Hand brake adjust with disc brakes

I have 2009 320d and the handbrake needs pulling up around 8 or 9 notches.

How can i adjust the slack on the handbrake cable, mine has disc brakes and the threads i've seen are for drum brakes.

I've looked under the Hand brake gaitor and see no adjuster, just a large spring which i think i need to release first.

Can someone post instructions how to do this please.

IIRC, you have to remove the rear brakes to get access to the parking drum. There you should be able to adjust the tension. While down there you might wanna check if you need new parking brake shoes.

When I had a similar complaint a few years back, Dealer told me the hand brake is self adjusting. No idea if that's true . . .

My brakes are disc brakes and don't have the adjuster that the drum brakes have, its the slack in the cable i need to take out ,the rear pads are like new and plenty of material left.

Originally Posted by chipone

My brakes are disc brakes and don't have the adjuster that the drum brakes have, its the slack in the cable i need to take out ,the rear pads are like new and plenty of material left.

I don't think you're understanding me. I'm not talking about the rear disc brake pads but the rear parking brake drum pad. And yes, there is an adjuster on the disc brakes. I am not referring in any way to a car with rear drum brakes.

Originally Posted by THE TECH

I don't think you're understanding me. I'm not talking about the rear disc brake pads but the rear parking brake drum pad. And yes, there is an adjuster on the disc brakes. I am not referring in any way to a car with rear drum brakes.

^ Yes there are drum (internal expanding) brakes in the rear. On my 530i at least which i'm sure is the same on the E90, there is the disc and behind the rotor there are the shoes for the parking brakes on the inside. The pads on the rear does not move when the parking brake is applied.

Originally Posted by chipone

My brakes are disc brakes and don't have the adjuster that the drum brakes have, its the slack in the cable i need to take out ,the rear pads are like new and plenty of material left.

There's two places where the "slack" needs to be taken out.

First, there IS drums on your rear disc brake. The hub of the disc brake acts as a drum to the traditional "shoes and drum" brake. The brake shoe's tension is adjusted through a small notched wheel visible through one of the lug holes at approximately 72º from vertical. Adjusting the notch toward the back of the car tightens the shoes to the drums, adjusting the notch toward the front of the car loosens the drums.

There's also a set of cables that's tied to the hand brake mechanism that can loosen over time. The cables slack is adjusted underneath the handbrake mechanism in most BMWs. Pull up the handbrake, pull off the leather boot, and you should see 2 10mm hex nuts underneath the parking brake mechanism. Turning said nuts tighten the cable or loosen it.

The adjustment procedure is to pull up the hand brake to 3 clicks, then adjust the shoes in the drum brake accordingly. If at 3 clicks you still can not adjust the rear shoes tight enough to prevent the rear wheels from turning in neutral, then you need to adjust the cable until it's tight enough to prevent the wheels from turning at 3 clicks, then back off the shoe slightly and re-adjust the cable again so that at 3 clicks the shoe will hold to the drum, but when released the rear wheels will spin freely.

And no, I don't want to hear you tell me you have disc brakes in the rear again. The rear brake is a combination disc AND drum assembly.

Originally Posted by The HACK

There's also a set of cables that's tied to the hand brake mechanism that can loosen over time. The cables slack is adjusted underneath the handbrake mechanism in most BMWs. Pull up the handbrake, pull off the leather boot, and you should see 2 10mm hex nuts underneath the parking brake mechanism. Turning said nuts tighten the cable or loosen it.

No longer true for the E9X, although possibly only as of the LCI or a running manufacturing change; I'm not sure if it applies to the entire run. The parking brake cables are now tensioned by some kind of automatic spring-loaded semi-self-adjusting thingamajiggy (auf Deutsch: "device" ) that you reset/retension after setting the correct drag on each wheel's adjuster.