I have a 98 Honda Civic ES 1.6 5dr hatch (european spec)

My handbrake seems to be really weak.. It must be fully up to hold the car.
and even when it is.. the car will easyly pull away at around 1500/2000 rpm.

With 4 people in the car it will roll back if stopped on a hill.

It also makes a sweeky/grinding type noise when you gentley bounce the rear with the handbrake on. With it off theres no noise

Ive given into a few garages to look at.. but they say they cant see anything wrong with them.

Ive had the brake Cable tightened.. and it improved the situation slightly.. however after a month it seems to have gone backto just as bad as before.

Is there any simple way to increase the strenght of rear calipers? change the torque settings?


Could it be the ABS loosing the breaks to stop them from locking? (i thought abs only effected the front brakes)

Any help much appricated.

 

abs should be four wheel. try tightening the star wheel at the rear drums... worth a try

 

yeah but doesnt the handbrake by pass the ABS system?


and what does this starwheel look like (im guessing star shaped)

 

Does ES have disk brakes in the rear? Disk brakes suck at being hand brakes. These symptoms are typical for disk.

 

well if you have drums in the back then you have a non-servo type o' drums. try spinning the drum. if there is absolutely no drag then you need to adjust the drums by spinning the "star". there should be a slight drag for braking purposes and for parking purposes. your shoes must be worn down.

 

They are Discbrakes.

and suck as they might.. they still should be able hold the car.


Modified by complience at 8:13 AM 11/13/2004

 

so is this problem 2 hard 2 slove?

 

does your brake fluid look lower than normal, how much is left on your rear pads? what color is your brake fluid? have your rotors ever been turned? how much is left on the rotor?

 

check the e-brake cables on both sides. make sure they're attached and that just the cable part is moving, not the whole thing.

remove the armrest and see if both cables are being pulled equally or if the bar that holds the ends is going one way or another.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by complience &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so is this problem 2 hard 2 slove?</TD></TR></TABLE>

are you questioning your aptitude or ours?

 

pads are fine.. fluid is normal.. Checked and tightened up the BreakCables.


what are rotors? its a car not a plane

 

I'm tellin you man, you cant lock up a disk brake like you do with a drum. The only thing you can do is tighten the nut under the console. The best setup is a drum E-brake system along with the normal operating disk brake. Honda took the cheap way out and made it only disk. If i'm parked on a hill, i can creak the hell out of the ebrakes. Use the ebrake along with putting the car in gear when you park and you'll be fine.

Disk brake = rotor and calipers just like your front brakes &lt;|&gt;

 

yeah i dont want to be fine.. i want to pull handbrake turns.