Handbrake question?
Discussion
Be very aware of it.
Whilst on holiday I pulled up on a mountain pass some where in the Alps and 'applied' the hand brake. Probably sat there for a few seconds turning off the ignition/radio, etc, and then opened the door and put my foot out to exit. To my surprise the ground was moving and I went for the handbrake with two hands. A few seconds more and I would have been backwards off a cliff and would have died without a doubt. Sounds extreme but can't tell you how close it was. I must have sat there with my foot on the footbrake before I tried to exit, thank god.
Have now made some adjustment but I don't think they are brilliant whatever you do !!
Whilst on holiday I pulled up on a mountain pass some where in the Alps and 'applied' the hand brake. Probably sat there for a few seconds turning off the ignition/radio, etc, and then opened the door and put my foot out to exit. To my surprise the ground was moving and I went for the handbrake with two hands. A few seconds more and I would have been backwards off a cliff and would have died without a doubt. Sounds extreme but can't tell you how close it was. I must have sat there with my foot on the footbrake before I tried to exit, thank god.
Have now made some adjustment but I don't think they are brilliant whatever you do !!
Edited by SimonV8ster on Friday 12th October 22:48
SimonV8ster said:
Be very aware of it.
Whilst on holiday I pulled up on a mountain pass some where in the Alps and 'applied' the hand brake. Probably sat there for a few seconds turning off the ignition/radio, etc, and then opened the door and put my foot out to exit. To my surprise the ground was moving and I went for the handbrake with two hands. A few seconds more and I would have been backwards off a cliff and would have died without a doubt. Sounds extreme but can't tell you how close it was. I must have sat there with my foot on the footbrake before I tried to exit, thank god.
Have now made some adjustment but I don't think they are brilliant whatever you do !!
Whilst on holiday I pulled up on a mountain pass some where in the Alps and 'applied' the hand brake. Probably sat there for a few seconds turning off the ignition/radio, etc, and then opened the door and put my foot out to exit. To my surprise the ground was moving and I went for the handbrake with two hands. A few seconds more and I would have been backwards off a cliff and would have died without a doubt. Sounds extreme but can't tell you how close it was. I must have sat there with my foot on the footbrake before I tried to exit, thank god.
Have now made some adjustment but I don't think they are brilliant whatever you do !!
Edited by SimonV8ster on Friday 12th October 22:48
this situation is not improved with harder track day compounds,the best compromise is genuine Ford pads,cant see the point in track compound rears anyways,alway make sure the calliper levers are always back to the stops when released otherwise you wont get the full clamping of the pads when h/brake is applied(this is more common than you think,and is often when someone over adjusts the cables to reduce the lever movement
)this applies to other cars with disc brakes not just Ford/Tvr.
Meatball said:
Having owned the car around a year now i still dont trust the bl00dy thing and always leave it in gear when parking. If its a case of they all do that why is it such a poor design ?
They don't all do that and the main reason for the poor efficiency is that they are often to tight with no slack that the self adjuster can't work. As a result that pad wear is not taken up and the efficiency drops off.One final tip is to apply the foot brake and hold it while applying the hand brake. Makes a lot of difference.
I think I need to adjust mine as well.. at the moment it works like this: one click - nothing, two clicks - will keep the car from moving on a flat surface, three clicks - takes two hands and a lot of force to apply, but the car will not move... ever!
I'd like to keep this security but make it a little easier to apply, is it possible?
I'd like to keep this security but make it a little easier to apply, is it possible?
Correctly adjusted the handbrakes are ok... Once the caliper mechanism movement has been limited by an overtightened cable, it can get very gummed up by brake crap and is not easy to free again. An often overlooked area is the lever itself, if the pivot mechanism is loose the brake does not retain the tension - you should feel this as the level feels floppy (always a good time to service this when the exhaust & propshaft are off). Many cars struggle if you stop with very hot brakes, then they cool.
Dave
Dave
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