MOT Question - Handbrake Travel

woofercooker

woofercooker

woofercooker

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Joined
4 Nov 2011
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512
hi guys

The wifes car failed on handbrake having no reserve travel, im slightly confused, it passed the brake test and i get 7 clicks before its really tight, 8 clicks takes some force. Is this too many clicks or something? how do they measure reserve travel? first time i have ever heard of this :confused:
 
Too many clicks.

Handbrake should bite sooner!

Either there is a problem with the self adjusting mechanism or there is a problem with the cables.

MOT advisories confusing much! :confused:

What is the car? Disk or drum rear brakes?

(God, I loathe drum brakes! Cannot understand why any car manufacturer still uses them:mad: :mad::rolleyes: (I understand there are still advantages for heavy vehicles, but even then they are still a serious PITA!)
 
Its a Renault clio with rear disks, looks like it has a manual adjuster underneath, will try and tighten that up and see if that improves things.

I didn't even know they still used drum brakes tho wow :eek:
 
woofercooker said:
Its a Renault Clio with rear disks, looks like it has a manual adjuster underneath, will try and tighten that up and see if that improves things.

I didn't even know they still used drum brakes though wow :eek:
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Drum brakes are still commonplace (unfortunately! :mad: :rolleyes: )

If they are disks then I doubt very much if it will simply be a cable adjustment issue

(Though tightening the cable up might get you through the test, that does NOT mean you have fixed it!)

Expect to have to do further work!

(Where are you?)
 
Orionaut said:
(God, I loathe drum brakes! Cannot understand why any car manufacturer still uses them:mad: :mad::rolleyes: (I understand there are still advantages for heavy vehicles, but even then they are still a serious PITA!)
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When it comes to hand brakes you can not beat drums for efficiency, they work so much better than discs.
 
I'm quite a big fan of drum in disc style handbrakes, recently fitted mine with a new kit of springs etc, well worth it. :p
 
Kaeo said:
I'm quite a big fan of drum in disc style handbrakes, recently fitted mine with a new kit of springs etc, well worth it. :p
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Most "Drum in disk" systems (BMW/Merc) at least have a method of withdrawing the shoes from the drum so that you can actually withdraw it from the hub.(even if it is still pretty bloody awkward (Clicking the ratchet round through a wheel bolt hole, really! :mad: ))

Earlier today however I had the dubious privilege to have to remove the drum from a binding VW polo

Lovely job. no way of withdrawing the binding shoes from the drums so lots of hammer banging and the eventual destruction of both the shoe retaining pins and the flanges on the brake piston. Everything is going to have to be replaced, simply as a result of looking at it! :mad:

(And it was far too hot out there to have to deal with this sort of ****! really it was! :mad:)

At least some manufacturers provide threaded holes so you can jack the drums off reluctant shoes but most do not (I have on occasion drilled holes in stubborn drums and threaded them so as to enable the use of jacking screws, but some manufacturers use drums with only a thin steel disk in the middle so even this is not always an option.)

How to turn a 10 minute job into a 2 hour one!

:mad:
 
Wasnt the the issue of using discs for the handbrake that when the discs cooled off the handbrake released? I seem to remember the insignia or vectra used to do this. I always thought most cars still used drums for handbrake even with discs all-round.
 
theone8181 said:
Wasnt the the issue of using discs for the handbrake that when the discs cooled off the handbrake released? I seem to remember the insignia or vectra used to do this. I always thought most cars still used drums for handbrake even with discs all-round.
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Lots of cars use handbrakes built into the rear calipers, and they are almost always very poor compared to drum brakes.
 
Front handbrake Saabs have a bit of an exception when it comes to travel as they're ruddy impossible to get 3 clicks - 8 is good!
 
Adjusted it under the car, down to 6 clicks now, 6th click takes man strength tho my wife can't get the 6th click. adjusting it any more caused wheels to catch the pads so i backed it off until they were free. i have no idea is 5-6 clicks is ok. also checked my own car and that goes to 8 clicks easy :confused:

I also noticed that i could spin wheels if i bear hugged them, it took some force but should i be able to do this? Also tested it on a hill and it holds fine.
 
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No reserve travel means the handbrake lever can be pulled to the end of it's travel.

What Clio is it? I'm assuming a Clio 3 as you mentioned the rear disc brakes.

The calipers have a self adjusting ratchet system built in. Perhaps one of them has become faulty, meaning the lever needs to be pulled further. I've also seen people damage these kind of caliper by pushing the pistons back in while doing a pad change, and not winding them in as you're supposed to.
 
No different for automatics, the parking brake still has to work.

We see a lot of BMW automatics fail on parking brake. The owners just put it in park and don't use the parking brake at all. The park brake has separate shoes within the disc and it all corrodes and seizes up.
 
mushtafa said:
No different for automatics, the parking brake still has to work.

We see a lot of BMW automatics fail on parking brake. The owners just put it in park and don't use the parking brake at all. The park brake has separate shoes within the disc and it all corrodes and seizes up.
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Funny that, its an '05 e90

The dealer put it through mot when i bought it, the handbrake does seem to still self adjust as it will occasionally become stiffer.

I figured it might be different as the parking brake is surely more effective than the handbrake.
 
adolf hamster said:
Funny that, its an '05 e90

The dealer put it through mot when i bought it, the handbrake does seem to still self adjust as it will occasionally become stiffer.

I figured it might be different as the parking brake is surely more effective than the handbrake.
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Your handbrake isn't self adjusting. You have to do it manually through a hole in the disc.

When I say park brake, I mean handbrake. They are the same thing. As an MOT tester, I use park brake, as some cars are operated with another pedal - so can't call it a hand brake.

With my old BMW, I would pull the handbrake on gently while the car was moving just to remove and rust build up on the disc and keep them bedded in. Obviously do this at a slow speed, and don't over heat the shoes.
 
mushtafa said:
Your handbrake isn't self adjusting. You have to do it manually through a hole in the disc.

When I say park brake, I mean handbrake. They are the same thing. As an MOT tester, I use park brake, as some cars are operated with another pedal - so can't call it a hand brake.

With my old BMW, I would pull the handbrake on gently while the car was moving just to remove and rust build up on the disc and keep them bedded in. Obviously do this at a slow speed, and don't over heat the shoes.
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Fair enough, good to know, my version of parking brake i suppose should really be termed parking gear, but you get my meaning.

Dunno why mine changes the tension to pull then, i just pull by force of habit to the same force i'd normally use, which on the old skoda was locked solidly but the beamer does sometimes move less distance for the same tension.

Might try just leaving it on while i pull out of the drive tomorrow, clean it up as you say.
 
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