yea, otherwise the car does that stupid 3 inch roll after u let go of the brakes. super annoying.

 

That little pin in the tranny isn't really designed as a parking brake. The only time I might not use the parking brake is when it is left in your garage for a few weeks while on an extended vacation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That little pin in the tranny isn't really designed as a parking brake.

Pin description


So some people will tell you they never use the parking brake and never had a problem. Google PDK failures from parking or something like that. Find ONE example. Of course, not all examples will be posted. Some people don't use the internet or don't post these things.

OTH, remember PDK is sealed and not repairable. Should it break out of warranty, including labor, you are out $20k or so.

Do you feel lucky?

 

I would use it parking on a hill or something. There aren't any hills in Florida, though.

 

I use the parking everytime in every car I've ever owned. I also use my turn signal. Once you get used to it, it's not a big deal. Then again, I buy my cars expecting to keep them for a long time.

 

I also use my turn signal.

Funny you mention that. I was waiting to pull out of a parking lot into the street and waiting and waiting and half the cars DID NOT use their turn signal pulling into the parking lot.

What's wrong with them??? Sometimes you just wish a cop was sitting there.

 

I'm with @Pokerhobo on all counts.

I'm addition to there not being any reason not to use it, it releases itself when it needs to. It may not save a PDK but it certainly harms nothing.

 

That would be great grim but here you would have to teach the cops to use their turn signals. While you are at it maybe we can inforce the hands free law and make the police abide by that as well.


Regarding using the parking brake I use it 100% of the time. I have witnessed a parking pin shear within a transmission . I wish I could get my wife to do so when she parks on our driveway which is sloped just a simple matter of getting in a habit.

 

That would be great grim but here you would have to teach the cops to use their turn signals. While you are at it maybe we can inforce the hands free law and make the police abide by that as well..

You are so right!!!

 

It's called a parking brake for a reason. Park the car, use the parking brake. It's a new fangled thing that works better than tossing out a rope tied to a boulder.

I always use it, turn signals and all that stuff people should do when you use a car. I even curb my wheels when I park on inclines. Can you believe that?




Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

I even curb my wheels when I park on inclines. Can you believe that?

You took the words right out of my mouth! A friend asked what on earth I was doing when I curbed the wheels the other night (on what must be one of the ONLY hills in this part of Illinois), and he said he'd never heard of such a thing. Flat-lander.

And for @grim and @Macanakey (and @djs2303, from a long ago post), were any of those turn-non-signallers driving BMW's, by any chance? >

 

Porsche loves selling us options. Everything that isn't essential is an option.
The parking brake's not an option..


I've heard a few times of those pins failing in autos, so in my case I've always used the parking brake 100% of the time in all vehicles.

 

I've always used the parking brake, manual or electric, with manual or automatic transmission, since the day I got my driving license. Does it do any harm? No. Does it prevent damage or accidents? Yes. Are there situatins in which it's better not hacing engaged the parking brake? Perhaps, but these happen once in a blue moon.

 

Always.

 

Allways, no matter the type of transmission or level/sloped parking space.
Never had any issues with that, even when parked outside during ski vacations where the car doesn't move for a week and burried under a pile of snow.

 

Always.

 

My garage at home and at work is perfectly level, so I do not use the parking brake. Any time I'm on any sort of incline when I'm out and about however I do use it. On level surfaces where there is no weight or force on the pin, I cannot fathom how that would cause any wear and tear or damage, especially since when I park at home the car doesn't even roll forward or back if I put the car in neutral. If you parked on steep hills day in and day out for many years and never used the parking brake or turned the wheels against the curb to keep it from rolling, I could see how that could eventually cause wear or failure, but I think that would be an extremely rare case. I'm sure the engineers realize most people don't use the parking brake and take that into consideration when designing a gearbox.

 

I don't like the loud snapping noise the car makes when on an incline, parking brake disengaged and I try to shift it out of P. I can even feel the shifter's movement being heavy when it comes out of P.

 

Parking brake engaged also in winter with subzero ( C°) temperatures?

 

Yes, even in sub-zero temperatures. In Luxembourg, in the Netherlands, in the Swiss Alps, in the French Alps... many times well below zero, and never had any problem.

