I got home. pulled the brake up quickly as I was in a rush. (2 Clicks up) and went in the house. I went back out to get some stuff out of the car and it seemed to have moved about 2 feet...right into a fence post off the driveway. Heart sinking... I thought the driveway was pretty flat. Scuff on the bumper. Needless to say I'm no using the brake and putting the car into a gear. I had an appointment with MINI later in the week. I told them off the drama and they told me "spec" is 3 clicks of the brake lever should hold the car. I laughed as I know I usually pulled much further and that I knew 3 wouldn't hold it. Anyway, my mistake but interesting about "spec". When I picked the car back up from the dealer 3 clicks did hold the car.

 

Sorry to hear about your ride, but you should always leave your car in 1st as well, even on flat surfaces.
Just get in the habit of doing it and it'll become natural.

 

Back in the olden days my Dad taught me to use only the hand brake when parking, leaving the transmission in neutral. I think his reasoning was that if somebody hit your car while parked, it wouldn't lunch the tranny.

Whatever... I just use the hand brake, but I give it a pretty firm pull. I've never had one slip, although on my wife's car ('06 Ford Focus ST), I suspect that it's out of adjustment; you need to pull that one through most of its travel, and the dealer service department said "They all do that." Hm... apparently they all roll halfway into the street from your driveway, as ours did once.

Hand brake cables are usually pretty simple to adjust, the hardest part being the dig through all the interior trim just to get to the mechanism.

Spridget

 

i'm just gonna do both from here out.
it would be good to find the cable adjustment. i had an mb coupe that the cable got ruined and couldn't be adjusted further that was a bummer because they use foot action e brakes so when it had no tension the pedal would be loose and then got a brake light from time to time...

 

Yep, cables can stretch. On another note, my previous car (VW GTI VR6) had a handbrake cable setup quite a bit like that on the MINI, and when the corrugated rubber boots on the cables deteriorated, water would get in and freeze the brakes on when the weather got cold. On several occasions I had to get underneath the back end with a prybar and lever the brakes loose before I could move the car. I eventually replaced the cables, and all was well.

Spridget

 

Who count's clicks? I just give a good yank till it stops and slam the tranny into 1st. Started out that way in my first roadster back in '65 and haven't changed habits since.

Good looking MG, Spridget

 

The MINI handbrake is self adjusting, since it operates on the same rear pads as the foot brake does. That's why you have to turn the piston as you push it in to replace the rear pads, you're resetting the E-brake adjustment.

If you change the cable adjustment you may wind up with one side dragging.

Where is it written that it "should" operate on 3 clicks? You pull it up till it holds.....that's how it works.

 

it is self adjusting by nature but apparently there is a "spec" that mini has. or so they say. perhaps they were just messing with me because my car had just rolled into a post!

i'm not big on counting clicks but it is a measure of distance for conversation.

 

Yes, but titling the thread that way will make people think that if theirs doesn't hold with three clicks, something's wrong with their cars - and it isn't so....that's my point.

It works the way I said - pull it up till it holds - yes in most cases that will probably be three clicks, but it may take more or less on some cars, depending on when the rear pads reset last - you could be in between adjustments based on the wear.

If you pull it up to the stop and it doesn't hold - then you have a problem.

 

Sorry about a misleading title my point was simply to share my bad luck and hope no one else screws up like i did. AND if you have to pull it way up you might mention it when it's in next for whatever.

The plan is from here out, as Flyin' Brick says
"I just give a good yank till it stops and slam the tranny into 1st"

 

There you go!

BTW, my driveway has a pretty good slope to it and my '03 rolled back into the street one day too - I had set the handbrake and left it in neutral as was my habit but like you did, I didn't pull it hard enough - I still do leave it in neutral, but now I make sure I give the handbrake a good pull, none of this quick yank and pay no attention stuff like I used to!

There probably is nothing wrong with leaving it in a gear - I think the reason your dad taught you to leave it in neutral is that older cars did not have a start switch on the clutch, IOW you could start it in gear and drive thru the garage door or the car parked in front/behind you! Leaving it in neutral lessened the chance of that....I'm an old guy too, and old habits die hard!

 

The alternative is to ignore convention entirely and park in a manner my son chose one fine day with these results. He was in a hurry and would be only a moment. What could possibly happen?

Our complainant, jrcsh6 to his/her credit, at least applied some hand brake.

 

I yank my handbrake all the way to the top... Adds style :p

 

I was reading the manual for my 07 and it said something along the lines to "forcefully" apply the parking brake....in other words do not pussyfoot around about it.

 

I always leave my cars in the gear I expect to use when I drive away i.e. 1st gear or reverse; and I always set the handbrake. I'm an old geezer and I've been driving a long time but I've never had a runaway.

 

Leave your car in gear (first or reverse) as prevention against failure of the parking brake.

--Dan
Mach V

 

I always put it in third. No matter what happens or which way it might want to roll, it can't magically start itself

 

I was always taught to put the car in gear when you set the brake. I was taught to put it in a gear that would hold the car if the brake failed. For example, if you are parked on a downhill slope, put it in reverse or up hill put it in 1st.
I tried it last night, pulled the ebrake to 3 clicks and tried to drive off. It held the car very well. Then again, it is a brand new 10 with less than 1k miles lol.

 

Ditto.

 

[Sotto Voce as the old guy starts to get out of his MINI] "Dang, was that 2 clicks or 3? Now I gotta start all over".
No offence intended. Just a little cartoon to get the day started off well.

 

ok, i get it, i'll work on my post titles!

 

 

As do I, I only tried it the other day because 3 clicks of the ebrake handle seemed way too light. It does hold better than the ebrake in my 08 Accord did, if you didn't pull that damn thing all the way, it wouldn't hold.

 

Part of the reason you give it a good hard yank is that that's how it readjusts the assembly to compensate for the pad wear....

I think we've pretty much beat this poor horse to death....

 

Hey, when you start out with Mad Magazine vol. 1 and stick it out with SNL through thick and some very thin from beginning to.... Well, when good material lands in your lap you just have to go with it.

(Soupy Sales had his moments as well.)