those that have the springs fitted. Does it make for a heavy handbrake or dont you notice it really??

no noticable difference to the handbrake, thess only make sure that the handbrake goes fully off so it lets your piston adjust right

Well this is what my rear calipers look like:

...compared to...

(Hope it's OK to repost your image, FAST FITZ )

Seeing how what I thought was a new piston is clearly on the wrong side of the handbrake arm, I'm now betting that it's just a shroud for a spring similar to the Audi part. What price a spring straight out of the factory, eh? :rotz:

i have seen these on the fabias before, but they just quite a bit more expensive than the springs of the a3 post the photo as many times as you wish it doesn't give much away these are about 2pound each compared to your piston thing at maybe18pound a side

fast fitz - you DO have the standard rear brakes dont you?

this is the brakes that were fitted at the factory

2 weeks back order for the springs at my local VW dealer :(

will try the Ford dealer next as they are the same as the 2k on Galaxy calipers

fitted mine to the O/S this afternoon

me on my own, it was a bugger to do

wish I had some tips but Im afraid I dont have anything of massive help

jacking the car up helps as you get more room, but other than that its your fingers vs. a powerful spring = blue ends of your fingers, I found putting the end without the hook, the flat end, in first then pulling the hook into place was the easier way

it does seem to work.

my o/s isnt taking the handbrake as well as the other side still but at least its returning to its stop now - no more extra dirty and extra worn o/s brake pads

I tried this years ago on my wife's Polo 9N - but bought "8DE" variant of these springs which were a bit big and stuck out too far and they were for a car that had the callipers mounted at the "other side" of the wheel - they didn't improve anything, so now I will need to get a pair of these "1K0" springs. The real problem will normally be a weak/defective internal return spring in the calliper - VW wanted to replace the O/S calliper on the Polo under warranty - but I declined that offer (couldn't be bothered with the extra damage they might inflict on the car as it was a personal import!). Eventually you will find that the handbrake on that side will need some help with adjusting as the lever now never returns to its "off" stop - but that is an easy job and sorts things for maybe 6 months, any other heating/rubbing is normally down to the brakes needing cleaned up a bit to avoid them sticking on a bit.

I have had it fittedfor a couple of days it looks like its working.

finally got my springs fitted this week , no more sticking handbrake lever, if only i had known about this mod before i bought an O/S caliper :(

a couple of points i've noticed from the pictures posted in this thread

FASTFITZ, your springs are fitted upside down

Ap0gee, the things mounted on your calipers are dampers, possibly to stop some sort of rear brake noise (mooing perhaps) and not anything to do with the handbrake lever return issues that some of us have had

Edited 16 September, 200916 yr by ric04vrs

finally got my springs fitted this week , no more sticking handbrake lever, if only i had known about this mod before i bought an O/S caliper :(

a couple of points i've noticed from the pictures posted in this thread

FASTFITZ, your springs are fitted upside down

Ap0gee, the things mounted on your calipers are dampers, possibly to stop some sort of rear brake noise (mooing perhaps) and not anything to do with the handbrake lever return issues that some of us have had

Mine are fitted in the same way, and it still seems to work, will it cause any problems?

Could you post a pic of yours?

Looking at it, as it's just working to push the two parts away from each other, there shouldn't be any difference in force exerted, however it might be a bit more prone to fall out, perhaps...

for one thing , its a hell of alot easier to fit them the other way round , a one finger job with no chipped teeth

i can't see it making any difference really , just an observation

Edited 17 September, 200916 yr by ric04vrs

fitted mine a few weeks now and love the feel of the slightly heavy handbrake. No problems with smoking discs and pads now!!!!

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread.

I fitted the springs to my car today - 10 minute job including jacking the car up!!

Fitted without any tools and in accordance to VAGCAT catalogue illustration.

No more sticking O/S handbrake now

Part No. 1K0615295 fitted to N/S. Part No. 1K0615296 fitted to offside - both with spring 'coil' towards rear of the car. £3.54 inc. VAT 'all in'.

Best value for money mod ever!!

Thanks to FAST FITZ for the solution and to ric04vrs for the headsup on fitting them.

Alan

Hmmm, don't think my handbrake sticks, but that said, do notice a quiet rough scrubbing sound from the OSR if I've used the brakes just slightly and then moved of slowly...

