Handbrake annoyance - FIXED

W

wonkydonkey

Senior member
 Somerset
Hello chaps. I'm having difficulty in getting my handbrake to operate well. Currently it is too weak to hold the car on a hill, yet with the handbrake released, it occasionally drags on the handbrake (shoes contacting the drum).

Some background:

- Handbrake used to drag occasionally when I bought the car last May. Attempted adjustments at the rear but the problem never went away.

- Replaced the discs and shoes about 500 miles ago. Problem remains.

- I've driven along a bit with the handbrake applied to try to bed it in a little.

- I've tried following the TIS to adjust it up by compressing the spring under the handbrake lever as well as adjusting at the rear of the car. The wheels were nice and free with this spring compressed, then when I released it and operated the handbrake a few times, one side was dragging a little. This gives me a bit of a squeal if I slowly rotate the wheel by hand.

- The handbrake cables are both nice and free-moving on each side at the rear.

- I removed, cleaned and greased the hinged lever arms on each side at the rear.

- The discs offered up easily by hand with the shoe adjustors wound round right in, but after a handful of operations of the handbrake lever I had one side dragging on the drum. The adjustors were still wound all the way in and the calipers were removed, meaning that the handbrake was the only thing that could be dragging.


Any bright ideas before I surrender and take the car to a garage? I would normally only resort to a garage for timing belts, wheel alignments and MOTs but this has me a bit stumped!
 
Someone once told me that you must use genuine bmw shoes if you want it to work properly, I used non genuine shoes and the handbrake on mine is not very good, maybe there is some truth to this, I’ll be using genuine parts when I redo mine see if it makes any difference.
 
So what you saying is that the handbrake is binding but but still not holding you on a hill.
I'm assuming you have identified which side isn't working properly . If it's both then you have a situation where the shoe is binding,probably an edge is binding, but the shoe as a whole is not making contact and doing it's job. Is it possible to swap the shoes over? Are they handed?
It's also possible whatever shoes you bought they just don't fit properly.
 
mr nurburgring said:
Someone once told me that you must use genuine bmw shoes if you want it to work properly, I used non genuine shoes and the handbrake on mine is not very good, maybe there is some truth to this, I’ll be using genuine parts when I redo mine see if it makes any difference.
Click to expand...
It wouldn't be the first time in history that pattern parts haven't been up to the job. Thanks, I'll bear they in mind.
 
road warrior said:
So what you saying is that the handbrake is binding but but still not holding you on a hill.
I'm assuming you have identified which side isn't working properly . If it's both then you have a situation where the shoe is binding,probably an edge is binding, but the shoe as a whole is not making contact and doing it's job. Is it possible to swap the shoes over? Are they handed?
It's also possible whatever shoes you bought they just don't fit properly.
Click to expand...
Correct. If adjustment were the problem, you'd expect EITHER a dragging handbrake that could hold the car in a hill, OR zero contact between the shoes and drum with the handbrake off but feeble hill-holding capability.

I think dragging on the sides of the shoes is what I want to investigate here. Will update with my findings :)
 
I had an E46 as a daily driver for a number of years and the handbrake never worked properly, despite trying more or less everything you’ve listed. Each year for the MOT I adjust it until it worked then I would avoid using it until it had been tested. Thereafter it would go out of adjustment within a few uses. It would just about hold the car on a hill if I pulled the lever as hard as humanly possible but had no effect with less aggressive applications.
The handbrake in my ///M works in my hands but is far less effective if applied by my pensioner father. I find it works better if the lever is rapidly cycled from horizontal to fully up two or three times in quick succession with the button pressed, before then applying the handbrake. I’ve taken to leaving mine in gear with the handbrake off and the wheels chocked when parked in my garage and the handbrake seems to be more effective the rest of the time as a result.
 
