The hand brake on my 2010 170 TDI has always been weidly heavyi, and I never really understood why.

 

Well today it went in for it's MOT and failed on Hand Brake effeciency.

 

I've started taking things apart to work out where it's failing, and I'm not really sure which part to throw money at.

 

The hand brake lever itself seems fine and moves easily with no tension on it.

The cables do seem a bit stiff and don't seem to pull in and out especially easily, but I'm not sure how much friction you'd expect to see. I may removed these completely and see if I can lubricate them with silcone spray or similar.

 

Finally I've checked the calipers themselves and they are corroded and seem a little stiff, but one doesn't seem worse than the other. The disc and pads are a little worn and could probably do with replacing. I'm in half a mind to get a complete new Caliper/Disc/Pad for the rears as the car is 15 years old, so it's not going to do it any harm.

£200 for a set of Pagid calipers with discs and pads from Halfrauds using my Trade card, which isn't bad really. Just not sure if I need to spend the money incase it's simply a stiff hand brake cable.

 

Any advice would be great.

 

Thanks!

5 hours ago, gromr123 said:

Well today it went in for it's MOT and failed on Hand Brake effeciency.

I think that's the % efficiency that they can achieve from the HB on their rolling road. The failure notice should state something like "H/B efficiency 10% - Fail" if that's what they mean. Once we know that, we can make more useful suggestions.

gromr123

A picture or two might also help us....

If nothing else we like pictures.

Other people have reported a problem with the slide over the handbrake lever sticking, causing the handle not pulling up correctly. Lubrication seems to cure that problem.

My handbrake has always been "weak" and has never held securely on my sloping drive without chocking. Despite many attempts by main dealer and indies to rectify - no success. The only way to get some sort of grip is the old dodge of standing on the foot brake and then applying the handbrake. The lever travels quite a distance, goes solid and holds on a hill with some creaking.

I have some new Golf calipers which I was going to retro fit to my MG, but gave up for various reasons. Dismantling the caliper revealed the adjustment "cartridge" a clenched over little sealed unit:

I think the problem lies here, and would seem to need new calipers to sort out.