handbrake is becoming a problem

[Rmachines]

Hi,  I have a problem..  My hand brake does not work at all, unless i pull it realy realy hard and even then it will still roll.

Today i parked the car and when i came back it was in a diffrent place    I have changed the rear disks and pads ... and ensured the cable was free but it just wont work!!  I wound the pistons back in, they were a little tight but went in ok. 

Any idea what the problem could be here?

cheers.

[Pete Taylor]

take out the rear astray and remove the two screws/plastic nuts underneath. Pull the handbrake surround trim off over the top of the handbrake. You'll see the two rear cables coming from the handbrake with two nuts on each end, adjust the cables from there. Make sure the bar across where the cables sit into is equal and level.

[Rmachines]

Hi i will give that a go cheers.

The only thing is the hand brake lever feels fine.. i can get  clicks if i force it so its doing its job, i think it might be the calipers or something.

I will adjust it though! probably something simple like that  I hope 

[Pete Taylor]

Worth adjusting first to see if it's just from cable slack or worn rear pads. As you said, it could possibly be seized pistons on the rear calipers which isn't uncommon. I've had to replace a caliper on mine

[Len]

Pete he said he had replaced the pads!

Sounds more like a caliper problem to me!
You say you "wound" them back in when changing pads/discs, was that with the proper tool?

[Rmachines]

Yea i used a proper tool,  It was a bit tight to get in!

After taking it for a spin the read disks were getting hot! so they are doing something, I will adjust the hand brake cable tomorrow and see how it goes.

[DerSubtileVento]

I know in my car I have a similar problem with the ebrake (won't hold the car in place even when fully pulled), but my problem is that one of the cables is shot. I'm going to replace both cables and then readjust the tension which should solve my problem.

Looking under the center console will be a good place to start diagnosing, as mentioned by Pete Taylor.

[Rmachines]

yea both cables are ok and its pulling both calipers! 

Im wondering if the old brakes were knackerd and the calipers are tight..  Adding new disks and pads didnt help as they need to bed in a bit and doesnt get used enough to bed in, especialy with dight caliper pistons... because today it did hold quite a bit better!  Although not nearly good enough to park in a hill