Just had my MOT taken again after failing one a month ago - car's been off the road since then.

I have full refurbished the rear calipers and fitted new cables (non-OE) and it still failed the handbrake test. Aaaaaaarrrrggggghhhhhh. What more can I do?

How much is that rear brake upgrade kit again?

Could you maybe not rig the brakes up so that they bind a little for the test and then when they pull them up they should pass?
What exactly are they failing for??

Or maybe how about something that pulls from the brake cable to valve in the braking system to just lock the rear wheels solid with the brake pressure? im sure this is done on MGBs and stuff for hill climbing and time attack courses?

They're failing for being inefficient at braking ie. not braking hard enough.

I suppose I could make a hole in the floor of the boot, get someone to hide in there and get them to shove a broom handle through the alloy wheels when they put the handbrake on.

I just don't see how they can fail when they are, in essence, as new.

If they're new disks and pads they may need bedding in Skins. Try a few short journeys with the handbrake on.

Make sure there's plenty of play in the cable, or the adjusters won't... new pads and disks sorted mine, though I'd changed the calipers and cables as well. Don't tighten them, though, or they'll bind and polish.

Neil

How far is the station from your house?
Try roughing the surface a little with some sandpaper on both pads and discs??

Try taking it to a more 'sympathetic' MOT station

Why not bung him a score and say just pass the sodding thing I never use the handbrake anyway as its cr4p, this may be what Theresa is saying, but I like to get to the point

Tell them that its not a massey ferguson its a coupe fiat and the handbrakes arent meant to hold it and a 10tonne trailer as well... ooooooo arrrrrr lol

non-OE cables are turd.

however, they should still work for 6 months, but they seem to need more adjustment than OE cables.

is your handbrake lever hard to pull up? that is a common sign of cables that are dry and partially seized.

Skins, try lubricating the cable by pouring some oil down the sleeve. Then fit new pads (just for the MOT if you like) or roughen up the old pads (wire brush) and put copper grease to make sure whatever should move, does move. Adjust the cable so that it takes 3 or 4 clicks before it grips tightly, but make sure it's not binding when released. Go out and "exercise" the handbrake as much as you can. An old trick I think that worked on old 124 Sport models was to reverse at a rate of knots and slam on the anchors to encourage the mechanism to operate properly, but I dunno if it works for the Coupe, and not sure I'd recommend it anyway.

Mine failed twice on borderline handbrake, I think the MOT place got fed up with me coming back, it was clear I wasn't going to pay them a bean for doing any work... First time I didn't adjust it enough, second time I adjusted it a lot more and cleaned up the rear pads, third time I fitted new pads after they suggested the old pads were glazed, they looked fine to me, but for £20 it did the job, phew!

Hiy Skins, take the MOT guy out for a spin and do a couple of handbreak turns.... that'll get it passed for sure

Sorry didn't mean to kill your thread dead skins...........

They're new disks and pads (Textar pads and 20 groove 3G disks). The trouble is, as my MOT ran out a month ago I'm only insured to and from a booked MOT test so I can't properly bed them in (and no: I'm not prepared to drive uninsured). I'll try the oil down the cables trick and grease up the edges of the pads. I'll also rough up the disks & pads a bit. It passed on the rear brakes so it must be to do with the cables I suppose. I might treat myself to some OE ones - I'll ring Steve tomorrow.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Oh the other thing that really wound me up was the switches for the rear fog light I have just fixed and araldited back onto the consol. Well the hazard LED behind the switch doesn't work and is an MOT fail so I'll have to dismantle the consol for the twenty-fifth time. Bugger.

If it doesn't pass the retest I'm just going to torch the damn thing - really fed up with it now.

Drive to the test centre with the handbrake on a little, as it would do in winter when teh cables freeze is the thing i would reccomend from teh above lot as with teh 3g 20grove discs it will deglaze the pads a fair bit

I really want to buy the rear brake upgrade but it seems like a complete rip off for what you get.

Try another MOT station, my car passed despite the handbrake being so bad I have to leave it in gear when parked on a slope.

Next time you go, ask if you can pull the handbrake on yourself, and then really wrench it on. Most of the time they only pull it on gently! Oo er!

He said he couldn't tell if it had failed until he fed all the info through the computer - it was one of these new computerised jobs. Is this true or was he taking me for a ride ?

No that's true. When mine went the other wek he said fingers crossed, that handbrakes going to be close. Then he came back and said i'd just made it. Right on the limit.

Mine was right on the limit (By 1%!) with new pads on last time. Just make sure they wrench it on!