Chuck,
I am not sure about the parking brake issue but driving style contributes to brake life.
Believe it or not in most cases a more aggressive driver will have longer pad life.
An aggressive driver normally late brakes, brakes hard and comes to a quicker stop.
More conservative drivers start braking early and stay on the brake and gradually come to a stop. This generates more heat in the pads/rotors, thus contributes to brake wear. Also they have a higher occurrence of brake noise. Now I am not saying this driving style is bad, it just affects parts differently.
I wouldn't use the parking brake to slow you down. The ABS will not work for the rear wheels if the parking brake has locked them up. In addition certain circumstances driving with the parking brake activated will actually cause the ABS light to come on and put a code in the computer.
My 0.02 cents!
I am not sure about the parking brake issue but driving style contributes to brake life.
Believe it or not in most cases a more aggressive driver will have longer pad life.
An aggressive driver normally late brakes, brakes hard and comes to a quicker stop.
More conservative drivers start braking early and stay on the brake and gradually come to a stop. This generates more heat in the pads/rotors, thus contributes to brake wear. Also they have a higher occurrence of brake noise. Now I am not saying this driving style is bad, it just affects parts differently.
I wouldn't use the parking brake to slow you down. The ABS will not work for the rear wheels if the parking brake has locked them up. In addition certain circumstances driving with the parking brake activated will actually cause the ABS light to come on and put a code in the computer.
My 0.02 cents!