hand brake strip

[ednmra]

Anyone had this happen? I noticed a 2" or so opening below the handbrake, where the soft plastic strip goes. I found the strip material had separated about 1" below the handbrake handle, and was staying at the bottom of the opening, while the rest of the strip had of course had moved up with the handle.

 

I have joined the two parts up with Araldite (the original 24 hour setting one) which is supposed to stick anything strongly, even wings onto aircraft! I have reinforced the join with a thin layer of similar material overlaying the two sides of the join, also with the Araldite. 

Won't know if it is successful till tomorrow.

 

It looks a bit tricky to replace the whole strip otherwise - I assume the whole casing has to be taken apart?

[brad1.8T]

There's a couple of threads about it.  Pretty common unfortunately.  To ensure a good repair you have to lubricate the guide strip that it runs in.

[Guest]

Araldite 2-part Epoxy+Hardener is no use for that application as it needs to flex.

Either the join will jam the lever movement or it will crack and break off as it's brittle when cured.

Good luck finding and easy fix as I too have the same snag and despite a thorough clean and sticking with black duct tape it came adrift after some weeks, no doubt helped by the recent hot weather.

I suspect a better fix without reducing the centre console to component parts may be to pierce the two ends with hot needle holes and stitch the two together for mechanical strength.

In any case it's not a priority, it's down and out of sight while you drive!

[WookieeM]

Have you seen this pinned topic?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/311433-idiots-guide-to-permanently-repairing-the-handbrake-ribbon-trim-on-jumbo-box-for-free/

Think it's referimg to your issue.

[ednmra]

Have you seen this pinned topic?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/311433-idiots-guide-to-permanently-repairing-the-handbrake-ribbon-trim-on-jumbo-box-for-free/

Think it's referimg to your issue.

It sounds as if the ribbon (above) hadn't yet broken. Mine had.

At least I don't yet have to source a ribbon and start dismantling everything.

 

Checked this morning and found it seems very strongly repaired. I think the main point is the added reinforcement strip I put over the "glued" repair of the split. The reinforcement is a rectangular piece of thin black leather from an old (soft) specs case. I goes about 1/4" either side of the split, and stops about 1/8" short of each side of the console space. Though the joint itself, and this strip, are fixed with araldite, it remains relatively flexible, and in fact it doesn't have to flex much anyway. Mostly it just goes up and down with the ribbon. I suppose to some extent it depends where the ribbon broke - mine, as said, was only an inch or so below the handbrake handle.

 

Today I sprayed a little WD40 along with ribbon sides (which actually seemed to make little difference to the movement !!!)

 

 

Anyway, the repair is inconspicuous and at present seems good as new, BUT time will tell!

 

p.s. One possible alternative to Araldite - I was getting some Loctite superglue gel in Tesco yesterday for something else, and noticed they do a new variant called Elastic superglue gel, or something similar, which makes a very strong, but flexible, joint.  Might be worth a test out later if needed.

Edited 13 August, 2014 by ednmra

[adamal]

Happened to me. Whole new part including the runners was less than £15 from the dealer and took about an hour to fit (you need to remove centre console but good guides on here).

Adam

[ednmra]

Happened to me. Whole new part including the runners was less than £15 from the dealer and took about an hour to fit (you need to remove centre console but good guides on here).

Adam

How much did dealer charge to fit it?

[ednmra]

Might give it a go. But I'll see how the repair goes first - if it holds up long term I will be happy as is - can hardly see it is there.

[adamal]

Yes I meant DIY - its pretty easy. I don't pay dealer rates as a rule...

I mentioned it as the part is cheaper than I expected, but as you say only relevant if your fix fails.

[ednmra]

Just a quick follow-up. The repair mentioned has proved 100% secure, and, as per the pinned thread, I lubricated the whole ribbon with Back-to-Black, and as was said in that thread the results are amazing - better than new.

So if you can easily get at a particular break to repair it there isn't really any need to strip down the centre console etc.

[blackspaven]

Hmmm, having stripped it all down before in well under an hour (very easy to do for even a novice), I'm not convinced it'll hold over a decent period of time due to the aforementioned need for it to flex, but good luck.

[Phil-E]

I had mine replaced last year under warranty.

 

It has since gone funny. It's kind of bent in at one side of the handbrake.

 

It still sticks a bit too even if I use some silicone spray on it.

 

Think I'll get it off at some point and straighten it out.

 

Might also sand down the runner a bit too to free it up.

 

Phil

[ednmra]

Hmmm, having stripped it all down before in well under an hour (very easy to do for even a novice), I'm not convinced it'll hold over a decent period of time due to the aforementioned need for it to flex, but good luck.

Well, as said before, I think it might depend exactly where the break is on the ribbon. From fully on, to released, my repair is moving up and down an inch or so in a straight line, not round a curve, so that might explain it.

Also, my initial lubrication was with WD40 but the Back-to-Black for some reason works a 100 times better. Not a single squeak or sound when the handbrake is operated, either way.