so this new problem just arose for me about 2 weeks ago (I drive an 06 ss/sc). Basically the parking brake has almost no tension when first pulling it up, and I have to pull it up almost 8 clicks for it to have some tension and for the car not to roll.

i typically park on an incline just about every night, i would say about a 20-25 degree incline, so its not super steep, but steep enough that i need to apply the e brake. i always put the car in 1st gear when i park and apply the e brake.

so after reading some topics on here, i took apart the rear cup holder and center console to get a look at whats wrong, and what do you know, the cable on the passenger side is stretched more forward than the cable on the drivers side. so i fiddled around a bit, looking to see if there was anything i could do from inside the car and basically couldnt figure anything out.

i took some pics of what i'm talking about here, so hopefully someone can point out what i need to do to fix this issue.

http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/kisiellll/026.jpg
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/kisiellll/027.jpg
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/kisiellll/028.jpg
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/kisiellll/029.jpg
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/kisiellll/030.jpg

warranty it?

my wife's echo looked the same way.... I haven't adjusted it yet, she doesn't use the e-brake much, but it looked the same as your, one side way longer than the other.

go to the dealer asap...same thing happened to me, the cable actually came out of the rear caliper, or some bull like that. fixed under warranty no problem.

most of the time its not the cable but ur rear brakes, make sure there both worn evenly
whens the last time u had the pads changed?


im gona call this as the problem

is there any non time consuming way i could do this myself?

i honestly hate doing the whole dealership thing, and just to be sure in case i do go to the dealership, the factory warranty ends at 33,000 miles right?

i know i should bring this to the dealership to be looked at, but i just want to know if anyone knows of anyway to do this yourself.

o and what about that whole applying the e brake while rolling in reverse, would that be able to help my problem at all?

just saw that floating around on some other boards, i believe it doesnt apply to a cobalt though.

check ur rear brakes first then post bak up with what u find.

anyone want to take bet$ on what the problem is? lol

the brake pads dont seem to be worn unevenly at all. i honestly cannot remember the last time they were changed, but it couldnt have been that long ago.

well in general. 90% of the time that is the problem. still willing to bet money thats what it is lol


if still under warranty just take it in, the worst they can say is no we wont fix it...

well just to be on the safe side since i cannot remember when the pads were replaced im going to replace them today or tomorrow.

so replacing the pads should do the trick here, or is there something else i should be aware of having to do to fix the e brake before i replace the brake pads?

Did you check that the cable is
seated correcty at the caliper....
I find it very hard to believe that
the cable has stretched that far...

happened to my car too. dont trust the e-brake. i did, landed me in the middle of a tree. 1st gear has yet to fail me.

ah well im going to just replace the brake pads tomorrow so i'll be able to check where the cable is setting at the caliber and stuff in the midst of doing that and hopefully just fixing this.

i almost always put the car in 1st when i park. its just very annoying having the e brake be so loose, i mainly just want to have some tension back on the e brake, and im planning on not pulling it up as hard when i use it.

ya prob not the cabel its self stretching so unevenly like that most likely a problem with something under the car just have a good look at it