If i park the car up and wash it (ie the rear wheels as well) and leave it for a week or so, when i come to move it is can sometimes refuse to budge.... so much so that today when i came to move it i had to '' drag '' it off the drive, it thought this would break the bind and the wheel would just be released.... it did not, so much so that the abs light came on as the right hand side (when sat in the car) rear wheel had locked and was been dragged along the road, eventually it got released but this was the worse ever.... anybody else had this issue.

Hi hudson1,

 

When you wash it, take it for a short drive around the block to throw off any excess water lying in cracks & joins etc so it doesn't hang around the callipers the whole week, soak in & cause them to seize up.

 

I live in Germany & over here during the winter months (& Summer), car dealerships advise drivers that where safe to do so (i.e your driveway &/or flat level ground), try to leave your car in first or reverse gear with the handbrake off so the rear callipers / drums don't seize up in the cold weather. They do this themselves with most of the cars on the forecourt & inside on display (as long as their forecourt is flat that is).

 

If your drive is flat, & only if it is, park up with the handbrake on, switch off the car, put it in 1st or reverse gear & then with your foot on the brake pedal, release the handbrake fully & then slowly release the foot brake. The car will settle with its weight held by the engine via the gearbox. That way the handbrake is already released so there will be no dragging of rear wheels & much less chance off the pistons in the callipers seizing on. More likely its the small plunger or lever that the handbrake cable attaches to on the back of the callipers that is sticking / seizing on. It normally only has a small return spring to release it which is fine most of the time, but not if its getting rusty or when the lubes gone. That should be a simple job to free off & re-grease but will need someone who knows what they are doing to do it. Should not take more than 45 mins to complete.

 

If parking with the handbrake off doesn't grab you, then to help your sticky brakes release rock the car forward then back using the gears. With rear drums this should help, however with discs it probably wont make a difference.

 

Hope that helps.

Yep, regular problem with my rear drum brakes after washing. Good idea above, short drive to dry them out. I usually leave handbrake OFF and wheels chocked after washing. ( Ensure parked on level ground!)

This is not a ' fault' but occurs on most cars when lots of water enters brake drums.

A friend has had this problem with his Polo. It seized bad enough for him to have to call the AA out, as he was dragging the rear wheels around (he doesn't drive much, so the car tends to get left for long periods).

 

When the AA guy turned up, he removed the rear wheel/wheels and belted the drums with a hammer. This was sufficient to break the bind. I think there are videos on youtube that explain how/where to hit it.

 

I just thought this may be useful info, just in case it gets that bad for you.

This just happened to our Monte for the first time. Drove it home in torrential rain on New Years day and it's sat on the street since then.  The handbrake disengaged but the rear drums had seized up; fortunately I managed to free them with a bit of brisk accelerating and braking. 

Thanks for all that, my drive is on a slope but i have chocked it in the past and it has been fine so may give it a go again, but it does seem odd indeed. It is due a service so will get the rear brake drums looked at. Thanks

This is a common problem with rear drum-braked Fabias (both Mk 1 and Mk2).  It's nothing to do with cables, springs, adjusters, dust or anything like that, it's simply the shoes and the drums binding together under the influence of the lightest of corrosion.  At the risk of stating what we all know already, the inside of the drum is a lovely clean polished cast iron surface which is very prone to corrosion.  The shoes are lined with a fibre- and metal-impregnated epoxy material, also highly polished, and, importantly, exactly conforming to the inner surface of the drum.

When you leave the handbrake on in wet conditions (see weather records, August 2015), these two lovely clean surfaces in intimate contact with one another develop an affinity and stick.  If you're lucky, they can be freed by simply ignoring the protests from the clutch and tyres and driving off (or backwards and forwards), dragging the wheel until it bangs free.  Occasionally one's nerve gives out before the brakes free.  At this point, take the wheel off (chocked and jacked very securely; don't rely on the wheel-changing jack) put two wheel bolts back in partially, insert a long lever between the bolts (I have an inch diameter steel bar c5 feet long) and apply a hefty torque.  Have an assistant tap the drum with a steel hammer with some vigour (don't be too shy here, and don't muck about with wood or leather or plastic mallets; you need the sharp shock) and you'll free it up in no time.  For particularly stubborn brakes you may need to put three bolts back in and alternate the direction of the torque whilst applying the hammer.

I would imagine that different manufacturers' shoes may stick to a greater or lesser degree depending on the compound of the shoe linings, but they wear out so seldom I've never had the opportunity to explore that hypothesis.

 

Have fun.

 

Merlin

Edited 26 August, 201510 yr by Merlin3046

19 months on and lots of water have passed through the drums i imagine.

I find it worst after ive washed the car, ill go back to it and its locked on.

So as my drives flat anyway, i just leave it in gear with the handbrake off now

I now tend to go for a bit of a drive before i park it up if i am not going to use it for a few days..... pain in the bum, my next car will have disks and pads on the rear from now.

I now tend to go for a bit of a drive before i park it up if i am not going to use it for a few days..... pain in the bum, my next car will have disks and pads on the rear from now.

 

Hummm, first car I had this issue with had rear disc brakes (and parked in garage in gear), so you might be a bit disappointed!  Rear disc brakes are easier to see/clean though!.

Had this issue a couple of times on my monte not after washing either, it hasn't done it for a while and hopefully won't!