I took the rear discs off mine and found the inner drum face was really rusty and cleaned the surface back up and also emery clothed the shoes. I re-adjusted until it 'just' touched the drums, with the view they would bed in on driving. I also used to ( much to the cars beepy annoyance) pull the hand brake on while driving to try and bed the pads against the drums. They dont get used at all other than for the handbrake , so hoped the bedding would level the surfaces together to give grip. The lever was great and about 4 to 5 clicks. Well the squealing didnt go and every time I pushed the car out the garage, the squeal would start, so I backed the adjuster until it 'just' stopped catching and the handbrake does work but at about 7 ish clicks now . Don't really trust it , if I am honest and leave in gear usually on a slope.
As for aftermarket shoes. They may need bedding in to get them to grip. They are just a brake material after all. The handbrake is an issue with these cars and potentially caused by not bedding shoes against the drum as not used like a most cars handbrake which actuates the rear disc pads , which are used from normal braking and so are well and truly bedded in.
 
[ref]BMWZ4MC[/ref] and [ref]Thrustyjust[/ref] your experiences and efforts sound just the same as mine! Many adjustments in all available ways without really finding a satisfactory result. It seems to be a common theme with BMWs but as I'm looking to sell the car I'm keen to get it right. I'll take it all apart again today to see what I can find. Thanks for your replies.
 
Fixed

Just to wrap this up (albeit slightly inconclusively), my handbrake now feels good to operate via the handbrake lever and also it works well at the wheels. I did a few things today so can't say which action cured the issue (not my preferred modus operandae), but I'll list them below:

1. Removed the shoes from the right hand side (most problematic side) and filed a chamfer into all external edges of the braking material (thanks to Ewazix for that suggestion).

2. While filing, I noticed bits of adhesive (used to stick the friction material to the shoe itself) had oozed out slightly, overhanging the edges of the shoe. So I filed these off too.

3. While doing THAT, I saw that the friction material hadn't been glued in 100% parallel to the backing plate, resulting in approx. 0.5 mm overhang. So I filed these off too.

4. Refitting the shoes and disc, I spun the disc/hub assembly and noticed some dragging over about a 10 degree arc of the rotation. I decided it was the dust shield. Remove disc again and filed the inner edge of the disc where it could contact the dust shield. When I refitted the disc I also made sure that the dust shield was pushed away from the disc a little. Now it was sweet as a nut.

5. I gave the left hand side most of the same treatment and both sides adjusted up really nicely afterwards. Free running with the handbrake off, fully locked at 4 clicks (as I recall) with capacity for two or three more clicks beyond. No more dragging or creaking, and a good consistent feel on the lever. Hurrah!
 
Awesome stuff. I need to stop the squeak from when it rocks , so have to strip back down again and double check it , but glad it works fine. Mine does lock the wheels but you need that last ' its not going to make it' click up.
 
Thrustyjust said:
Awesome stuff. I need to stop the squeak from when it rocks , so have to strip back down again and double check it , but glad it works fine. Mine does lock the wheels but you need that last ' its not going to make it' click up.
Click to expand...
The design leaves scope for quite a bit of wheel rotation with the handbrake applied. This forces the shoes (which are clamped to the dust shield by the quarter-turn sprung pins) to drag across the dust shield. Dust shields, being thin and quite big, make a really good amplifier for this dragging screech, so I don't think you'll get rid of it unless you make some modifications.
 
My neighbour has tinkered with various cars over the years including BMW's and says a very thin ( and he means thin) bit of coppa slip slid between the shoe and the back plate using a feeler gauge works a treat. Told me 'after' I had re-assembled :roll:
 
Thrustyjust said:
My neighbour has tinkered with various cars over the years including BMW's and says a very thin ( and he means thin) bit of coppa slip slid between the shoe and the back plate using a feeler gauge works a treat. Told me 'after' I had re-assembled :roll:
Click to expand...
I was tempted to try that but couldn't see it making a huge difference and didn't really fancy having grease just there. Perhaps your neighbour's tip is the winning ticket though!
 
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