Took me 6 years to realize my parking brake was the problem

I kept burning through rear pads every 12,000 miles on my 2014 Civic, while the fronts lasted double that. My buddy in Tulsa finally asked if I ever drive with the parking brake half-engaged, and sure enough, that little lever was catching after I let it go. So for the past month I've been checking the rear wheels for heat after short trips, and they're finally cool. Anyone else chase a phantom brake drag that turned out to be something stupid simple?

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1 Comment

the_beth17d ago

Hold up, I gotta disagree with you on this one. If the parking brake was dragging for 6 years, you would have smelled burning brakes way earlier, like within the first month, and that heat would have wrecked the rear calipers or even warped the drums. Plus, 12k miles on rear pads on a Civic is actually not crazy if you drive a lot of stop and go traffic in hilly areas, that's just normal wear. I've seen cars where the rear pads wear faster than the fronts because the traction control kicks in on slippery roads and uses the rears. Did you actually check if the lever was stuck before you replaced the pads, or did you just assume it? I'd bet on a stuck caliper pin or a worn slide, not the handbrake cable, cause that thing is pretty obvious when it's half on, you'd feel the car pull.