I was driving my '03 G35 Coupe 6MT (90k miles) yesterday when I started to hear a noise coming from the passenger rear tire. It got worse and began to sound like a clunking.

I nursed it home and took off the rear wheel/caliper/rotor to find the parking brake in pieces (see attached pic).

This is the first RWD car I've ever owned, and while I've worked on cars and bikes here in there in the past, I've never even looked at how a parking brake functions.

So now as I'm looking at this, I have no idea what's wrong and which parts I need to go buy.

Can anyone provide any guidance based on the pics?

Thanks in advance!

- BigJason

 

You def need new shoes. You will probably need to resurface the drum(inner rotor) as well.

 

Thanks very much for the response!

Can you tell that I need new shoes just by the amount of material that you see left in the pic? I guess it wouldn't surprise me, as they're original.

The rear rotors are relatively new (installed 13k ago), so I'm hoping that they'll still be in good condition and not need re-surfacing? Any way to tell, other than feeling for any signficant scratches in the surface?

Any tips on how to reassemble the e-brake mechanism(s)??

Also, any clue how the hell this happened? Did worn down shoes have anything to do with why things just fell apart?

Thanks.

- BigJason

 

you can buy the pads just like any other car....they also come with ebrake kits to replace the springs and such since they rust up and the springs get old

just look at the diy for rear brakes on the site and i think it mentions the parking brake you will have to adjust it so it gets smaller to fit under the rotor.

hope this helps

 

Thanks...I'll check out the DIY.

I guess what I don't know is why everything came apart, and which parts are broken and need replacing, and which don't. I only see two pieces (a nail-looking piece with a barbed end and a dome-shaped washer). I'm asssuming those pieces failed, for whatever reason, and that the rest of the pieces simply fell out of position because of that. I don't see any scratches, gouges or other evidence that the tensioner, brackects or springs are broken.

That's why I'm not sure what I need to buy. The shoes certainly look worn, but I never apply the parking brake when the car is in motion, so those shoes only ever see a static load, and wear should be very minimal. So do I really need new shoes?

My local Infiniti dealership actually had the nail-shaped pin and washer in stock, so I've got those in-hand now and if I don't need anything else and I can just re-assemble things, I'll have gotten out of this for less than $4. If I must replace the shoes now, and I really should get the new hardware kit, then I'm up to over $85 in parts. A big difference for me right now, so I'm trying to figure out what it is that I need to do to get my car back on the road again.

Thanks.

- BigJason