New Handbreak cable

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gaza1994
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New Handbreak cable

Post by gaza1994 »

Hi Guys!
So car went in to get all the breaks checked, turns out they're all perfect (wooo)

Unfortunately, my handbreak cable is stretched wider than a prostitutes below!

I've no experience with this kinda thing, so from your experiences how much should I be paying for parts and labour for a new cable and fitting it!
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iichel
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by iichel »

I'm not particularly good in pounds, but a cable should be about 10 and fitting about half an hour to an hour of labour.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by RUM4MO »

Did you get this car checked by a proper garage or just somewhere that fits shoes to donkeys?

I'd guess that the root cause of that handbrake cable looking stretched is seized auto adjusters on the rear brake shoes, they will still work perfectly with the foot brake hydraulics.

Modern handbrake cables, in my experience for made so that they will not stretch that much, all that normally happens to them is that they seize which creates different issue.
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gaza1994
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by gaza1994 »

RUM4MO wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 8:25 pm Did you get this car checked by a proper garage or just somewhere that fits shoes to donkeys?

I'd guess that the root cause of that handbrake cable looking stretched is seized auto adjusters on the rear brake shoes, they will still work perfectly with the foot brake hydraulics.

Modern handbrake cables, in my experience for made so that they will not stretch that much, all that normally happens to them is that they seize which creates different issue.
It was a kwick fit garage down in the Scottish Borders!

It does take 6-8 clicks for the handbreak to hold me comfortably on a hill.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by RUM4MO »

I'd still stick with my initial posting, get the rear brakes opened up and cleaned/free'd - then let them adjust automatically or help them to adjust, if that really really does not sort your problem, then adjust or replace the handbrake cable, though I'd doubt if you will need a new cable.

KwikFit should know what goes wrong with these cars - or maybe you did not request that they serviced your brakes before coming to that conclusion - drum brakes on a car that is more than a few years old should really get opened up every other year or maybe every year, if they are to keep working as intended. A normal VW dealership will never open up these brakes as part of a service, they will only report that there is a problem and request that the car is booked in for extra work it needs doing.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by iichel »

I'm not sure now whether the 1.4 petrol with 86 horsepower comes with rear discs or rear drum brakes. I've googled them and they appear to be coming with both (but not at the same time).

If it's indeed drums, I fully agree with RUM4MO.
If it's discs, nonetheless it would indeed be good to check why the cable is stretched.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by RUM4MO »

I'm guessing rear drum brakes for the 6R Polo with the 1.4 85PS engine, I've never noticed any with rear discs, the previous version of Polo did and some did not have rear drums when fitted with the 1.4 75PS engine though.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by gaza1994 »

its drums on rear, discs at front

so what your saying is, the handbreak cable isnt the issue, its the drums?

they said the drums where fine when they inspected them (had them on a MOT tester thingie)
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by iichel »

if i understand you correctly, the cable is an issue but it is good to find out the cause.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by RUM4MO »

gaza1994 wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 5:44 pm its drums on rear, discs at front

so what your saying is, the handbreak cable isnt the issue, its the drums?

they said the drums where fine when they inspected them (had them on a MOT tester thingie)
The operation of the rear brakes will look okay when checked on an MOT type machine, but the brake pedal will probably be "going" down lower than it might otherwise be to compensate for the brake shoe adjuster not moving/holding the shoes out at the correct point, ie so that they are just clear of the drums.

The operation of the handbrake can not cover up this issue so well, so you end up with the handbrake lever/handle pulling up to the top of its travel - and the handbrake is not gripping the drums enough to stop the car moving on a slope.

Either way, get these rear drums off and check that the auto adjuster is not seized, and the shoes are otherwise free to move, prove they are or sort that out, then if necessary helping the rear brake adjuster to move to its correct position, if the handbrake action is still a problem, get a new handbrake cable fitted.
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gaza1994
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by gaza1994 »

Hi guys, update!

Car was in the garage today to get them checked and the auto adjusters where seized!

So it all got cleaned and the cable was tightened (cable wasn't the issue at all)

It's now 3 clicks to hold on a steep hill.
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by iichel »

thanks for sharing the feedback!
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Re: New Handbreak cable

Post by RUM4MO »

Good, one issue that never seems to affect this version of Polo or the equivalent Ibiza is the cable slackening off completely, it seems that that can and does affect the latest Fabia, which as it shares most of the running gear with Polo and Ibiza is a strange thing, seems like some none VW Group workshops are now adding a locking nut to the existing set up to stop any possibility of that happening again, I must try to look at the adjustment parts on my wife's August 2015 Polo 6C and see if there is a potential risk of slackening off of the handbrake cable, and if so I'll just fit a second nut to keep the adjusting nut locked.

Edit:- having a "small bit" of slack in the handbrake cable is normally a good thing, as at certain rear beam deflections away from the nominal position puts a bit of "pull" on the Bowden cable which will apply the rear brakes slightly, but if the adjusting nut needs the cable to have no slack to preform its locking function then positive locking of that nut by other means makes more sense.
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