Handbrakes

[AAH!]

Having read Pete RS2's post in the "how many rs2 owners do we have here?" thread and the following couple of responces on handbrakes and also as my MOT is coming up soon and the handbrake will needless to say need adjusting, I thought a "Handbrake" thread might throw up a few tried and tested fixes even if they are comparitivley short lived.

The only thing I can offer up is that I seem to remember something about tightening up the handbrake on the calliper rather than via the handbrake cable, but I can't remember the exact details or procedure.

All the best...Angus


PS I dug up this handbrake fix (?) on the yahoo rs2 list, courtesy of Jani and before that Joern.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/RS2 ... ssage/2073

"I had the decribed operation (SEE BELOW) done to mine about 11 months ago. Surprisingly for me, it did come good, and has stayed that way, through one winter even. The key is drilling the dirt removing vane.

The power isn't good, I can't lock wheels on tarmac, but it holds the car stationary on small slopes, and passes MOT. Getting a powerful hand brake with RS2's parts is unlikely I was told, the design is such that getting force through is impossible.

One more tip: if you are having the rears done, book one extra day, and have the old hand brake shoes recoated -you'll save about 100€.

Regards, Jani "

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http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/RS2 ... ssage/1035

From: jani.peltopuro@p...
Date: Wed Nov 6, 2002 2:50 pm
Subject: FW: instructions to make the ebrake work...

Hi,

as some of you may also have trouble with the handbrake / ebrake of the RS2, thought I'd share this advice, how to make the RS2 ebrake functional, and what needs attention for it to work properly. I got the advice from Joern Amundsen (current owner of the UrS4 MTM RS, pics of the monster in www.audituning.com), after I had complained on the s-car list how crappy the RS2 handbrake is. According to him it can be made better than normal Audi handbrake, haven't yet tried it.

Thanks to Joern!

Regards,
Jani


Hello Jani!
I assume you have used rear rotors on your RS2, and what you have to do is the following:

1) Have a good brakerepair shop machine the surface of the rotor where the e-brake shoes contact(the 180mm OD inner ring)

2) Since this will give you a different diameter you also have to grind off
the e-brake shoes in a special grinder to get the EXACT same radius as
the machined rotor. Any good brake shop should have this machine. This is the critical part since you ned contactarea on the whole shoe(four of them)

3) Grind a 3mm slot on the calipercarrier pointing from the rotor
center and directly to the ground. The slot is on the area where the shoes slide, meaning that when you have it all installed exept the rotors, you can see the idea. Any water,sludge etc can evacuate from the area. Can you figure that?

4) When installing the pads on the carrier plate, make sure you grease
the expandinglever and the cable hook up (the 6 mm pin). With the shoes
resting at the top on the "holding lip"(you might end up slacking the wires to accomodate this), adjust the bottom of the shoes so you can barely turn the rotor by hand. It might require the rotors to get off several times before you get it right.

5) Then adjust the wires if neccesary.

Best reg Joern

[Jani]

Hi,

I do recognise those posts

I actually got the RS2 handbrake even better before selling it in the spring. It would even lock rears on gravel and ice, and hold the car on decent slopes.

When you decide to fix it, get some new brake shoes (Porsche OEM items a lot cheaper than Audi), also while you are at it, renew the springs as well, they don't cost a lot at Porsche dealership.

Then remove the rear discs. Clean the interior side of the discs from rust -with a Dremel or similar. This is the surface that shoes touch, if it is rusty there is no friction. See the posts above wrt to the cleaning vane.

Install the new shoes and springs, center the shoes to wheel. Re-install the rear disc. If it goes to place easily, take it off again, adjust the screw that controls the handbrake shoes so that they move closer to the disc. Repeat procedure until the rear disc just goes to place. You may also need to tighten the cables, but most important it that shoes are very close to the disc.

This way the shoes are almost in touch with the disc all the time, and are more effective when you use the handbrake. If they are far away, the surface that touches disc diminishes -poor braking force.

Also occasionally (once a week) clean the insides of the discs by braking with handbrake at speed, for some 100m or so to keep them in shape.

[alastairg]

Agree with jani about keeping handbrake working by pulling on for short distances. Need to be careful not to overdo it. Mine after adjustment/applying whilst moving holds OK on modest slopes.
Actually at its best in cold conditions. In warm weather or after heavy braking worse. I guess due to metal expansion increasing distance from shoes to inner drum???????

[Pete_RS2]

Thanks for the advice.

Which Porsche model uses the same parts ? Does anybody have the Porsche part numbers for the handbrake shoes & spring kit ?

[Jani]

Most Porkers use the same. I ordered mine from here: http://www.type-911.co.uk/gp_brakes.htm -looked like these ones

I think 968 rear ones fit. See the site for some tips on handbrake adjustment as well.

[Pete_RS2]

Well this is what was wrong with my brakes which I assumed were binding after sitting around for 8 months. They weren't binding after all. The noise was coming from these which were loose inside the handbrake drum part of the disc. They had rusted & come adrift of the backing plate. My mechanic spoke to Kim Collins & he said this is common and he sometimes just leaves them off rather than replace new backing plates @ £90 each.

The handbrake shoe retaining springs were also loose & rattling around inside there. So it's only cost me £10 in the end for the shoe springs. The discs, pads & shoes had only just been renewed.

Does anybody know what these bits are supposed to do though ? The handbrake does work OKish without them.

[Pete_RS2]

My MOT is coming up soon so I need to make the handbrake as good as possible. Where exactly do you grind that slot/vane ?

And I guess item 4 in the first pic is the adjustment Jani is referring to before you adjust the cables ?

[VaudiGR]

Hello,
i was wondering if something like this could be conceived and used as a handbrake in the rs2 disregarding completely the original e-brakes and adjusting the cables to this brake caliper instead.
do you think it can be done and be easier than janis method?