Thanks for the interesting video, John. It looks like you are a great mechanic as you know what to do and how to do it. I would be total lost without a service manual! Thanks again! Regards, Dave
Brilliant video - clear, no nonsense and well-explained at the same time. Many thanks for this - my car only failed MOT on nearside handbrake efficiency, so need to do this job. Much more confident now, compared to just reading factory manual!!!
remember saabs john with the hand brake on the front they worked on a similar principle but were buggers for seizing up and the tool to adjust them was either two pin type or the flat bar i had fun with them in the past lol excellent video john glad to see one doing automotive repairs
Superb video John, lightening quick no nonsense mechanic. Top tips. I need to do this on the wife's polo. A friend who's a VW mechanic says buy a new caliper. Having watched this he is clearly wrong. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Saved me some coin.
Thanks for posting this John, got a sticky handbrake on my old T4. I think I missed the step where you use the footbrake first after resetting everything. I'll do it again following this informative video. Cheers, Steve/Screwdriver
hats of to you mate..! i have my vw 3 times to garafge for fixing the handbrake and it still broken . i may have to send my car to uk to get this fixed
Good video John, You're the only person I've ever seen, as fast, or faster, with a wrench than my Brother! You're greased lightening! Very informative, thanks... :o) O,
Great video and very well explained providing clear and practical instructions. The method of setting up of the parking brake adjustment you have also included, many othes dont share this information. Well done and thanks.
Thanks John. I think you helped me figure out why my inside rear caliper was dragging and wearing faster then the outside. The guide pins were free, but I did notice that the piston was retracting a bit harder. You did say to squirt some brake fluid behind the plate and the boot? I tried some oil on the cable linkage at the caliper, but it didn't help much.
@@doubleboost So for moving parts with seals in general don't use oil? Is it because brake fluid won't soak into seals/rubber? (why is that?) Good video. Great that you fixed the caliper instead of just replacing it
great video. I've got a similar problem on my 03 accord. Sometimes the handbrake activates the rear left calliper, sometimes it doesn't...?!.... I'll try freeing up the piston like you showed.
Hi John excellent video. Did l understand you to say to release the handbrake fully then step on the brake pedal and while holding the brake down pull up on the handbrake? Thx peter
I have the same brakes on my Passat. Lately changed a caliper on drivers side as the lever was always to high at rest.With new caliper its exactly the same though. Lever travels further and rests further from the stop than the other side.Any idea on the course of action please? The cable doesn't seem to return all the way like the near side does either.
The piston needs to bite into the pad backplate for the adjustment mechnaism to work , ( see the radial ridges on the piston) plus the copper grease can damage the rubber boot , so don't use grease on the inboard pad /piston.
I did just that a few days ago on mine (mk4 golf estate) but the handbrake lever on the caliper still wouldn't go back to the rest that good, all I could do was spray between the linkage and body but still didn't work right guy I use said the caliper's gubbed.
hi nice repair. I'm having the same problem with an audi a4 with the exact same set up your not from anywhere near hartlepool by any chance?. car has recent pads and discs but when hand brake applied os doesn't release. need help please.
+supersesqui You never put anti-seize between any hub-disc mounting surface unless you want your wheel bolts to come loose. Wheel-disc-hub interface relies on friction and clamping force of bolts to keep it all tight. Putting in ant seize will remove that friction and metal to metal contact.
+supersesqui Oh the irony in that comment.Do you understand 'irony'?Why would you apply a fucking lubricant between a hub face and a disc FFS??You obviously don't understand friction between to mating surfaces that must not have any lubricant between them, its not fucking rocket science.Do you put grease between a wheel and a hub? NO.Why is a hub and a disc any different? For your benefit, here is the meaning of friction-""Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: Dry friction resists relative lateral motion of two solid surfaces in contact.""Notice that last sentence. Dick head.
