Handbrake horror story (almost)

H

Hobalnds

Member
 Mid Sussex
Just thought I'd share with you what could have been a disaster yesterday.

I had driven down to our local pub / restaurant to pay the deposit for our company Christmas bash. It was about 5.30 and dark, I parked in a space on the far side of the car park opposite the entrance (leading on to a main road), the car park has a very gradual downwards slant from where I parked to the entrance side. I applied the hand brake, got out of the car, pressed the lock button on the key and headed for the pub door - I had got about half way when I heard a 'clonk' coming from behind me, turned around and to my horror the zed was rolling across the car park towards the main road entrance. Mad panic... ran to the drivers side door - locked... mad fumble in pocket to find key... unlocked door and got in and stopped with inches to spare.

Will be getting the car in to a garage next week. This is the first time this has happened although twice since owning the vehicle the hand brake has jumped off of the top of the ratchet when pulling on but always locked back on easily. Going to always park in gear from now on regardless of gradient. Anyone else had anything like this happen?

Paul
 
I always check the handbrake is latched now, it's done it once to me, it releases with a fair thud!
I always park in gear anyway so should go too far I'd hope
 
Handbrakes seem to be a common problem on z4's. It's seriously shoddy by bmw.

Mine also does that thud sometimes when applying the handbrake. Feels as if something has broken.
 
This has also happened to me as well, I have experienced the tud when applying the handbreak. Now leave the zed in gear when parking up just to be on the safe side.
 
Glad you got away without damage.

You cannot rely on a handbrake holding a parked car. From failing to fully engage it, brakes cooling down and releasing, wet pads drying, etc. etc it's really common for them to release when left parked up.

Without exception the car should be in gear, the opposite to the direction of incline and to be safe on steeeper hills the wheels turned.

As a separate issue parked cars with hanbrakes on can easily freeze overnight and not release.

Frankly I never even apply the handbrake on any car these days relyting solely on gears when parked up on level ground.
 
Used to get this all the time on my brand new Alfa 156 and all through its time with me. Have to say I'm a big, big fan of electronic brakes which I've had on my last 2 co cars. You can hear that they have engaged and if you dont "hear" them then you know you didn't push the button. As for the Z (2008) I've not had the problem but forewarned is forearmed.............
 
BRC said:
Used to get this all the time on my brand new Alfa 156 and all through its time with me. Have to say I'm a big, big fan of electronic brakes which I've had on my last 2 co cars. You can hear that they have engaged and if you dont "hear" them then you know you didn't push the button. As for the Z (2008) I've not had the problem but forewarned is forearmed.............
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by 'hear them engaged' I have one on my Jag XF and you can hear the motor wind it on. Doesn't mean it won't slip after a few minutes.

Funny enough I hate the electronic brake on the XF as do many owners as one feature is that you leave the car in D and when ready just drive off and it auto releases. It does indeed, but you need new rear pads every 5,000 miles if used, so most now hold it on the footbrake and manually release the e brake.
 
Put it in gear.

Problem solved.

Even my gran knows you cannot trust the handbrake and she is 85.
 
Check your hand brake ratchet doesn't need replacing as well, can also cause hand brake to fail.



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cj10jeeper said:
Without exception the car should be in gear, the opposite to the direction of incline
Click to expand...
Opposite? Because the engine should be harder to turn in its reverse rotation? I don't think that's the case. It's been a while since I've rotated an engine both ways by hand, but that's my recollection. Granted, the plugs were out and compression is the largest reason for resistance, but except for a slight variance in valve timing from TDC, it shouldn't vary much one way or the other.

I would normally say it's better to be in the lowest gear than worry about which direction the car will roll. In most cars, this is reverse, but in the ZF and Getrag 6 speeds 1st is actually the lowest, though not by much. Kind of negates my usual argument for gear over direction. Anyway, as long as it's in a low gear, I don't think it's worth worrying which direction it'll roll. It certainly doesn't hurt if if you choose to, and any gear is far better than neutral!

FWIW, I also don't bother with the handbrake unless on a reasonable incline, mainly because I don't want it to become a habit. Handbrakes can freeze up faster than overnight in my climate, and I don't want to become stuck somewhere in frigid weather because I habitually set the brake when there was no reason to.
 
Happened to me a few moons ago...but mine hit a wall and cost me a few quid! :(

Had new bumper and a bloody expensive headlight! Was gutted! Always leave in gear now... Had the handbrake checked ... No issues!

a4evuhup.jpg

be8usuqa.jpg



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Handbrake in the zed is rubbish. My 3 series was the same. My zed's handbrake won't hold the car on anything but the mildest incline.

Strangely, my other half's Clio has a much better handbrake. Holds the car solid, no issues.


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Terryvision said:
Happened to me a few moons ago...but mine hit a wall and cost me a few quid! :(

Had new bumper and a bloody expensive headlight! Was gutted! Always leave in gear now... Had the handbrake checked ... No issues!

a4evuhup.jpg

be8usuqa.jpg



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Click to expand...
:cry:
 
bcworkz said:
cj10jeeper said:
Without exception the car should be in gear, the opposite to the direction of incline
Click to expand...
Opposite? Because the engine should be harder to turn in its reverse rotation? I don't think that's the case. It's been a while since I've rotated an engine both ways by hand, but that's my recollection. Granted, the plugs were out and compression is the largest reason for resistance, but except for a slight variance in valve timing from TDC, it shouldn't vary much one way or the other.

I would normally say it's better to be in the lowest gear than worry about which direction the car will roll. In most cars, this is reverse, but in the ZF and Getrag 6 speeds 1st is actually the lowest, though not by much. Kind of negates my usual argument for gear over direction. Anyway, as long as it's in a low gear, I don't think it's worth worrying which direction it'll roll. It certainly doesn't hurt if if you choose to, and any gear is far better than neutral!
Click to expand...

Engines with plug in won't rotate well backwards at all.

Somewhat semantics as I totally agree any gear is better than none.

I was always taught the following for parking on steep hills:

Downhill put it in reverse. Turn the wheels towards the kerbside.

Uphill put it in bottom/1st. With a kerb present turn the wheel away so it would roll against the the kerb. If no kerb, turn towards the wheels towards the edge, so the vehicle would steer into the side/wall, hedge, etc.

Worse case is of course out of gear wheels dead ahead. You can get some cracking good accidents doing that :thumbsdown:
 
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