Handbrake advice

moisty

moisty

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Hi all, not been on the forum much but my S3 is going strong and nearly at 170k.

Recently I've had a slight knock when applying the handbrake but didn't really worry about it. This morning rear brakes were seized on and handbrake lever was slack till just about full.

I took it to nearby kwikfit where my mate used to work and they freed off handbrake cables but said my hand brake assembly was faulty and not to use handbrake till I get it fixed.

Sorry for the rant but does this seem right and is it easy to swap over assembly and still keep S3 lever?

Any help appreciated. I've previously adjusted handbrake cables and can do minor jobs on my S3 .

Cheers

John
 
Not dine it myself but it's fairly easy to do I've watched afew vids of mk4 golf which is essentially the same platform and people do say it's straight forward.
The actual costs bowt 15-20 pounds if I'm correct
 
There's 2 possible issues, if the handbrake cables have stretched replacing them is relatively easy.

Follow the cable back from the caliper unclipping it and I removed the central exhaust bracket on my A3 for easy access.

Inside the car if you remove the ashtray at the back of the centre console you'll see where the handbrake cables attach to the handbrake lever.

2nd issue is the rear calipers siezing, some are easily serviced and new seals fitted while with others once the piston is removed it just refuse to thread back on. A new rear vented caliper can be had for around £50 so thats the easier less sweary option
 
8L S3 rear calipers handbrake mechanism is not a serviceable part, you can "get by" for a little while by applying as much lubricant from the outside. mine has been like this for a couple of years but the cable has come off twice in the last 2 months now, I have tie wrapped them together in the ash tray to stop them falling off and when the hand brake starts to feel looser (it is not returning on the caliper), I push the lever back on the caliper, I also tend to not pull the handbrake tight and opt for leaving the car in gear too.

servicing the piston will not likely help the handbrake mechanism, its on a sort of non return self adjuster spiral.

you can get replacement calipers from about £50 from ebay, although I wonder if you could fashion an additional spring somehow on the outside of the calipers to give it the help it needs to return.
 
Thanks for all the advice. One of my calipers is only a few months old and going by the kwikfit guys my other one is ok. They said my handbrake cables had seized but they had freed them and also loosened them as I had them set too tight.

I'm Thinking it is a combination of cold weather and a duff handbrake assembly but happy to be proved wrong.

Stuart I already have the VW Sharron mod that adds springs to help with return. Takes minutes to fit and wasn't expensive.
 
ahh, okay thanks - I just bought some helper springs now for mine :)
 
he didn't do anything to service the non-return issue with the handbrake spring in the mechanism though did he - unless the seal is what causes the issues? it gave me such a headache trying to turn the piston back onto the spiral when I replaced the seals on my rear calipers.
 
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