Start by tightening the cable at the lever on (archive)

They are adjusted at the rear wheels. I put 185k miles on a 735 and now over 200k on a 750 and have never replaced the parking brake pads. Unless you are using it to slow down, or if you forgot to release it a time or two, there is really very little wear.
I don't know about an E38, but on an E32 its the kind of job I leave to the dealer. It just takes a few minutes for someone who is experienced. Too time consuming for me, but really not a big deal the second time you do it. But until you have seen the inside and how it works its hard to figure out what to do without taking off the rear wheels, so you probably should. Then its easy. The drums are on the inside of the rear rotors, and you first remove the boot from the handle on the console, completely loosen the cable, then remove one of the lug nuts from a rear wheel, and, with the rear of the car raised, stick skinny screwdriver into lug nut hole through the rotor and turn thumb wheel thing (at 3:00 or 4:00 to right) until the wheel won't turn anymore. Then back it off eight notches. Do the same thing on the other wheel. Then raise hand lever four clicks and retighten cable.

Good luck.
Lin Gilbert

95 740il
Parking brake doesn't really do anything.
I'm thinking it's a cable adjustment. I guess it could be that the shoes are worn on the drums in the rear. I know its 4 wheel disk brakes but there is a drum back there for the parking brake. At least I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. Anyone have this problem?

-Steve

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