It didn't take long for the memes to come out:

 

 

What kind of junk drawer doesn't have a tape measure (or 20)?
Boo!


Actually that's a good start of a drawer...

 

 

Guess what.. My phone records videos, too...



Details to follow here
(or, pictures at eleven, like they used to say...)

 

 

 

So, this is kinda wild...

The rear brakes on my Juke have been making a sort of grinding sound. At least, I think it's the rears.

I experimented with pulling up on the handbrake while in motion, and couldn't replicate the noise no matter how hard or how gently I pulled on it. Which made me doubt my initial perception. Still, the rear rotors look kinda funky, so they should probably be replaced anyway. But I'm doubting myself...


So I start digging into the factory service manual. And in the procedure for changing the pads, they don't have the part where you have to re-adjust the parking brake. In fact, the parking brake cable is nowhere to be seen in the beautiful illustrations of the caliper being unbolted and hung out of the way.

And, no, the parking brake isn't electric or hydraulic. There's definitely a mechanical connection. And, no, it's not connected to the front wheels.

Couldn't quite figure it out...

Now, you know how it's fairly common when shopping online to come across complete brake service packages, which include one axles' worth of rotors and pads together?

Here's what that package looks like for the rear axle on this car:



It includes two rotors, four pads, and four shoes.

Go back and read that again.

Yup, this car has both disc and drum brakes, simultaneously, on just the rear axle.

Dafuq?




Found the explanation on the forums. Here's what it looks like when you take the wheel off:




And then here's what it looks like after you take the rotor off:




Yup. Shoes.

The inside part of the brake rotor tophat... is a brake drum. And that's where the parking brake cable goes. Which is why it's not grinding when I pull up on the parking brake, only when I use the pedal.

And, knowing that, I was then able to find the separate section of the service manual which deals with the parking brakes.



I'm honestly not sure whether to be offended or impressed by this. So much extra complexity, and yet it does pretty much eliminate the need to ever adjust the parking brake, rather than needing to do so continually over the life of the pads.


This car is full of surprises.

 

That's actually a common parking brake arrangement on Nissan products, Joe. My old 2007 Infiniti G35 had them also. I think they called them "drum in hat" rotors.





Seems to me that my old Jeeps used them too.

.

 

 

Yeah, I'm discovering this as I read more. Definitely on the Sentra as well.

How have I gone 45 years upon this earth without ever knowing this information?

What other secrets lie just beyond my grasp?

What does it all mean?

 

I was caught out on this too. During that glorious year I owned a 981 GT4, I was doing some work on it and just couldn't remove a rear rotor. Eventually I figured out that I had to release the (electronic) parking brake so that the rear shoes would give up their grip o' death.




God, I miss that car!

 

Ze Germans are big fans of it too, lots of BMWs with that setup.

Me, I hate it. Drums just suck, even as parking brakes. Heavy, complicated, PITA to service.

Amusingly, the rear hats on my M3's Brembo big brake kit are configured such that you could use them as drums. Aluminum drums. I have no idea if they actually think this is a good idea, or if it's just required to get things to fit. (My car has the parking brake entirely deleted, since it's a race car).





--Ian

 

Ford Falcons here too - my 2004 wagon had the shoes done at about 300,000kms.

 

The flame speed is insane.

 

Drum parking brakes were very common on the first cars with 4 wheel disc brakes. Mid 1970's Corvettes, later Camaros, etc. On my 1977 Corvette, they were riveted assemblies. VERY expensive to replace. The solution was to drill out the big, honking rivets and rebuild the drum break with Buick parts.

 

My Mercedes just had a simple motor on the back of the caliper that would spin the typical adjustment screw to set/unset the parking brake.

Pro Tip Of The Day: Do not replace you pads/rotors without first having the car retract the caliper completely first. I learned the hard way about order of operations which resulted in the piston shooting out of the caliper...

I'm very excited to be buying a car Monday that will have the typical manual ebrake handle.

 

I can understand wanting to have a separate parking brake which isn't incorporated into the main service brake.

But why on earth make it a drum? That's a lot of added weight and complexity. Since you already have the rotor there, maybe just... add a second freaking caliper? And not even a big, expensive one. Think of the brake caliper from a mountain bike. Just scale that up a little and slap it onto the opposite side of the knuckle. Boom- less complexity, less weight, and I can't imagine how it's not less cost.

When companies started offering aftermarket rear disc conversion kits for VWs in the 80s, that was an option. Want to retain your parking brake? Great, here's a caliper from some random Japanese motorcycle.