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Handbrake warning - leave in gear!
Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 10:10 pm
by morrismen
If you park on a hill and leave your POLO GTI out of gear, BEWARE it may ROLL DOWN THE HILL! I noticed this recently after driving and parked on a slope about 1:4.
When I went back some kind lady told me that my car was in the middle of the road and that the car had rolled back - Doh!
The reason for this is that the handbrake works on the rear brakes - these are disc brakes.
When the pads and discs cool down, the handbrake may still be fairly tight, but the brakes loosen off and your GTI rolls back.
I will never be putting my POLO GTI on another hill without leaving it in gear
Suggest you do the same
handbrake!
Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 9:42 am
by jon_poloV
good advise!
mines pants just with the handbrake neway and its not a gti! and it wasnt long ago the handbrake was tightend!
jon
Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 9:44 am
by carmadaaron
i always put my car in gear if im parked on a slope.
its better to b safe than sorry!
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:55 am
by Si_GTi
carmadaaron wrote:i always put my car in gear if im parked on a slope.
its better to b safe than sorry!
I always leave my car in gear wherever it is
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:47 am
by carmadaaron
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:57 pm
by KarlM
I would have thought that would have been obvious?
the old Citreons were reknown for this
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:58 am
by Si_GTi
Yup, my mates old heap of a rover 214 had the same problem. Hot days and lengthy parks on slopes led to the handbrake regularly sticking partially on and making a lovely burning smell on the move... nice
Fair enough, technology has moved on a bit since the 1980s but its still something to be wary of eh?
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:33 pm
by waveydavey
morrismen wrote:
The reason for this is that the handbrake works on the rear brakes - these are disc brakes.
When the pads and discs cool down, the handbrake may still be fairly tight, but the brakes loosen off and your GTI rolls back.
I will never be putting my POLO GTI on another hill without leaving it in gear Suggest you do the same
Myself and my other half have had 5 cars with all round discs in the last 6 years and never had a problem with this sorta thing with any of them. We live in Sheffield, which if you've ever been, you'll know has quite a few steep hills.
Might be worth getting your brakes checked out as i regularly go straight from motorway driving / braking to parking on our driveway, (1.5 miles from motorway), and our driveway is pretty steep, and have never had the GTi move once.
Cheers
Dave.