Volvo S60 Handbrake problem

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Mon 6 Feb 2006 11:42
Volvo S60 Handbrake problem - spg
I have a Volvo S60 and during the cool spell a couple of weeks ago my handbrake locked on overnight. My drive is on a slight incline. When I went to move the car I had to gently rock the car forwards and backwards (using the engine) and the brakes became free with a load "smack" type noise.
Took the car into my local dealership and they changed the disc's and shoes on the rear. Volvo refused the garages request to assist my cost from warrenty.

Up until this the hand brake was very efficient, after the replacement it was spongy, and a week later after it's 24000 mile service where they stripped out, cleaned and adjusted backplate on O/S/R it is now a little better.

My questions are:
1) could I have warpped the disc's by rocking the car as I did
2) did the garage see an opportunity to make money with doing more than was needed
3) if the garage are honest, what is my next step to recover the cost of the work from Volvo UK.

ta

Steve.
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Mon 6 Feb 2006 15:25
Volvo S60 Handbrake problem - Audikid

I've also had this happen on my S60. Its either used for an intergalatic commute or tends to sit for a couple of weeks at a time on my London street. The car is an auto and I usually just leave the car in 'P' with the brake off. Never find the handbrake that effective until its up on its highest ratchet. Anyway after sitting for nearly 3 weeks I went to use the car and the handbrake was on (maybe Mrs AK was last to use it :-/). It was below freezing and I found the brakes stuck on and after some gentle rocking they released, like yours with a load smack noise.

For a few miles I found the rear brakes noisey and lumpy. Once the car was warm I did some hard, repetitive breaking and since then they have been fine. Car done about 18k and on original pads and disks. I just assumed that I'd left some pad on the disk and the severe braking cleaned off the disks and pads.

Now don't use the handbrake !!
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Mon 6 Feb 2006 17:29
Volvo S60 Handbrake problem - SjB {P}
Likewise.

I work from home when in the UK, but once a month or so drive to an airport to fly abroad. My V70 can consequently sit either in the garage at home or at an airport for a few weeks at a time. Having had the handbrake stick on tight a number of times I now leave it off in the home garage and at airports.

The final trigger for doing this was whacking the garage wall hard with the front bumper whilst building up enough rocking motion to free the stuck handbrake. At home My V70 is parked nose-in to the garage, about 1" from the wall to fit it in. A tennis ball hanging from the ceiling tells me when to stop, and a strip of the wall is rubber lined as a precaution. When the handbrake freed it did so with a BANG, BANG from each side of the car a fraction of a second apart.

It is worth noting though that these cars have a separate handbrake drum inside the rear wheel hub; the disc brakes are not used as a handbrake. The lumpiness felt on braking after a period of being parked up is indeed the disc brake pads brushing off corrosion on the discs but it will happen even if the handbrake was not used. Not using the handbrake just makes the brakes being stuck on hard less likely; any sticking will just be handbrake shoes and disc brake pads, lightly, from gently resting on their corresponding braking surfaces.

As an aside, the way the handbrake mechanism works is the reason why the car rolls backwards/forwards a short distance when the handbrake is applied and footbrake released on an incline.
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