+formidable38 Why put lubricant between a hub face and a disc? So it will come off easily during disassembly. Do you put grease between a wheel and hub? Yes. Why? Same reason. If you're relying on the rust that forms between the surfaces to hold the part on, you're not tightening the lug nuts enough which by the way, receive a healthy dose of anti-sieze as well. Never lost a wheel and/or a disc. When I purchased my first Jetta, I couldn't get the wheels off. I tried kicking the tires and they wouldn't budge. I finally resorted to a sledge hammer on the inside rim. Still wouldn't come off. I finally hit it so hard with the hammer, I thought I was going to crack the rim, but it came off. Imagine trying to fix a flat on the side of the road with all of the jack tools, but no sledge hammer. Impossible, unless someone had the forsight to put some anti-sieze betwen the wheel and the hub. Not sure where you're from +formidable38, but I live in Minnesota. Lots of salt leads to lots of corrosion as well as rust. Perhaps you don't have that problem. I can fix cars I've worked on in the past in half (or less) the time it takes to fix a car where the parts are all rusted together. And by the way, the retaining screw should definitely receive a dose of anti-sieze. If not, it can easily break off in the hub and you'll spend hours trying to remove what's left of it.
Frank Howard You are correct. Formidable38 is an imbecile....and an arrogant ignorant one to boot. He does not know the diff between "anti sieze" and grease. He thinks wheels and hubs are held on by FRICTION !....pmsl...not the 4 or 5 bolts that are torqued up to 112 Nm.(approx) He plays with toy train sets...which is where he gets his engineering info from. Total arsehole.
John, thanks for taking some of the mystery out of brake jobs as well as how to prevent future problems. I've heard before that you need to remove some brake fluid before retracting pistons, to make room in the reservoir for the displaced fluid...did that just not make it onto the video, or is it not necessary in this case? Thanks! -- Mike
Don't forget to check/remove some of the brake fluid in the master cylinder before retracting the piston in the cylinder so it doesn't overflow. Brake fluid on the paintwork = paint blistering!!
i did the same thing on my car. however since then my handbrake has not worked. it's just that the pistons as I twisted them to install the new brake pads no longer come out enough. cable and levers on calipers pulled max 🤷
Hi, on my 2002 volkswagen passat fwd 1.8t I had a leaking driver side rear caliper It was leaking from the handbrake bolt that we can see I replace it with a use one that was in very good shape and now it start to leak again from the exact same spot do you have any idea how to solve this problem thanks.
Changed wheel bearing, disc, caliper,break hose, break pads and still the wheel is too tight. After few miles of driving, wheel is hot. Disc is burning hot. Is it something to do with hand break?
I was going to use WD40 spray to spray the bleed nipple to make it easier to undo. The problem is it is difficult to control the spray, and a small amount of the spray MAY end up on some rubber parts. Do you have any advice for that please?
How do you 'wind the cylinder out'? I realise you use the tool to push it in, but do you wind it out with the tool, or depress the brake pedal, or? If you do use the brake pedal, do you do it with the engine on or off? Thanks! Great video :)
Piston needs to come out and cleaned, new rubber seals, especially on handbrake lever. Or buy reconditioned TRW off eBay for £30 with 5 year guarantee.
why weren't the cables equal in the beginning? what was making the cables unequal at the start? I don't understand how you got the cables to be equal? by just changing the discs and pads?
I have a VW golf 4 1.6. The handbrake doesn't work at all, after replacement of rear break pads and disks. I pushed the caliper piston all the way back. The breaks work fine now, but the handbreak is complitly non-functional. I tightened also the handbrake cables. Any idea what can be wrong?
Interesting to see you not copper slipping the disc retaining bolt? I've had such problems getting those b*****ds off that I now just leave them loose.
Mike Wood, why do you need loctite on it? it's only function is preventing the disc from falling off when you remove the wheel. the wheel studs and wheel/bolts are what is holding the disc in place.
Dude you need to remove the brake reservoir cap and possible remove some fluid before compressing the piston. Of course you had trouble compressing the piston in the video the fluid had nowhere to go!! You are a bit careless and sloppy in this project in my opinion. Would not use a torch either on sensitive brake components.
how's the brake dust working on your lungs oltimer? Not paying too much attention to all the details that is the reason i don't give my cars to fix for other people for years...
+doubleboost i just done it today and i have never ever made a video or putting anything on youtube not that kind a sharing guy i guess. This is just a basic work on brakes like i said. I am more of a guide for people to realise where to go from here or just end on one guide this is how i kill my free time occasionally.
Al usar calor están dañando las partes móviles y pierden su firmeza, es una muy mala práctica, de igual manera los golpes que recibió el caliper con mazo al sacar el disco afectan de gran manera el rodamiento, y usar un disco "universal" para un VW es una pésima idea, buen ejemplo, pero muy mal ejecutado, pésimo.
