Horrible moaning from park brake?

rowan194 · 20-11-2011, 02:48 PM

I'm sure everyone who owns an AU knows about this sound, but since I got my brakes done it's heaps worse. I noticed they tightened the handbrake cable, if they overdid it could the brake shoe be rubbing against the wheel even though the lever in the cabin is all the way down?

It seems particularly bad when I reverse into a car spot and come out 10 mins later, like in a shopping centre, it's screeching and moaning every corner for the next few minutes. It's REALLY bad. Not so much if I park forwards.

Often when I'm releasing the brake I can feel the ratcheting mechanism as it comes down, even though I have the button pushed all the way in. Before they did my brakes it was always smooth.

Any ideas?

J.C. · 20-11-2011, 03:01 PM

Yes, I understand your pain. Have you tried pulling over and telling her to get out? Either that or sit there and shut up.
Seriously though, they are a pain in the rear to adjust and get right. It's a matter of messing about with it to get a happy medium. It's a bugger of a thing.
Hopefully someone can through some light on this a little more by airing a few tips. I have heard filing a chamfer on the inside edge of the shoe.

auxr · 21-11-2011, 11:32 AM

Yep - horrible things to get right, if possible take it back to brake shop and explain, they may come to the party and re-adjust.

Otherwise the usual trick is leave hand brake on, place in reverse and slowly reverse the car - it may settle things down for awhile.

Good luck

rowan194 · 21-11-2011, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auxr

Otherwise the usual trick is leave hand brake on, place in reverse and slowly reverse the car - it may settle things down for awhile.

That's how I fixed it last time, except I did it forwards and with only a light handbrake application.

If they can't fix it then I'll try that. Feeling the ratchets as it comes down can't be normal.

AU Mont · 26-11-2011, 08:05 PM

with mine i found the shoe was nicely polished by previous incorrect adjustments, and it made alot of noise

the fix was a new pair of handbrake shoes, and i adjusted them so it took 11-13 clicks on the lever to hold the car...... the initial pain of having to pull up the handbrake lever a few more clicks than usual was better than adjust the **** over & over again

rowan194 · 27-11-2011, 12:59 AM

Strange things happening - the lever is going down smoothly now, and I've hardly heard a squeak in the past few days... just the occasional chirp when going around a corner at speed.

It's strange because I haven't done anything!!!