Since the awful weather, my car, which is always garaged, has had a problem with the brakes. After overnight parking the rear brakes stick, and take quite a bit of oomph to release them. Is there a usual cause for this, if so what is the cure please?
Car hand brake problem
Jan 11, 2011
9 Replies
Does your garage have a sufficiently steep floor to require the application of the handbrake? If not - leave it off.
At a guess, grit & rust causing the cable to bind. No easy cure without getting dirty or paying someone else to get dirty.
Tim
cause is condensation and rust. Cure is not to put handbrake on at all. Or replace drums or get reskimmed. water collects in them basically. A good long drive will dry them out, but one puddle especially a salty puddle will fill them up again and if worn there will be a lip at the inner rim that allows water to pool slightly.
leave car in gear instead.
No its the shoes rusting to the drums. Reverse gear will always unstick them with a thunk!
Damp weather, IME. We have a little Suzi Alto, which needs to be parked outside. It's been fine during the worst of the cold, but when the thaw(s) start(s), the rear brakes seize (released with thunk, driving off[1]).
Once the weather gets into a wet phase, again, mysteriously, the brakes are usually OK.
No cure (which isn't horrendously expensive compared to the value you'd get), except to leave the h/b off, and leave the car in gear. Personally, I almost always forget this good advice. (Though I might add: we _always_ park the car in gear).
John
[1] The first time this happened, *no amount* of driving back and forth would free the brakes (I think we'd been away for a few days). The rear wheels scraped along the ground: awful! I ended up jacking the bugger up, taking each wheel off, and tapping the wheel hub until it went "clang" as opposed to "bonk". I used a joiner's hammer, and seriously proper caution; oh, and perseverance.
Sticking pistons in the cylinders. The lining (s) could be scored. Take the drum off, get somebody to depress the brake pedal a bit and then smear brake fluid on the exposed pistons.
Mr Pounder
>
Mine release if I pull forwards a tad. In reverse, the car tries to climb the rear sus :D
Pah. That's not a handbrake problem. If you want a *real* handbrake problem, buy a Land Rover Discovery 3 with electric parking brake.
That's how to make something that ought to be simple complex and expensive to repair!
Thanks for all the information. It is no great deal, I will leave the handbrake off in future, if I remember, the trouble is it is a strong habit!
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