Technical Handbrake travel vastly different after replacing tyres

[malleable]

I had my tyres replaced on Friday, and when I picked up the car, the handbrake was pulled up much further than when I arrived. Typically, the handbrake goes 6-7 clicks max before being secure. Now, the handbrake needs 13-14 clicks before holding the car in place. When I brought this up to the tyre shop, the personnel were adamant that that car arrived like that. I assured them that it had not. Eventually, a manager came out and suggested that maybe a spring had been bumped in my brakes drums/shoes, which is possible... I guess? Maybe the hit the adjuster at the brake drum while fitting the new tyres? I'm planning on calling my normal mechanic tomorrow, but I'm curious if anyone has encountered anything similar. Is it maybe a simple case of adjusting the cable tension in the handbrake? Or is there potentially a bigger issue that the tyre shop caused? Thanks for any help/ideas anyone can provide.

 

[koalar]

Wrong section 169 pandas here

If it was fine before the tyre change, I would have thought It was up to them to sort

We can guess, as to what happened buy realistically the only way to tell is to strip them down

The question is is it safe to drive, again without stripping it down it's impossible to say, so I'd err on the side of caution

 

[The Panda Nut]

Most likely some moron has pulled the brake really hard and wrecked the cables. Every time I let anyone drive may car the hand brake is u=pulle don ridiculously hard. These people who do this are idiots. It annoys me intensely. I cant see how tyre changing could cause this in any other logical way. I agree with Koalar you need to have a look and make sure nothings bust inside the drum.

 

[348azeus]

There is no reason that the handbrake should have been affected by a wheel removal. It could just be coincidence.

 

[malleable]

Thanks for the input! Fortunately, the brake pedal felt and functioned as normal. So, I drove it home, where it will sit until the mechanic has time to investigate properly. I definitely think you're on to something about pulling the handbrake too hard as they said something about pulling it very hard... And sorry for posting in the wrong section!

 

[The Panda Nut]

There is no reason that the handbrake should have been affected by a wheel removal. It could just be coincidence.

Could be a cable has actually gone and it is possible you are right coincidence. I dont generally believe in them though.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks for the input! Fortunately, the brake pedal felt and functioned as normal. So, I drove it home, where it will sit until the mechanic has time to investigate properly. I definitely think you're on to something about pulling the handbrake too hard as they said something about pulling it very hard... And sorry for posting in the wrong section!

What do these idiots drive? Steam engines?

 

[Greasytrucker]

Most likely some moron has pulled the brake really hard and wrecked the cables. Every time I let anyone drive may car the hand brake is u=pulle don ridiculously hard. These people who do this are idiots. It annoys me intensely. I cant see how tyre changing could cause this in any other logical way. I agree with Koalar you need to have a look and make sure nothings bust inside the drum.

+1 I agree some moron at the tyre centre has probably pulled the handbrake on like a gorilla, I recently had some tyres replaced on my sons Fabia and they did the wheel bolts up so tight it snapped my torque wrench trying to undo them so nothing surprises me

 

[The Panda Nut]

+1 I agree some moron at the tyre centre has probably pulled the handbrake on like a gorilla, I recently had some tyres replaced on my sons Fabia and they did the wheel bolts up so tight it snapped my torque wrench trying to undo them so nothing surprises me

Sadly me neither. I hope its something else, because there is really no excuse for abusing customers cars. All my cars have the brakes set correctly and the handbrake at the optimum point needs 4 clicks to hold on anything other than a steep hill when a max of 6 is required. Decent mechanics have a feel for these things and dont over do it. I would rather its something unrelated than unnecessary abuse which at best leaves a bad taste.

 

[DaveMcT]

Torque wrenches are not built for brutal use. Get yourself a 600mm breaker bar for shifting tight bolts. Cheap as chips and VERY useful.

 

[bugsymike]

Most likely some moron has pulled the brake really hard and wrecked the cables. Every time I let anyone drive may car the hand brake is u=pulle don ridiculously hard. These people who do this are idiots. It annoys me intensely. I cant see how tyre changing could cause this in any other logical way. I agree with Koalar you need to have a look and make sure nothings bust inside the drum.

In the yard where I used to park my Land Rover a guy had a Ford Transit and trailer, he would often move my Land Rover for ease of backing his trailer in. Every time I went to it afterwards he had yanked the handbrake as hard as possible, which was totally unnecessary as it was a very good hand brake and level ground.
I used to say to "If you want to pull it any higher I will have to fit an effing sun roof"!

