The rear disc brakes seem to bind on after having stood overnight. And then they noisily drag for the first hundred or so metres . I have cleaned up around the brakes as best I can (not removing the caliper though), the pads do not push back, presumably because of the parking brake auto adjust facility.

 

The handbrake only moves 2 notches before it is tight, so I thought slackening off the handbrake cable may help a little. The car has a jumbo box fitted, any advice as to where the adjustment is and how to access it is appreciated.

I'm sure most handbrakes are 4-5 clicks so that does sound tight. Could also be a seized cable though?
I think you can get to the adjuster through the cubby hole on the back of the jumbo box, pull it down as normal, then pull again and it should pull down and you will see the cables. Not sure how to adjust though!

There is a adjusting nut (10mm spanner required) inside the car at the rear of the jumbo box,i removed the rear ashtray & got my little 10mm spanner on to the nut to slacken the cables. 

As said above, pull down and out and you will see a 10mm bolt on a T- bar with the two cables. You won't push the calipers back as they need to be turned back in, due to being on a thread.

Hi, it is so funny that you mentioned your issue. I have had the exact same thing on my 5 year old VRS. The noise began about 1 year ago and it was due to binding. I have since managed to slacked the handbrake cable for the offending wheel. Mine was the Right Rear (N/S/R UK Right Hand Drive) and did it roughly 3 weeks ago.

 

It wasn't easy on mine since not only did I have the jumbo box, I also had the rear air vents to get out the way. If you have rear air vents, you wont be able to get to the bolts without removing the whole centre box.

 

It will take you about a half-hour getting all the parts out the way, but once you do, you can go ahead and loosen or tighten with such ease. You will probably also want to have a nice clean under there since a lot of unsightly dust and crumbs will be there too.

 

I used a combination of guides. Firstly this one, but in the reverse order of course:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A//www.skodaoctavia.cz/clanek/demontaz-stredove-konzole-montaz-aux-zdirky&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8

 

and this for more guidance:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/206316-retro-fitting-a-jumbo-box-centre-armrest/

 

Some Tips:

• Don't be afraid to use a little force at the front section that attaches near the front ashtray, you will need to manoeuvre the entire box up along the radio fascia.
• You might not be able to completely remove the front carpet sections that attached to the foot well, it is held on with the screws, but also some Velcro and a clip I believe. You will have to move the box around the carpet.
• Before lifting the main part of the jumbo box out, remove the entire rear vent/ashtray fascia once you removed the torx screws. This will hold the jumbo box in place and without pulling it off, you will struggle.
• Once you begin lifting the box, do so slowly, remove the aux cable from the rear access vent (you can remove the vent piping from this access, it just pulls off), then remove the cigarette/doorlock button cables from the front. You should then be able to move the box off the handbrake lever entirely.

 

All in all, I am so glad I did this. I checked the stiffness of the handbrake once loosened enough to make sure that the car still doesn't pull off while its on. Now though, I get far far less squealing when setting off from fresh. This only rarely happens after a rainy day etc, but in no way is it close to the amount it was previously.

 

Just remember to check which wheel is binding if it isn't both. You can test this by jacking one rear side at a time, placing chocks and stands, then undoing the handbrake and trying to turn the rear wheel. If it stops abruptly, it is the offending one.

I have the air vents in my jumbo box & all i had to do was remove the ashtray,i did use a short 10mm spanner though. 

As others have said above for adjusting the cable.

I had a sticking caliper, wasn't the handbrake that was the issue. Mine was because I'd let the rear pads wear to much causing the rear piston to stick after I'd replaced the pads.

I had to remove the brake caliper piston, smooth off with some very fine wet and dry. Once refitted had to bleed the brakes.

Whilst looking into it I did read up on a common issue where the spring on the rear of the caliper spring didn't have enough force to fully return the leaver, hence some binding. From memory vw Sharon caliper springs were the ones that people were using to get around this problem.

Stripping and rebuilding the caliper is easy enough, I'd advise you get some new bleed nappies before you start though as some clown had done mine up way to tight.

If you do strip the caliper and you may as well fit a new wiper and dust seal. There are 2 sizes 38 and 41mm best to check the size of the piston before ordering new seals.

Fair enough, I guess you can get to the nuts. I guess if you had a small bicycle spanner of the correct size you could get it to loosen.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

I can confirm that it is easy to access the nut to loosen the handbrake as has been pointed out above. Remove the jumbo box rear ashtray by pulling it fully down from the top clips that normally stop it going further, then pull the left bottom of the ashtray out of its clip and slide the ashtray to the left as the right hand side is not a clip but lug in the housing type arrangement. Hope that explanation is clear, pictures would better explain.

 

The adjusting nut is located just forward and below the ashtray. It's dark gray and so a little difficult to see without a torch. As its an elongated nut, its possible, if a little fiddly, to adjust with a standard 10mm spanner. Just watch out for sharp edges, I cut my knuckles while doing this.

 

The binding of the rear brakes in the end was not due to an overtight handbrake cable, but the pads being wedged tight in the caliper due to a build up of corrosion and brake dust along the edges the pads slide against. A stripdown, clean, file a bit, grease and refit cured the problem.