handbrake efficiency

[honda-hardy]

this is my procedure when i do any rear Honda brakes.
1. chock front wheels, crack off wheel nuts, jack up car and lower on axle stands, remove wheels.
2. slacken off the hand brake cable from in the car.
3. remove the 2 caliper bolts that attach the caliper to the carrier.
4, slide the caliper off the pads.
5, inspect the carrier slider pins, make sure they are moving smoothly in and out.
6, remove the pads from the carrier.
7, remove the stainless steel anti rattle pad guide plates from the carriers (top and bottom)
8, remove any rust from the pad guides and carrier recesses.
9, apply a thin layer of copper grease on the carrier recess and then refit the stainless anti rattle guides.
10 wire brush all over the old pads to clean any dust off and inspect the face of the pad for cracks, also check the bonded area where the friction material bonds to the metal, make sure its not lifting.
11, either fit new pads or re-fit the old ones, but apply a thin smear of copper grease to the edges that fit into the carrier. fit the pads in the same orientation as they are removed.
so with the sliders free to move in the carrier, the stainless anti-rattle shims clean and the pads in place you need to now focus on the caliper assembly.
12, ensure the hand brake cable end moves freely on the caliper leaver quadrant.
13, make sure the hand brake leaver on the caliper is in its fully off position, move it physically if required, to the stop position.
14, next, inspect the dust boot for splits if the piston is protruding out far enough to do so.
15, the piston can now be retracted in to the caliper, to do this you will need to rotate the piston clockwise with a rotating and squeezing motion, you really need to get a wind back tool for this job. once the piston has been fully wound in, making sure to not twist the boot, you need to rotate the piston back a quarter of a turn anti-clockwise, this brings the piston back out and relocates the internal hand brake mechanism. you need to also make sure the slot in the piston, (either 2 or 4) are in a position to allow the peg on the pad to fit into.
refit the caliper gently over the fitted pads and check to see how much movement you have. you should have no more than 2mm free movement of the caliper before the piston meets the pad.if you have more than 2mm, you need to rotate the piston out further until the 2 mm gap is achieved.
16, with the correct gap achieved, the disc rotating freely, the caliper can now be tightened back up to the carrier.
17, repeat on the other side.
18, with both calipers fully adjusted this next bit is important. pump the brake pedal lots but gently as not to rock the car off the stands. this allows the piston to move and retract many times finding its own stop point. dont touch the hand brake yet.
20, go back to the calipers and check the hand brake leavers on the calipers are still on the stops.
21, check the hand brake lever, you should have 6-10 clicks. actually sit in the car and use the correct method, as reaching in through an open window with the wrong hand is misleading.
22, operate the handbrake many times up and down. check the discs still rotate freely.
23, if its more than 10 clicks on the hand brake you need to adjust the cable by turning the nut.
keep checking each couple of turns how many clicks you have.
keep checking the disc rotates freely too.
refit road wheels torque up to spec. lower car and check the car can be rocked back and forth with no binding.

please also remember that when fitting new pads you need to allow them to "bed in". so no hard or prolonged braking. the gentle bedding in process allows the resins and bonding agents within the friction material to cure properly. over heating the pads causes these resins to over heat causing the pads to become brittle and glazed also increasing the chance of cracks in the pad surface.

please use your own judgement, this is only a guide to how i personally do honda brakes. i may have missed something.

[James H]

Mine was really bad on the car when I got it, but I just made a habit of using it to slow me down whilst out driving & where safe to do so... after a few months of doing this it is now really good & capable of locking both wheels. A tad silly maybe but it gets results ha!

[3rd gen steve]

It may depend on the equipment the tester was using. Mines is a tecalemit system that is less than 18 months old, it is the system that weighs the car at the same time so when it does the handbrake it automatically shuts of when it reaches a pass mark to stop idiots yanking on the lever untill the cable stretches or something brakes