

 

Yup, started on my father's 61 Corvette when I was still in high school in the early 60s. Go-fer at first and then more work as I got better educated. Most car guys did their own work back then, but the cars were pretty simple, too. Dwell meter and a timing light were about as complicated as the tools got. Simple setting dwell on a GM product with the dwell meter and Allen wrench through the little access panel in the distributor cap. That was pre-capacitor discharge ignition and spark plugs did not last long with leaded gas and carbs.

 

Well, Terry, if you ever need to borrow a dwell meter and timing light, let me know! And I have the feeler gauges for the points gap. Like you, I learned from my father. You are so right about the simple tools required -- I recall him having a few sockets, an Allen key set, a crescent wrench, pliers, and a screw driver, plus those feeler gauges. Bless his soul, he only changed the oil when the oil light came on!

 

Thanks, I still have them, too, Including all the feeler gauges I used for adjusting the valve clearances on solid lifter Corvette engines. Even still have the little clips you used on the rocker arms to keep the 80 psi oil from squirting over the sides of the head while adjusting the clearances.

 

Yes, but I or another equally stupid driver drove the car
some distance with the parking brake fully engaged.

NOW, there seems little adjustment.

I'm gonna pull it apart and see if my own damage
has added to that damage that was there
when I put the brakes on MY car........

Maybe my brake guy can turn the alloy drums true,
and "arc" the parking shoes to fit.....

I am expecting the worst,
hoping for the best, and
have ordered a set of shoes
to INSURE, that I will NOT
need them.......

 

Sorry to hear that.

If there is any chance there were problems getting the brake to release or fully release my comments about proper adjustment still apply.

 

If the Brembos are like the hats/drums on my Mov'Its, there is not much metal out there to work with. Good news is the hats are removable, so Brembo should be able to provide you a new set of hats as a last resort.

 

Thanks for all the advise so far !

I have a set of four (4) shoes on the way
from Ricambi, along with the funky "ratchet"
mechanism that accomplishes the
"locking" of the hand brake.

I approached the car yesterday
(Everything back together in case
they need to take the car off the lift)
and was told that the alloy drum surface
was pretty worn, and Tech did NOT feel
comfortable with cutting any metal.

At this point, I may rely on:

1) New shoes being thick enough that they
will effectively contact the worn drum surface.

2) Install the new "ratchet mechanism"
and adjust the shoes to RIFLEMAN specs.

3) See if BREMBO sells (and installs) new
center sections in the disc assemblies.

Anybody know WHO can do the
"center replacement ?" and WHERE
parts are available ?

Thanks again, Scott

 

Scott- Try Jason Godsil here and see if he can help. He should have access to a Brembo parts catalog and be able to see if he can get the hats separately.

Ferrari 550 Maranello 575M Brakes | Novitec | Brembo |

 

I would sure pursue getting new hats.

Try Terry's suggestion first, if that doesn't work get back to us.

 

Terry:

Took your advise and called Jason,
and he is on it. He may have an
improved engine for my 575.

Godsil Motorcars - Manhattan V16 Super Luxury Car

Just paint the valve covers red.......

 

That V16 would fit. Just have to take out the center console and seats.

 

Probably better to install it into an FF,
remove console and front seats, and
drive from the back seats.......

 

Taking off the wheel, and checking out what's ahead.....
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Not too bad....
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Now, what have we here......

These are just EAT UP !
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The brake shoes.......

And a little close look says......

METAL to METAL !
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Look at the bright side. Your car will be faster and get better gas mileage!