I’m in need of some advice sine the Audi dealership here in Chicago that will remain nameless does not seem to have a clue… About a month ago the parking brake stuck on. Not 100%, just slightly. The brake lever would physically go all the way down but you could feel in that last inch that it did not have any pull from whatever spring releases the parking brake at the caliper. We were on our way out of town so I left it in the garage with the brake down and, sure enough it released itself over the 10 days we were gone.

I’m sure the problem is cold weather related so, the afternoon I dropped it off at the dealer I suggested they park it outside for the night and, hopefully, it would stick again. They claim they did leave it out overnight and that the problem did not reappear and, go figure, I needed new “parking brake pads” (what the hell are these?) which were not in stock and needed to be ordered.

So the same night after I got the car back, the brake stuck again, and the next day also. We’ve stopped using the parking brake for now. The parts were supposed to take 3 weeks to get in and it’s been 4 now. What I’m most afraid of is they’ll replace the “parking brake pads” but I sincerely doubt that the sticking problem will be solved with a brake pad replacement!!

Has anyone had this problem before??

 

There is a TSB for my maxima which says the "tubing" for the e brake cable under the car warps over time and cracks and then it corrodes the cable which sticks like a Mfer and is constantly slightly engaged yet is still functional.. So that may not be it but is something i replaced on it for the same symptoms you are having.

 

i get that problem every once in a while... where you disengage the pb and you can still feel it... usually happens when its really cold out, ive heard ppl say that it has to so with the line freezing with water that splashes up on it... dunno if that helps you or not, but my advice is to steer clear of the pb when its below freezing, unless you have to

 

There is an adjustment on the cable for each side. However more likely than not the cable is just old and is sticking at some point in the sheething. If thats the case a new cable should fix the problem. Never heard of parking brake pads. The parking brake uses the rear brake pads to hold the car in place.

 

I have this exact same problem with my 98 A4. But the weird thing is is that it only freezes my rear left. Pisses me off cuz i just put hawk HPS pads and one of them caught on fire.....not kidding. Does anyone have some advice other than replacing the parking break cable?