 

[jrkitching]

they did the wheel bolts up so tight it snapped my torque wrench trying to undo them

Torque wrenches are not designed to be used for undoing bolts; even if you don't break it, it could mess with the calibration

Get yourself a 600mm breaker bar for shifting tight bolts

That.

Or even a 900mm one.

Or, better, a selection of sizes.

But get a decent one; some of the cheap ones are too flexible, which can give you clearance problems when working in a confined space, like under the car.

 

[bugsymike]

On my Iveco Daily's the rear hub nut Torque was around 650Nm, so to release them often meant a 3/4 drive breaker bar and a short length of scaffold tubing, combined with around 16 stone at the time standing on it. I am a mere shadow at 13.5 stone these days, which must go to prove fat is lighter than muscle.

 

[Yolanda]

I do agree with most of the things that have been said above. However, If it was a brand-new car you would be able to yank the hand brake on whilst the car was moving at 30/40/50 mph and the rear wheels would lock up with no detriment to the hand brake linkage. That's basically what happens when being Mot'd So the point I'm trying to make is regardless of the age of the car the braking system should be maintained to the highest e.g. brand new standard .

 

[rmjbn1]

I'd agree a handbrake cable is on its way out.

If one cable had snapped you'd have no handbrake at all.

One cable is probably frayed and stretched.

TBH 6-7 clicks is probably already too much.

They probably yanked it on at the garage and exacerbated a problem that was already there.

If you take off the handbrake lever housing you'll see a balance bar holding the two cable ends. It should be level.

If one end of the balance bar is higher with the lever pulled up, that cable needs replacing.

 

[bugsymike]

I do agree with most of the things that have been said above. However, If it was a brand-new car you would be able to yank the hand brake on whilst the car was moving at 30/40/50 mph and the rear wheels would lock up with no detriment to the hand brake linkage. That's basically what happens when being Mot'd So the point I'm trying to make is regardless of the age of the car the braking system should be maintained to the highest e.g. brand new standard .

In principle I agree, though when Mot testing cars I was watching the gauges to check the braking efficiency and once achieved there was no need to carry on pulling harder apart from ensuring there was "sufficient reserve travel" in other words the handbrake didn't reach it's stop.
People are often unaware of their own strength. Recently an ex customer of mine, also a neighbour rang me to ask if I could release her handbrake so she could back the car into her garage, I was happy to do it for her. The garage owner who lived near by had collected and returned her car as a free service and on parking pulled the handbrake on quite firmly.
In the past I loaned a Nissan Cabstar to a son in law, on return he broke the handbrake cable on parking, though it had been recently Moted and I was not aware of any weakness there, having said that whilst no one would describe me as "anorexic" he towers over me in all directions, so does his son, my 20 year old grandson.

 

[malleable]

Picked up the car from my normal mechanic today... Snapped cable! He said it was very hard to say if it was going already or was due to abuse from the tyre shop (Costco). The cable that was outside of the housing at each end looked good without any real signs of corrosion. The cable was snapped in the middle... the portion that lives properly under the car. There could have been corrosion there within the housing, but it's hard to tell. I'll be going back to the tyre shop to at least complain that they were trying to convince me that the handbrake was fine and in normal working order. Thanks for all the info and commiseration!

 

[koalar]

. Typically, the handbrake goes 6-7 clicks max before being secure. Now, the handbrake needs 13-14 clicks before holding the car in place.

Still working but higher

. The cable was snapped in the middle... the portion that lives properly under the car.

If the middle cable snaps the handbrake does nothing



I must be missing something obvious

 

[rmjbn1]

Same as mine, snapped in the middle.

It stretched first and failed MOT

They tightened it to pass

Then it snapped and no handbrake.

Just normal wear and tear. I don't think your garage damaged it.

 

[malleable]

Same as mine, snapped in the middle.

It stretched first and failed MOT

They tightened it to pass

Then it snapped and no handbrake.

Just normal wear and tear. I don't think your garage damaged it.

I think you're probably right that it was on its way out. The issue was that the tyre shop were trying to convince me that it was safe and normal! Fortunately, I know enough to have not taken their word for it.

Did you replace the cable yourself? I would have attempted the job myself, but I'm booked up the rest of the week, and my wife is going out of town with the car before I would have had the chance. The garage cost wasn't crazy, but it didn't feel good!?