[Alain]

Warm weather is here !!! Took the cover off the car this Saturday and drove the hell out of it. It had been sitting since November.

I got a check engine light and a “reduced engine power” message at first startup. I suspect it was because of my Soler ported TB. I was kind of expecting it, to be honest so it didn’t bother me too much.

The parking brake was stuck and needed a little coercion to get it to let go. Here’s what I mean, after hitting the button to disengage it I could hear the parking brake disengage but the car wouldn’t move. I figured it was due to the parking brake being set for all those months while the car sat outside in an un heated environment.

Can someone confirm that the electronic parking brake is set by the rear brake pads? I’m not sure how the E-brake could become stuck due to cold temps and being set for an extended period of time.

I did wash the car last November, sprayed some Adams polishes wheel cleaner on the wheels and calipers right before I put the car away. Maybe that stuff caused the rear brake pads to get “glued/frozen to the rotor? It was pretty damn cold Saturday morning.

I put the car in first and gave it a little gas, after a loud clank, it came loose and the car was free. I got no warning lights or anything else and the car drove fine.

The car ran great, even with the check engine light on, I did not notice any reduced power so I figured the code would clear itself. By the 5th time I started the car on Saturday the check engine light was gone (thank god) !! I KNEW IT, I said. Car ran great the rest of the weekend.

Took sometime today to swap all 4 corner brake pads from OEM to power stops. I had enough of the brake dust !!! I also changed my rear diff fluid. I know we like pictures here so I took a few.

If any of you have any input on the parking brake situation let me know.

Next up is the Soler throttle controller and bedding the new brake pads.

[dcxeternal]

Fellow Northern NJ ZLE-er

[Alain]

Originally Posted by dcxeternal

Fellow Northern NJ ZLE-er

Are you ?!?! I just moved to Wanaque from Rochelle Park last September. We should meet this season and do some rides up to bear mountain !!

[LiqTenExp]

Check in to a thread I started in the NJ section! We are starting to plan some meets!

[PROMETHEUS]

Originally Posted by Alain

Warm weather is here !!! Took the cover off the car this Saturday and drove the hell out of it. It had been sitting since November.

I got a check engine light and a “reduced engine power” message at first startup. I suspect it was because of my Soler ported TB. I was kind of expecting it, to be honest so it didn’t bother me too much.

The parking brake was stuck and needed a little coercion to get it to let go. Here’s what I mean, after hitting the button to disengage it I could hear the parking brake disengage but the car wouldn’t move. I figured it was due to the parking brake being set for all those months while the car sat outside in an un heated environment.

Can someone confirm that the electronic parking brake is set by the rear brake pads? I’m not sure how the E-brake could become stuck due to cold temps and being set for an extended period of time.

I did wash the car last November, sprayed some Adams polishes wheel cleaner on the wheels and calipers right before I put the car away. Maybe that stuff caused the rear brake pads to get “glued/frozen to the rotor? It was pretty damn cold Saturday morning.

I put the car in first and gave it a little gas, after a loud clank, it came loose and the car was free. I got no warning lights or anything else and the car drove fine.

The car ran great, even with the check engine light on, I did not notice any reduced power so I figured the code would clear itself. By the 5th time I started the car on Saturday the check engine light was gone (thank god) !! I KNEW IT, I said. Car ran great the rest of the weekend.

Took sometime today to swap all 4 corner brake pads from OEM to power stops. I had enough of the brake dust !!! I also changed my rear diff fluid. I know we like pictures here so I took a few.

If any of you have any input on the parking brake situation let me know.

Next up is the Soler throttle controller and bedding the new brake pads.

If you put the car away shortly after washing it, without getting the surface rust which forms after every wash, that is why you are having difficulty with it. What I always do after I wash it, is wait until the rotors dry and a thin coat of rust will appear on them. I have a long drive way, so I drive it up and back stepping on the brakes gradually to get the rust off and then blow the residue off the wheels with a vacuum. I only do this is the winter, if I know the car is going to set for a long period of time. Works like a champ.

[ZED SLED]

^ this. I do it after every wash to prevent brakes from sticking.

[Checkmate1]

Great!

I've been driving my car all winter, thankfully Maryland has had no snow to speak of so far.

I've had the Katech PTB (swapped from my previous C7 Z06) and never had CEL issues. I have 10k miles on it. I've heard mixed reviews on the Soler PTB.

Curious about your feedback on the Powerstop Z26 pads, I had them on my C7 Z06 and wasn't happy with the bite when pushed hard. The only plus was virtually no brake dust.

[harner]

I agree with the others - the rust kind of "froze" due to the wash and especially the wheel cleaner. I doubt the e-brake had anything to do with it. Carry on!

[Squatch]

I will never understand the whole electric parking brake. What was wrong with the old school manual? If it was they wanted a cleaner looking interior, they could go back to a foot step style the 69's have...

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Squatch

I will never understand the whole electric parking brake. What was wrong with the old school manual? If it was they wanted a cleaner looking interior, they could go back to a foot step style the 69's have...

Well, it does have some advantages: takes up no space at all even in the footwell, can automatically readjust clamping force as the pads wear, BCM can automatically disengage when shifting to drive and stepping on the throttle... and don't forget the cool factor of all-new electronic gizmometry.

[Alain]

Originally Posted by LiqTenExp

Check in to a thread I started in the NJ section! We are starting to plan some meets!

I’ll look into that. Thank you !

Originally Posted by PROMETHEUS

If you put the car away shortly after washing it, without getting the surface rust which forms after every wash, that is why you are having difficulty with it. What I always do after I wash it, is wait until the rotors dry and a thin coat of rust will appear on them. I have a long drive way, so I drive it up and back stepping on the brakes gradually to get the rust off and then blow the residue off the wheels with a vacuum. I only do this is the winter, if I know the car is going to set for a long period of time. Works like a champ.

I had a feeling that’s what my issue was, that’s why I didn’t let it bother me. It’s happened before when the car has sat a few days after a wash.

This instance, it sat for months !! That is why it took a little more effort to get them unstuck.

That Adams polishes wheel cleaner stuff is powerful too. There was a crazy amount of rust on all my rotors. I used some 50 grit sand paper on the rotors yesterday to get off whatever rust was left on the rotors and remove some of the OEM brake pad material.

this winter I’ll drive it a bit after I wash and detail it prior to putting it away.


I did some looking around but couldn’t really find an answer so I’ll ask here.

The e-brake on our cars is in no way associated with the Ediff correct?

Is the e-brake on our cars a set of brake pads (different from the rear caliper) that get applied ?

The reason why I think they may be separate from the rear caliper is that yesterday when I was doing the brake pad swap I pushed in all the pistons on both rear calipers and the rear wheels were still locked.