Home style solutions to brakes and parking brake on 2013 Gran Tourismo

BRIDGEMILL

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Bought a 2013 Grantourismo and it had the " Go to dealer and bring life savings" light on the dash board. Needed brake pads, rotors and the park brake was not working.
  1. Removed the rotors and turned them on my lathe- a lot of experts said that's a no-no, but the key is the center hub which is aluminum and warps a bit. Step one is to index off the face that mates with the hub and then then take a skim cut on the opposite face to make them true to each other. Then you can turn the cast iron rotor portion and it will run true. Just be sure you are still within minimum thickness when all done- pop in the pads and you are good to go. Maserati wanted to sell me all new rotors, parking brake shoes etc. etc. My total cost was 238.00 for a set of OEM pads off EBAY.
  2. Parking brake would not engage and once again Maserati started in with a litany of possible(and probable) costs- new cables, new shoes, new module, then the calibration to make it all work. I never use a parking brake on an automatic car, but needed the system to work to get my safety inspection before my new registration. Step one- removed the module to look for any obvious signs of problems- none found, but saw that the module just has 2 prongs that plug into the DC motor that tightens the cables. Jumpered the motor from the battery and it ran fine and tightened the park brake- reversed the leads and it ran the other way and released them. Pondered on it for a while and then pulled up the console to look for any issues- none found, but thought all I need is a switch to run the motor forward and reverse and I have a park brake. Bought a 2 pole double throw momentary rocker switch and some cable. Wired the switch with some crossover jumpers so it reverses the motor and pulled power from the cigarette lighter. Also put in a 20 amp resettable breaker in the line in case the button got held down too long. 3D printed a piece that fit the hole for the original switch and held the rocker switch. Fed my cable back under the console and through the rear firewall alongside the original wiring harnesses and over to the brake motor. Plugged the wires to the motor and voila- push rocker switch one way and park brake locks- push the other way and it releases. Total cost for switch, breaker and cable 29.00. Went for my inspection and passed. Will probably just leave it as is as long as I drive the car, but all the original switch and module will be replaced if ever sell the car.
ADDENDUM- also had 3 of the seat back release levers that were broken and that was a pain when you have to crawl back there and remove the rear seats to route the cable. So, out of frustration, I just wrapped a zip tie around them where the top plastic had broken away and now they are working- probably not for long, but like a park brake, I never haul 4 people around in a car like this, so they won't get much use.
 
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