Poor E39 handbrake.

That does seem incredibly poor.

It does make you wonder "how?".

It does take a while to bed in a handbrake with shoes internal to a disc, especially a new disc. It may be worth putting the handbrake on _very_ gently while driving at

Not that I've driven.

If you had them fitted, wonder if they went through the adjustment proceeder properly? I ignore the TIS, and (after loosening off the handbrake cables adjust the drums as you would any other - up until they bite then back off just enough to clear. Then adjust the cables so when fully down the same is the case.

Mine does - just about.

I think they see one coming and daren't fail it in case they get the job of trying to fix it...

"Mike G" wrote

Did you try having the handbrake adjusted? I recently bought an e39 with

30k miles on the odo, and the handbrake was struggling on a minimal incline, even if I pulled it all the way up. After the shop adjusted it (rear brakes were not replaced), the handbrake brakes well only after pulling it up a few notches.

Cheers, Pete '02 530i

The e39 handbrake is not the best one in the world. You can lock up the rear wheels at speed with many handbrakes, but don't expect to do

*anything* like that on the e39. Even when it's brand new and fully fettled. It sucks, as they say on the leeward side of the pond.

Why? As my dearly departed mother used to say, "Because that's the way it is."

Trivia: The "correct" way to pronounce 'leeward.'

The examiner did know it everything had been replaced, so maybe he assumed it would improve after the shoes had bedded in, and cheated the brake test rollers by using the footbrake on the h/brake test. Either that or he was a helluva lot stronger than me. :-) Mike.

I'll certainly try to bed them in, but TBH I don't expect a dramatic improvement. I'll also see if if any improvement can be made by checking and maybe lubricating the linkage from the h/brake lever to the shoes. Mike.

It is pronounced "Throatwarbler Mangrove".

Can there be any such thing as trivia in this day and age of Internet search engines?

Any silly twit can do *that*. I wasn't looking for someone to crank up a search engine, and then post a link. It was more to ask people who didn't know to do what you did, and maybe find out something new and interesting in the process.

There's no way that anyone could credibly claim here now that they knew that before they looked it up. It's not another dick-size war.

Thanks Dave. I'll remember that come the summer, when crawling around under car might be a little more pleasant. Mike.

It's lumping me in with Turtill that *really* hurts.

I recently did the ones on my 740 which I would wager has a stronger pull at idle in gear than yours and it holds it but I often drive 10-20 yards before the computer tells me the parking brake is still on. On the 7 the parking brake is foot operated.

If the garage did the work they probably didn't test it or passed it thinking it will bed in which it will if you follow the correct procedure but with it being an auto you don;t really need a parking brake anyway. I rarely use mine - I think I'm turning american.

All drum-in-disc brakes on BMWs and most other cars are poor compared to the old style main drum shoe operated ones. On rally cars the handbrake is usually upgraded to hydraulically operated to be able to do handbrake turns but at least in the UK that's not legal for the test.

As you say, with an auto you don't really need a h/brake, but I am aware of of the irritation to a following driver, at say traffic lights, if you sit there with your foot on the brake. On a level road I'd often stick it in neutral. At least now if I use neutral, the h/brake will hold on a slight slope. Something it wouldn't do before. By the state of the drums in the old discs, I think it's a question of use it or lose it. The braking surface was quite heavily rusted, something that's bound to happen if the h/brake is rarely used. The rusted surface was quite heavily glazed, as were the shoe linings. The reason they were so innefective when I bought the car, about 3 months ago. Mike.

Yeah but you don't use the handbrake in the same way on an auto as a manual so to stop it rusting too badly you need to occasionally drive with it on a little.

My '92 535 failed the last inspection because the e-brake was too weak, that and rusty rear brake discs. Got new discs and shoes, and now it's acceptable, but not much more. It was easy to adjust though, at both ends.

"Leeward?"

Ulf

I always plonk it into park if I know I've got a wait before moving off. Always have done with autos.

Snag with the E39 handbrake is it's the same on a manual. Must make hill starts fun. ;-) Last manual I had with this system was an E28 and it was ok. My E34 was an auto, but I remember that handbrake being better.

No. You missed Fred's "joke" about it being pronounced 'throgmorgleworble spittlenipple,' and then getting bent out of shape and unsubscribing because nobody thought it was funny. He did post a link to a dictionary that provided the pronunciation before he went off in a snit though.

There's a lesson there for us all.

My e39 is a relatively new properly (whatever...) maintained manual gearbox, but the handbrake won't hold it on anything more than a moderate hill. The handbrake on the much older e30 I have bites like a bastard, you could do 30 mph handbrake turns with it.

You're right. The h/brake on my E34 is fine. It holds quite well even on fairly steep slopes. No problem at all in holding the car at tickover in drive. Mike.