Handbrake doesn't hold downhill

[DeanH]

Nothing seems to go smoothly with me and spannering at the moment!

I've recently changed the pads and discs on all four corners of the car (P2 V70). Whilst I was there I thought it would be worth swapping the handbrake shoes and cables as the old ones were at full adjustment.

Put it all back together and the handbrake works great when facing uphill, but rolls downhill, even with the cable adjustment nut fully wound in. Jacked up the rears and traced it to the passenger side wheel.

Dismantled the interior again and both cables are still attached to the handle. Dismantled the passenger side shoes and the cable is still attached at that end as well.

Im now thinking I need to retrofit the adjusters so that I can set the gap manually and let what little movement I have in the mechanism take up the slack.

Unless anyone knows anything obvious that I have missed?

[Simmy]

have you used genuine volvo shoes as after market ones are a different shape check that the cables are fitted in the expanders correctly adjusters are optional some folk fit them some dont but it should work without them.

[silverfoxjw]

Hi check out ebay....Volvo S60 S80 V70 XC90 Handbrake Shoe Adjuster Fitting Kit (Both Sides) £12.95. i used these on my old V70D5 p2, they work well and you can get more control over your adjustment

Good Luck

[DeanH]

Originally Posted by Simmy

have you used genuine volvo shoes as after market ones are a different shape check that the cables are fitted in the expanders correctly adjusters are optional some folk fit them some dont but it should work without them.

No, they're Pagid shoes from Euro.

Maybe genuine pads and adjusters are the way to go...

[silverfoxjw]

Hi mine were aftermarket pads, the adjusters made them easier to fit, seemed to work well while in my ownership.

[stuart bowes]

I got mine working without the adjusters but the handle end was wound up tight and even then it was like 6 clicks to lock up

Brand new everything including cables, all correctly fitted (went over it all twice) OEM shoes but brembo discs

Fitted adjusters, now perfect half wound up at handle end and locks up on 3 clicks (2 is enough on a flat to not be able to push it)

They're so cheap is daft NOT to fit them IMO now I know having gone through all that aggro.. even if you only wind them out a tiny bit to make the brakes slightly better.. the benefit would also be giving yourself more space to adjust at the handle over time

Just take care not to wind them out too much and cause drag but its easy to check the hubs turn freely by hand with the handbrake lever down

[DeanH]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

I got mine working without the adjusters but the handle end was wound up tight and even then it was like 6 clicks to lock up

Brand new everything including cables, all correctly fitted (went over it all twice) OEM shoes but brembo discs

Fitted adjusters, now perfect half wound up at handle end and locks up on 3 clicks (2 is enough on a flat to not be able to push it)

They're so cheap is daft NOT to fit them IMO now I know having gone through all that aggro.. even if you only wind them out a tiny bit to make the brakes slightly better.. the benefit would also be giving yourself more space to adjust at the handle over time

Just take care not to wind them out too much and cause drag but its easy to check the hubs turn freely by hand with the handbrake lever down

Ordered a pair last night, will switch to genuine shoes at the same time to save myself taking it all apart again later!

[oragex]

The problem is usually the cables which are difficult to replace. These have a small rubber seal where it enters the brake hub, which cracks and lets rust inside the cable jacket: even with new shoes and handle adjusted, it would still barely hold, mine was holding only backwards on inclines which is a bad idea because it's what is causing the brake shoes to delaminate and to ruin the wheel hubs (difficult to replace)

[stuart bowes]

at the risk of teaching to suck eggs

as I said above I was adjusting the expanders right up to the point just before there was any drag (handbrake lever off and turning hub by hand, listen for any sounds of rubbing, back off one click maybe)

then, wiggling the handbrake and tightening the nut until got rid of slack.. then 3 clicks up and adjust the nut bit by bit until satisfied. all the time testing at the wheel

I was testing the strength every now and then by having two wheel nuts in the nub about halfway in (not too far!) and putting a bar across them and trying to turn it

but then obviously with the lever off again check for drag

it's a bit of back and forth but it's worth getting right once

[100K+]

I had a handbrake issue about a year back on my AWD V70. Handbrake not hold as well as it should. Bit the bullet and got two new cables, shoes and spring kit. After dismantling and reassembly I examined the two removed cables. One was approx 35mm longer than the other, and was much more difficult to pull through the outer cable than the other.
I surmised that the poor brake performance was a result of the binding cable ( the brake end as has been stated earlier was corroded due to water ingress) and I assume the swivel bar did not have enough swivel to fully apply the shoes at both sides - hence the poor performance.
Once all parts replaced the handbrake was like new (it should be and was) locking the wheels solid on 5 clicks. - no adjusters necessary.

BTW there are different cable lengths for V70 handbrakes- AWD IIRC are slightly longer, certainly different part numbers.


Cheers
Bob