How do you adjust the parking brake on a 2008 Toyota solara?

Answer 1

The Solara parking brake is actually a drum brake that's at the center of the rear disk. It's adjusted just like old fashioned drums. Remove the tire/wheel combo and you'll notice a large hole roughly in the center of where the brake shoe area is. Turn the disk until you can see a knurled star wheel inside. Turn that wheel with a large flat blade screwdriver (unless you're old like me and happen to have a brake spoon in your toolbox) until you barely feel any drag then back off a couple of clicks. Do the same on the other side then test the handbrake. If it's within the spec shown in your owner's manual (five or six clicks before the brake engages) put the road wheel back on, you're done. If it's too tight (too few clicks) loosen the brake one notch on each side and try it again. You don't want the brake dragging obviously but you don't want it so loose there's no holding power either.

If you're thinking this sounds complicated remember, 'back in the day' people had to adjust all four wheels this way fairly frequently. Then again, we also replaced spark plugs every 12,000 miles while your Solara runs 100,000 before replacement.

Cheers