 

Why would someone reject the parking brake ? Laziness ?
I almost think its a silly question . It's just so obvious and that's why it took three pages on the thread to even look at it.

 

Interesting comment @DenverDucati, as I had always assumed almost everyone uses their parking break and designers would design the transmission pin accordingly. It would be interesting to hear from someone who knows transmission design.

As to parking on a flat surface w/o the parking brake, I am a bit more cautious than you are I think. In my garage, no problem. I would be devastated if some numbskull bumped my car while parked outside and not only dented my bumper, but also sheared the tranny park pin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Always. This is one thing I wish Porsche had taken from Audi. In my A6 the parking brake would automatically set when putting the car into park, loved that.

 

Thanks for everyone's responses! PDK does have a parking gear and pawl just like an Automatic and engages when in park. The parking brake activates the rear brakes. Both will hold the car in place but by different methods. I had and M3 DCT that I would always use the parking brake but having the hand brake was just muscle memory. The Macan does not have a hand brake, it has a button. And my wife along with 99% of people who drive an automatic, do not use the parking brake unless on some sort of incline. We haven't taken delivery yet but seems easy enough to engage the parking brake and it disengages automatically.

 

The button makes me crazy. Every car I've had before had the handbrake. I didn't think it was a big deal with an auto. Good to learn I've been doing it wrong lol

 

I am used to driving MT, so I always use the parking brake.

 

I ALWAYS use the parking brake. If you do not, you are in error, no two ways about it.

 

Uh, no you're not in error if u do not do it.


The car can just be shifted to park on a flat surface.
On a slope, you wouldn't want the weight of the car resting on the transmissions and you wouldn't want to hear a big clunk when u shift out of park, so u should pull the parking brake to hold the car in place instead of the transmission.

 

I'm another one of those that generally don't use the parking brake when parking on a level surface. Been doing that for 40 years and have never damaged a trans as far as I know. My thinking is that I'm more likely to wear out some component in the parking brake mechanism (especially an electric one) versus causing any damage to the transmission.

That being said, causing undue stress on the parking pawl on any automatic transmission by not using the parking brake on an incline is foolish. When I worked in a garage when I was younger interestingly enough every parking pawl related issue I ever saw was caused when a customer was trying to take their car out of Park after using the parking pawl to hold the car on an incline. And it was usually not the parking pawl itself that was broken, but a component of the linkage breaking after the customer tried to force the release of the parking pawl subsequent to putting tremendous pressure on it. Ever notice someone struggling to get their car out of Park after using the parking pawl to hold the car on a hill? That struggle should be a warning sign to anyone that they are doing something potentially very bad.

The other component I've seen fail on several occasions due to this practice are transmission and/or engine mounts. It puts a stress on the mounts that is similar, but the reverse of, trying to do a burnout by revving the engine before putting the transmission into Drive (known to those in my age bracket as a "neutral dump"

 

I'm another one of those that generally don't use the parking brake when parking on a level surface. Been doing that for 40 years and have never damaged a trans as far as I know. My thinking is that I'm more likely to wear out some component in the parking brake mechanism (especially an electric one) versus causing any damage to the transmission.

And I'll take that a step further by pointing out that I do the same with a manual transmission car...just leave it parked in gear (when on a level surface).

 

Always leave my car on the parking brake. Activate that before putting shifting knob to P. When ready to set off put it to D without releasing parking brake and gently press accelerater pedal. It will release the brake automatically if your seat belt is fastened. I'd rather repair a parking brake than the tranny. That's why its there.

 

I rarely use the parking brake on any vehicle on a level surface. I have never experienced any problem from doing this, but I have experienced a frozen parking brake on two different vehicles that required having the vehicles towed into the shop. Granted that's not a typical occurrence, but that's why I have learned to use the parking brake only when it's really necessary, on inclines.

 

Back in the 70s and 80s, when most (if not all) parking brakes are activated via cable, they are vulnerable to get frozen during winter.

The parking brakes on most vehicles (unless they are on the low end) today are hydraulic activated, hence there is no possibility of them getting frozen during winter.