hi guys and girls

Today before it rained I changed the front brake discs and pads + the rear pads.

The pedal is now solid great!! BUT the handbrake has gone from being very tight on 4 clock to having to be pulled to 7/8 clicks. it feels worse then before!!!

am I being thick is there a way of adjustment?

 

donnie, you need to repeatedly pull and release the handle till it makes up the slack. THe other thing that you will want to check is that the e-brake levers are moving full forward when you release the e-brake lever. If the e-brake lever sticks at the caliper, it can cause a slack feeling in the hand brake too. If you need me to explain anything in more detail, let me know.

 

thanks for the reply

could the piston in the caliper not being retracted properly be a problem? I have read it needs to be "lined up" but i just turned it until I couldnt anymore

I will try "pumping the handbrake"

 

Donnie, the alignment of the piston is only so the piston locks into position on the brake pad. Granted, not all pads have the locking tabs. So, in the big scheme of things, it is not a problem. PUll the handle some more and it should push the piston to where it needs to be. If you don't have a lot of pedal travel, then your piston is not too far from where it needs to be. If pulling the handle doesn't fix things, then you are looking at a stuck e-brake lever.

 

I have gotten underneath the car and had a look. The handbrake mech on the drivers side moves probably the length of my finger. The passengers side moves maybe a quarter of that. Wud this mean the cable is stretched or the mech on the left is seized?

 

sounds like the driver's side is the side with the gap you need to overcome. The big thing is does the arm retract all the way back to the point that the finger on the arm touches the bolts that are next to the arm. Ify ou need pics, let me know.

 

hi , had the same problem i took of the handbrake cable off the caliper and sprayed the mechanism with wd40 then with a pair of mole grips i moved the mech back and forward many times and continually spraying the mech as i go , after a short time it comes back to life with a strong recoil once you have it to this stage attach the cable again and then cover the mech with copper slip and that's it your good

 

is the cable fairly easy to take off?

 

yes take the wheel off and u will c the handbrake cable just sticking out the end of the mech , get a pair of pliers and pull the cable outwards it will come easy push it to the side or under the mech just so its out the road a bit and then start to move the mech back and forth till you fell the spring is strong again but mind and keep spraying the wd40 , once ur done its a bit hard to get the cable on as u now have a strong mech so get a pair of grips and pull the mech together and push the cable back into place , take the car a small run and you handbrake will b strong again . mind and check both sides of the car regards danny if u get stuck email me