Venting clearance on rear brakes

[Will98D]

Once you set the venting clearance is that it for the life of the pads, or does it have to be adjusted periodically for the parking brakes and to compensate for wear? I read the tech article and it gives the impression of 'once and done'. I've already repaced the brake fluid with Ate Super Blue and performed the bleeding. I have a lot of pedal travel and my parking handle comes right to the top without the brakes engaging, so this is going to be the next thing I check.

[azkiwi]

This should be done periodically and is definitely the first thing to check with the symptoms you describe.

Regards,
Alex

[J P Stein]

I set mine tight, 004/.005, rather than the specified .008 (as I recall).
Mine have been a set and forget, but your results may vary.
Your hand brake will tell you when or if the clearance is too large (as it seems to be telling you now).

[HMeeder]

Like JP, I set mine at .004. I do find that it needs to be adjusted for the same reasons (wear effects the P-brake.) Also effects the pedal travel, like you think.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Ditto to all of the above. I keep mine at half the specified clearance (which means I match the 0.004" that others are talking about). I found the pedal to have too much travel before it "bit" otherwise.

It should be one of those "set and forget" things--if the self-adjustment mechanism is working correctly. Which means it isn't always set and forget... A full-on rear brake rebuild would probably get you back to "set and forget", but I'm not sure it's worth it just for that.

--DD

[Otto]

The rear calipers are self adjusting. With knowing what ***** it is to adjust the rear brake pads so when you put on the ebrake the handle doesn't hit you in the face, do you think Porsche would do something like this?, I don't think so! Adjust the clearance between the disc surface and the pad to .004". Then set the cable with the adjustment screws on the ebrake bowden tube. Loosen the two 17mm nuts on the cable bowden tube, then tighten up the nut closest to the front of the car and pull back on the cable until the cable only pulls back about 1/8th". Then tighten down the lock nut, proceed to the other side and do the same. You will find out that following this procedure will give you a
working ebrake with a handle that doesn't go through the roof. OTTO