Just failed the MoT on weak handbrake:mad:.

Looking through the forums it seems to be quite common but I can't find a likely culprit...

The cable moves and so does the caliper actuator(?) and the braking effort is the same both sides. H/b lever has a nasty stiff feel so am going to replace cables first. H/brake works best if applied with my foot on the brake pedal.

Anyone got any tips for removing the exhaust shield?! Screwed down from inside the car and held with star washer type things. Is there a special tool!?

Haynes reckon the calipers aren't servicable. Looks to me like the lever operates an internal cam. It's clearly working a bit so ideally I'd like to get away with replacing cables and applying copper ease:) Any tips gratefully received! Happy Easter!

The star washer pull off the studs to release the heat shield. The studs are welded to the floor by the way.

Is the hand brake releasing fully?

The levers on the callipers should return to a stop, or with a gap of about 1mm.

Also, the cams which more the pistons wear eventually so the pistons don't move as far as they should.

Thanks very much for the reply.

The wheels spin fairly freely so I think it's releasing OK. The cables look like an easy job, especially since you've cleared up the star washers issue. If that doesn't fix, looks like new calipers - worn cams sounds a possibility.

Thanks again - much appreciated.

An update - removed a caliper, looked fine so I changed the cables (which also seemed fine) and that did the trick.

Happiness is a warm MoT...