Parking Brake Cables or Rotors?
 

My 2004 Hyundai Elantra GT needs new rear brake pads. A Sears auto center quoted me $1000 and said the problem was that my rotors were rusted and needed to be replaced. They said that the rusted rotors were causing my brake pads to wear out too quickly.

I took the car to my local Hyundai dealership and was told that my rotors were fine and that the problem was that my parking brake cables never fully disengaged and were wearing down the brake pads. They said this was a common problem for 2001-2006 Elantras.

I don't know who to believe. I haven't felt any pull from a possible engaged parking brake and I am wondering if anyone else has heard of this problem. I am also open to suggestions regarding what I should do.

Thanks!

David

Believe the Hyundai dealer. Sears is full of crap.

Yes, rotors rust. They rust every time it rains or snows or is humid outside. However, once you step on the brakes, the surface rust is removed.

And the rear calipers and cables on Elantras do rust. Sometimes it's the cables, cometimes it's the calipers themselves. Sometimes it's both.

Thanks for your reply. When I was at the Sears center I had the mechanic show me the rotors and I was amazed at how easily the rust fell off. It didn't seem like something that would hurt the brake pads.

As a point of clarification though, the parking brake cables can wear out the brake pads? I didn't know that they could interact. But again, I don't know jack about cars.

I appreciate your assistance. One further question, is the 75k point a normal wear and tear time for the parking brake cables, or is this unique?

And do the rotors ever need replacing or should they be fine for the life of a car?

With the Elantra and Tiburon of that era. brake cables/and or calipers can bind..

Easy enough to pull the handle up,, then release it, make sure the arm on the caliper fully retracts to relieve pad grip to rotor faces..

With wheel off ground, pull handle, should lock the wheel.... release the handle, wheel shoud rotate freely.. dont rotate freely, unbolt cable bracket from caliper and flip the cable off the arm,, manually move the arm to lock the wheel, then release it, see if it return home and wheel rotate.. if it does, the cable is suspect..

See more calipers here, and random cable, but need to isolate the items to see what works. Cables not real hard, but not fun either... caliper is easy, but expensive.

I believe it has to do with the type of parking brake and rear calipers used. Both the Elantra and Tiburon use a similar setup where the parking brake is a mechanical linkage to the caliper that forces the cylinder out to hold the car with the pads. These calipers have cylinder that have to be turned clockwise when puching them back in the caliper during a pad change.

It is unlike the system used on Tucons and Santa Fes where the parking brake is a mini drum brake setup inside the rotor where the rotor hat is the drum. The calipers are not part of the parking braking.