handbrake question

[chip16v]

hi

my car failed its MOT the other day on a few things. i have soted all of them out apart from one, which is the handbrake. they said at the garage that its not effecive enough. today i have had ago at adjusting it and it seems abit better but i dont no if its good enough? my mates civic which has drums on the back locks the back up when you apply the handbrake at about 10mph. however when i try this in my car it just slowly slows the car down.

to sum up my ramblings how do i know if my hand brake is effecive enough and can anybody else who drives a valver lock up their back wheels when applying the hand brake at about 10mph

 

[Essex_Lad]

i dont drive a valver but i can lock em up on my RT

u wont know really until its on the rollers!

best bet is to either get a new handbrake cable as urs is proberly stretched or tighten urs as much as possible if not get the garage to put a new one on!

 

[DeanRSi]

did you adjust it properly mate? did you do it by the cable or actually on the brake itself?

 

[blink172]

garages usually like the HB to be full on in 3/4 clicks, so if yours goes up to far or clicks loads, get the cable replaced or properly adjusted like essex said

 

[chip16v]

Quote: Originally posted by DeanRSi on 28 November 2003

did you adjust it properly mate? did you do it by the cable or actually on the brake itself?

you cant adjust on the brake itself, it not like havin drums on the back. basically how it works is that you pull the handbake which pulls the cable which pulls a lever on the rear callipers which pushes the piston and brakes on disc.

 

[DeanRSi]

if you take the rear inside pad out you can see the cylinder. you can twist with a pair of grips how close the pad sits to the disc. its how mine was done. now 4 clicks and mine locks like a good un.

 

[chip16v]

its not a case of the handbrake not appying in the wright amount of clicks you can pull it has hard as you want it wont get any better. when i apply the handbrake you can see the levers moving on the rear calipers. do you reckon that the pads have had it and dont have enough friction anymore, even though there not at minimum level?

 

[chip16v]

Quote: Originally posted by DeanRSi on 28 November 2003

if you take the rear inside pad out you can see the cylinder. you can twist with a pair of grips how close the pad sits to the disc. its how mine was done. now 4 clicks and mine locks like a good un.

i know what your sayin because i took one of my calipers off today and found the brake pads have been mixed up and the one with the lug was not on the piston side. anyway i put the caliper back on and adjusted it corectly by twisting the disc. also checked the other caliper and that was ok so i know there both adjusted correctly

 

[richy22]

ru sure that the piston in the caliper is actually working correctly?? my driversside rear caliper is f**ked and even with the brake pedal pushed down i can still spin the disc! dodgy!! If its working fine then handbrake cable itself?

 

[JAY172]

if its a 16v clio then back calipers are commen failures.the adjustment mechanism inside the caliper seizes up but renault dont supply repair kits anymore so you have to change the calipers.sometimes if you strip the back brakes and wind the pistons fully back in then the internal adjuster will unseize but not always.

 

[peter182]

I find everytime i have my hand brake done it doesnt make any difference the guy at Renault said clios have sh*t handbrakes?

 

[BenR]

They do, even new 172s are crap and they use the same rear calipers