599 Handbrake

Is it normal for the 599's handbrake to be a little...weak?
On steep inclines you really have to pull to the max.
Dealer says it's characteristic of the 599. I'm not convinced.
Opinions?

 

Carlo- The 599 uses the caliper hub as a drum for a drum parking brake system. These are normally more effective than a mechanically clamped disc brake for an emergency/parking brake. It sounds to me more like the parking brake is out of adjustment rather than being weak. According to the 612 (same parking brake system) workshop manual there are two adjustments on the handbrake. One is adjusting the hand brake shoes for clearance and two is adjusting the cable length. Hard to believe the Ferrari service manager did not recommend adjusting both. The cables tend to stretch over time and need periodic adjustment if used frequently.

I note also they made an improvement in the cable adjusting mechanism at Assembly Number 68544, for the 612 and 599, eliminating the lock spring and going to a more positive cable length lock mechanism.

Maybe one of the pros can chime in.

Taz
Terry Phillips
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Terry- You have been extremely informative as usual. Thank you.

As for service managers....lets change topic

 

Hi Terry,

Sorry, not trying to highjack this thread but when I went to by brothers house for Thanksgiving, he lives in the hills, the hand break on my 612 did not hold very well and I had to turn the right tire into the curb to stop the car from moving. I was actually concerned that doing this would nock my front end element out or cause some other problem to the front end but I had no choice, it was either park it on a hill or go home and I was not about to do that on thanksgiving. Your advice and feedback is warmly welcome.

Best regards,
Chett

 

Chett- It is very important that the handbrake work on hills because if you leave the car in gear, it is actually putting strain on the cambelts, believe it or not. The gearing and compression is holding the car if the handbrake is not, and frequent use has even been known to stretch cam chains to the point of breaking. My techs have seen this on a couple of occasions.

Your tire trick will work fine, but you have to hope the curb is low.

Your technicians should be able to adjust the parking brake so it works. In Germany and England, the annual inspections test the hand brake to see if it can stop the car while rolling, so you know they can be adjusted to work properly.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Hi Terry,

I never leave the car in 1st gear because I was told not to by a Ferrari mechanic with 20 years of experience. Why is the hand break on this car so soft and need of continuous tightening?

Best regards,
Chett. L

 

#40 in Taz's pic is the adjustment for the park brake shoes.

Not a hard job to do. But it is essential.

 

Chett- No clue. It is a single cable around a pulley with provisions for tightening the cable only on the port side. Should work fine since it looks like there is good mechanical advantage. No way are the brake shoes wearing and increasing clearance as long as they were properly adjusted initially. The procedures for adjusting cable and brake shoes are actually pretty simple. If anybody here does their own work (I doubt it), I can post the procedure from the 612 WSM.

It might help to change the cable adjustment stop to the later one after Assembly Number 68544, but I am not sure how involved that is. The parts are less than $50.

Taz
terry Phillips

 

The handbrake on my 612 is getting weak as well-- I guess I need to get it adjusted before too long.

 

Pap- Affirmative. A star wheel adjuster, just like the ones I adjusted many times on early Corvette brakes ('61 and '63). Very easy to do. Turn the star wheel with a screwdriver or brake tool until the brakes lock, and then back off until the wheel turns freely. The cable adjustment is pretty simple too, just a pain to reach since the underbody must be removed.

To give everybody a feel for how it should operate, the rear wheels should lock at 3-4 clicks on the handle as it is raised. More clicks means your cable is stretched and needs adjustment.

Also if nobody told you, the proper way to release the handbrake is to pull up on the handle, click the button, and then lower. Clicking and lowering alone will sometimes leave the parking brake warning illuminated.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

The handbrake is the only negative point i can find on my 599gtb, i find it a little bit loose on steep inclines only.......

 

Cheers Taz.

You rarely adjust the cable. It stretches over time and does need adjusting.

But.............you will adjust the rear park brake shoes 5 times before you have to nip up the cable adjustment.

Some people fall into the trap of adjusting the cable. Thats cheating and not 100% anyways. ALWAYS adjust the shoes first, then nip the cable up if need be.

I only adjusted the rear park brake shoes on a friends car the other day. Owned since new, never adjusted. Car is 12 yrs old and the park brake was woeful. Hadnt worked properly in 5 yrs he said. Now, its adjusted beautifully. I only adjusted the shoes, cable didnt need adjusting at all.

 

never trust the handbrake on ANY ferrari, i always put it in 1st gear on anything other than a flat surface.

 

Good advice and that can be said for ANY car.

But if the park brake is adjusted correctly in ANY car..............there should never be an issue.

All my manual cars I place in 1st gear with the park brake on. Ferrari included. All my park brakes are adjusted perfectly.

 

The handbrake on the 599 is not good....though with a lot of adjustment it can be made to work reasonably....

 

The ONLY Ferrari I've owned that the parking brake worked on is the 458. Even that has a draw back, it defaults to "auto on" so when driving on track after you park in the paddock and turn off, you have to manual take the parking brake back off.

My 360 would have rolled away on a billiard table.

Always in 1st is the way

 

Pap- Good info on the parking brake shoes. Did not know they lost adjustment like that.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Too easy mate.