Tightening Handbrake

[messsi]

hi all,

Is there anyway of tightening the handbrake?, only temporarily until I next get my car serviced, its a ford focus 2005 mk 2 3door.

any help appreciated,

thanks John

[stef123]

adjusting it incorrectly can lead to premature wear of brake components but... there should be a screw under the handbrake gaitor(not sure about your year though)

[LiamZetec]

You should be able to adjust it yourself and make sure you are parked on a fully flat surface. Remove the handbrake gaiter and you should see a 8mm or 10mm nut, pump the brakes a few times and fully release the handbrake. With the 8/10mm spanner, fully loosen the handbrake cable nut and then raise the handbrake to around 4-5 clicks at the most and then do the nut up again until you can feel it getting tight but do not overtighten it. Test the handbrake a few times to make sure that it still fully works correctly after adjustment and then re-fit the handbrake gaiter.

That is the quick and easy route to do it. A work collegue at work told me that if you have a handbrake with rear brake shoes (basically if your car does not have rear disk brakes) then apparently it is highly recommended that you also remove both rear wheels to remove the rear brake facilities and the brake shoes may need cleaning up as these can get really dirty with brake dust and sometimes if this is not carried out and if the handbrake is adjusted without doing this job, then the handbrake may not operate properly. He has got a Merc though so I don't know if this applies to Fords.

Liam

[stef123]

as said above, to correctly adjust the handbrake with discs or drums you need to be able to spin the wheels to make sure they are not binding too tight with the brake released. i have always adjusted my own this way and never had any issues.