The weather dipped down to something like 10 degrees Fahrenheit last night, so I went out extra early to start the S4 and give it a good 10 minutes or so to warm up. I scrape the ice from the windows, brush off a light coat of snow and walk around the car to perform a cursory inspection of the tires, lights, etc. Everything looks O.K., the car is warmed up, and I start backing down the driveway.... only, the car doesn't seem to be yielding to gravity as it usually does. Something is definitely wrong. It doesn't take more than a couple of seconds before I realize I probably have a seized parking brake.

I searched through the archive and also found the UrS4.com article on repairing this problem... but I thought I'd ask the AW forum whether or not the cold weather could have contributed to this incident. It rained last night before the temperature dipped, so I suppose moisture could've entered the cam area and froze up overnight... right? Well, whatever the case, I didn't have the time or means to tackle the problem this morning, but I'm going to try to either repair it myself tonight or have my Audi tech friend straighten things out.
Assuming this excess friction doesn't ruin my rear rotors and pads, should this be as simple as cleaning the parking brake cam.. and possibly replacing the cable, if it's sticking?

Thanks!

This happened to me on two other audis I've owned. Over time, the boots on the parking brake cables lose their ability to keep water out. When it freezes w/the brake applied it stays applied until it thaws. You could thaw it with a heat gun or a hair dryer. Until the cables are replaced, leave the car in gear when parked. mb

I actually did park it in gear when I got to work this morning, as an additional precautionary measure.

I'll go ahead and order new cables today. In the meantime, I'll try to thaw out the existing cables this evening and clean up the parking brake cam shaft.

mine were so rusted up they broke pulling them out.

mine need replacement

So it was pretty much a piece of cake for me. Just soak the 10mm locking nut with P/B catalyst and let it soak in. While you're ordering the cable order the 2 lock washers, I broke one doing the install and now have to wait til they come in to finish the job.

what are u doing with the driveline out, a partial restoration?

There isn't on part of the car that I haven't touched. I'll try and load up some pics soon. The car has 197,700 on it, so it was a good time to do everything in one shot. In March the car will be off the road for one year :(

sounds like quite a job! I'd like to get a beater and do a partial resto on my car, such as dropping the whole suspension out of the car and replacing all the worn stuff, clutch, flywheel, etc...

should be around 18-19 when I'm done, but everything will be new. New speakers throughout the car, every bulb that was bad, new suspension, bushings, brake lines, brakes, Hid's, fmic, all rs2 stuff. Sad thing is I drove the car for all of 30 miles before I tore it apart. Hopefully my motor gets done this month. I'll get pics up b4 the end of the week.

j/k :-P