hay i just put new pads and disks on the rear of the vrs. Now iv got no hand break

Any ideas? its a bit of an issue as i park the car on a hill that the gearbox alone wont hold the car.

You'll need to adjust the handbrake now you've put new rear pads on.

From what I can remember you need to remove the little cubby hole and ashtray behind the handbrake from the centre console so you can get a spanner in there.

There is a nut on the wire between the handbrake and the rear brakes and you need to turn this nut with the handbrake off while you visually check the rear brakes. They have a lever on them which the end of the cables clip into. You want to adjust that nut until the lever is just a mm or so away from touching the caliper body. Then put the handbrake on and it will work (it will feel a lot tighter than before, you'll only need to pull it up a cm or so to put it on).

Assuming you reconnected the hand brake cables after changing the pads & disks, then you probably just need to get the self adjuster to work.

From memory, put foot on brake pedal, apply hand brake, release hand brake, release foot, and repeat a number of times.

thank fuk for that i thought it was like my mothers focus you have to pump the break and pull the hand break up and down a few times and it self adjusts.

ok just seen second post. have been doing that for about 5 mins with no change. If i pull the hand break ill the way up it puts a little pressure on but not enough to stop the car rolling on any hills

Edited 1 February, 201214 yr by Ross SY

You'll definitely need to adjust that nut. Shouldn't take more than ten minutes to do.

I did mine when I fitted new rear discs and pads. When you put brand new pads on it moves the levers on the calipers so the cable gets really slack and the slack needs to be taken up.

Ok how do I remove the arm rest to get to the cable?

You've got an armrest? That complicates things LOL

I think the armrest has bolts on the foot of it to attach it to the centre console, you'll need to remove those to get the armrest off.

Then there is like a little cubbyhole bit on the centre console between the handbrake and the rear ashtray which you can lever out with a flatbladed screwdriver. You can then get your fingers in there to help get the ashtray holder out.

I think on mine I poked the spanner down through space where the cubby hole was to get at the nut and turn it, but it helped to have the ashtray and ashtray holder out so I could guide the spanner better with my other hand.