I have a 2002 MC SS and I have a problem with parking brakes.I have to press the parking brake pedal ALL THE WAY down in order to hold better, but not good. Is there an easy adjustment or I have to bring it to the garage? I heard that if you drive in reverse and hit the parking brakes it will self adjust but not sure if it will work on my car and I don't want to try it unless I'm 100% sure.

 

backing up and applying the regular brakes was an old way to adjust old drum brakes. not sure if that will work on the newer stuff. the only way to adjust the parking brake on my '98 with discs is to fiddle with the cable that connects to the caliper.

 

Had this problem on my wife's 2001 for years and finally got around to fixing it today. The foot pedal would go to the floor with little effect. The parking brake on these cars appears not to be self-adjusting, which makes sense as it would add needless complication for as often as they need it. A "drum-in-hat" type rotor is used with shoes which have a star-wheel adjuster. The shoes should last about forever since they do no real braking. The star wheels aren't accessible without removing the calipers and rotors, at least not that I could see. Start by depressing the actuator pedal a couple of times and leave it the full released position. Raise and safely support rear end of the car and make sure the rear wheels turn freely. Remove caliper and rotor. The star wheel is at the bottom. The procedure calls for use of a J21177-A brake gauge tool, but I improvised my own. It isn't really needed, it just takes a little longer without it. Just turn the star wheel to expand the shoes until the rotor no longer fits, then back off a little. You should feel a slight drag, but no real resistance when turning the wheel. Do the other wheel the same way. Before lowering the car, crawl underneath and adjust the equalizer until one or the other wheel drags a bit, then back it off slightly.