Noticed the parking brake wasn't holding anymore, so today i replaced the front and rear pads as they were due to be done anyways. Still the parking brake doesn't work. I crawled under and adjusted the nut where the cables join and the parking brake pedal feels great but still doesn't hold ....any tips on how to fix it ?

thanks highway

You might need to replace the parking shoes. You can inspect them if you just remove the rear rotor. Look at the friction material and see if there is any left. Also look at the inside of the rotor hub to make sure there's no deep grooves.

Not sure how many miles your car has, but I still have my factory shoes after 13 years and 125k miles.

_________________

'97 GTP: 9.5:1 Diamonds, XP'd, 3.4, Shiny Headers, Ported S/C and Heads, N*, HPTuners
Coming Up: Intercooling of some sort...

yeah thats the thing i have 77,000 and very rarely use the parking brake.

The parking brake uses separate pads?

_________________

x2.....?

_________________
2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT2
MODS: Wizaired|Custom DHP Tune|180° Thermostat|DR F/R Brackets w/GMPP STB's|UMI Trailing Arms|Bilstein HDs w/SSC|Projector Retro|Black SPO Grilles and Spoiler|SS Inserts Rear Inlay|ZZP Volt. Booster & Alt Rewire

******Disregard post. This doesn't apply to 04+******* I'm not 100 percent correct on this one, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong becuase I'm not totally familier with the rear brakes on an 04+, but what I do know is that on the 97-03 and other W-body's, the rear brake rotor also serves as a drum brake for the parking brake. When you press the parking brake, there are shoes that press out on the inside of the rear rotor, thus being basically a drum brake set up, but your regular pedal brakes are indeed disc with pads. Sort of confusing, but if you take the rear rotor off the hub you'll see what I mean. Sorry for a confusing post, but I tried.

_________________

Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

That's not the case with the '04+. The parking brake cable applies the rear pads mechanically as opposed to hydraulically.

In the pictures, blue is the parking brake cable, the green arrow is the distance that the parking brake arm can travel when applied and the red line is where the parking brake arm stops when fully released.
When the parking brake is applied, the distance between the green arrows gets smaller. When the parking brake is released, there should be no gap at the red line.



I suggest fully applying the parking brake and checking the (green arrow) distance to see how much they are being applied. Since you hardly ever use the parking brake, it's possible that the cable is bound up somewhere.

^^Thanks for the correction. Looks like I need to spend more time with my 04.

_________________

Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

No problem. I didn't know about the pre '04 set up until you mentioned it.

Ah! Thank you for the correction. I was unaware the '04+ was different. That should make things easier to check out.

_________________

'97 GTP: 9.5:1 Diamonds, XP'd, 3.4, Shiny Headers, Ported S/C and Heads, N*, HPTuners
Coming Up: Intercooling of some sort...