I thought I would share an e-brake problem I had along with the solution in case anyone else runs into this.

I was having trouble getting the e-brake to release completely. It was dragging enough that it was noticeable when pushing the car. I was going nuts for a while trying to find the problem. With the car up in the air, you could feel the brake dragging as you tried to rotate a wheel by hand. When I would take the wheel off, the problem would go away. I was thinking that the e-brake was bound up somewhere and the vibration from the impact wrench on the lug nuts was enough to shake it loose. I went all over the e-brake system trying to find where it was binding without success. For some reason, I just happened to look at the caliper end of the e-brake cable when the wheel was on. What I saw was that the end of the e-brake cable was hitting the wheel. (See the green circle in the picture below.) No wonder the problem went away when I took the wheel off!!!

ebrake cable to wheel interference 1.jpg

The fix was easy. I used a cutoff wheel on my grinder to cut the end off the e-brake cable. The cable went past the crimped on clevis (you can just see that in the picture). Between the excess cable and the small amount I cut from the clevis, I took off about a 1/4 inch. The cable no longer hits the inside of the wheel and the e-brake releases completely now.

This situation is probably only applicable to a specific set of parts. I have the 2015 Mustang IRS, with the 2015 13 inch IRS brakes and the 17 inch Halibrand replica wheels. It certainly wouldn't hit with 18 inch wheels.

I hope this helps someone out and keeps you from going crazy like I was.