honda mk8

How much does it cost to replace a parking brake cable?

It is very hard to give a ballpark figure without knowing what type of car, where you are and what is really wrong with the vehicle Let’s take a few examples (1) Typical early 2003 toyota corolla with rear drum brakes. There are three parking brake cables. A short front and a rear left and right. Quoting sites like Rockauto, the front cable is around $10 while each rear cable is $30. To get to the cable, the center console has to be removed. If the car has a manual transmission, it makes removal easier. If it has an automatic, then there are additional steps to be considered. Expect about 30 minutes for this procedure inside the car. Then since this is a drum brake system in the rear, both tires and wheels have to be removed while the car is hoisted up. The outer drum needs to be removed and then the clips and retainer accessed in order to free up the old cables and replace them with newer cables. I would expect the process to be realistically around 2–3 hours. If you are in North America, a lot of shops charge by the hour. Also, most shops follow software like Mitchell1, Haynes online etc for the prescribed time and labor. So if the manual says 5 hours, generally that is what they charge for accounting purposes even if they spent only 3 hours for the entire process. To date, most shops charge anywhere between $100–150 per hour at the cheapest. They would generally have some markup for the parts prices as well so if you add everything together, you are looking at around $550 to begin with. (2) Let’s use Mitsubishi Eclipse 1999 with rear disc brakes. This car has a rear disc assembly with a “hat” that has a little drum brake inside the rear disc rotor. The cables are about $30 each (if you can find them) and you require 2 pieces as well. Again, the center console has to be removed to access the cables, the rear seats have to be removed in order to be able to first fish out the old cable and then fish though the new cables. The wheels have to be dismounted, the rear caliper and rotor has to be removed from the vehicle as well in order to access the “inner” drum. In some cases, esp the AWD version, the gas tank may need to be dropped in order to access the grommet passing through the rear seats. Expect to pay at least 6 hours or more for labor for this. You are probably looking at closer to $1000 for this. Some cars with rear disc brakes may have the parking brake mechanism attached to the rear caliper directly. These may be easier to access from the wheel end but will not deduct a lot from the labor involved in the process. Now, the prices I’ve quoted are assuming that there are no other defects or parts that need to be replaced. For a drum-based parking brake assembly you may need to replace a variety of clips, springs, self-adjusters and even the actual rear brake shoes. If the drum is beyond minimum thickness, it may need to be replaced. If the wheel cylinders are leaking, you may need a repair kit or totally new wheel cylinders. Those all add up to additional parts and labor. For a hat-style disc brake parking brake, you may need to replace the rear rotor if the “drum-part” of the hat is out of spec. This applies to the Eclipse I mentioned and other domestic vehicles like (but not limited to) the Ford Explorer 1997–2003. If you have a mechanical parking brake for a rear disc equipped vehicle like a 2009 Toyota Corolla/Matrix, then you may also need one (or both) new rear calipers, since the parking assembly is built-into them. Most vehicles will generally have the same parts cost and labor cost with the exception of the newer electrically operated parking brake assemblies like the Volkswagen Golf MK8. These rely on electronic servos/motors to actuate the “push-button” parking brake. Other than the cost for repairs, you will need a shop that has specialized tools for calibration as well. Bottom line, be it a truck, suv or car with conventional parking brakes, the cost could be anywhere from $100 to more than $1000. If you are in North America with a domestic car or a more common import like Toyota and Hondas, then you may be able to get any additional parts cheaper, but your labor will almost always be based on a shop’s book recommendation.