Would these springs help with this or are they only an effect on the handbrake?

Well, that sounds like the mooing I had, which led to me getting the dampers shown earlier under warranty...

Hmmm, don't think my handbrake sticks, but that said, do notice a quiet rough scrubbing sound from the OSR if I've used the brakes just slightly and then moved of slowly...

Would these springs help with this or are they only an effect on the handbrake?

If the pads don't retract fully after you've released the handbrake you'll get noise and you'll find the wheel will get hot - the handbrake will still be partly applied!! Compare both rear wheels after a drive and you'll find that one side may be hotter than the other.

If you're getting the noise after braking and you have not applied the handbrake the scrapping noise may be caused by the pads remaning in contact with the disc and scrapping on the rusty unswept edge of the disc - it will go away quite quickly when the 'run out' of the discs push the pads away. You won't get the noise all the time.

One way or the other I hope you get the problem fixed.

As the cost of fitting the springs is so small I would suggest you give it a try in any case. Both my rear wheels now spin freely.

Before they did drag considerably :thumbdwn:

Alan

Edited 18 September, 200916 yr by aak

aak, your springs are fitted incorrectly :rotz:

if you re-read my post mentioning that Fastfitz had fitted his incorrectly, i said his were upside down

aak, your springs are fitted incorrectly :rotz:

if you re-read my post mentioning that Fastfitz had fitted his incorrectly, i said his were upside down

Here I was feeling quite chuffed with myself :confused:

Think you'll need to post a picture - I just took your previous headsup regarding fitting and having failed to see the benefit of turning them the other way up - used the illustration of the springs fitted in the VAGCAT catalogue to alter their position. were soooooo easy to fit this way round.

Will await further advice concerning this.

Alan

aak, your springs are fitted incorrectly :rotz:

if you re-read my post mentioning that Fastfitz had fitted his incorrectly, i said his were upside down

Lol, pic please mate, was just about to re-fit mine in aak's position

Lol, pic please mate, was just about to re-fit mine in aak's position

got pics , just got to get them off my phone , this requires using 1 of my other laptops , (got 3:O)

pics, a before spring fitted pic included also

note kink in spring fits neatly under the nut holding the lever on,

easily fitted by putting the spring into the top hole first , then pushing the lower loop up into the slotted hole, then pull the loop back to locate

so the hooked bit is in the top hole?

I cant work it out? am I being thick? It looks like youve got different springs? yours seems to have a flat side where the hook is

This is mine?

Edited 19 September, 200916 yr by ultra_joel88

pics, a before spring fitted pic included also note kink in spring fits neatly under the nut holding the lever on, easily fitted by putting the spring into the top hole first , then pushing the lower loop up into the slotted hole, then pull the loop back to locate

I've just had a look at the rear brakes on my B5 Passat and the springs are towards the rear, and lie neatly against the handbrake lever bracketry (so keep out of the way). By the way, the B5 Passat set up is identical to the Fabia/Polo/Ibiza (of this era) in as much as the rear brakes are Lucas and the handbrake cable pulls "down". I've been checking up on the A3 etc and they have Girling rear callipers (both these companies used to part of one group - but maybe the brakes are different designs and so VAG use both names in the parts lists). Out of interest, the later VW Caddy, again with Girling rear callipers, uses another variant of these springs - ie "2K0" mainly the problems that I had when trying to use the "8DE" variants (from B5 Passat), was that the straight sections were too long so the springs stuck out too far and they made no differance to the return action of the levers - and that was a bit disappointing! I still need to make an attempt to order in the "1K0" springs and hopefully they will work. One annoying thing with these rear callipers, for me, was that when I fitted new rear discs and pads to my wife's 2003MY Polo last weekend, the "faulty" calliper handbrake lever felt okay after I had backed off and retracted the piston - and after I went for a run in the car, the lever was still returning to its stop. After a couple of days when the handbrake had settled in, the lever was back to holding back a bit - but there was still enough slack in the cable to return the lever by hand. By the way, this car went on to pass its MOT only about 60 miles after all the discs and pads were replaced - but I did use ATE discs and Pagid front and Textar rear - pads same as fitted at factory.

Vag cat illustration