Handbrake Woes!

[Balistaff]

Use Genuine Volvo Shoes and Prob Pads too.

I just wanted to echo what others have said and advise using genuine Volvo Shoes for the handbrake/e-brake.

A couple of years ago I replaced the shoes on my v70 2003 SE, using after-market shoes and then it failed the MOT. I thought it was due to the age of the car and perhaps the handbrake cable, so I had fun & games replacing the handbrake cable, again no dice. So I replaced the shoes with Volvo shoes and hey presto, sailed through the MOTs since.

[olliecampbell]

I heeded the forums advice and I was lucky.....thought I would document it here further...


I also had a real fight fitting the new pads and ended up taking a file to the recesses on the back of the pads where the handbrake expander and H-spacer slot into. Without grinding these sections back the discs wouldn't go over the new pads.....and yes, they were genuine Volvo parts!

This is what happened as I was removing my old pads:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=152393&d=1704581252

[DieselDoNicely]

Afternoon all,

When driving back from a shopping trip today there was a sudden clunk from the rear of the car, i knew it was something to do with the rear brakes straight away. Got home and took the rear wheel off and there were bits of metal at the bottom of the disc guard. Started to lose light at that point, so though I'd go and re-attach the top of my Knuckle!!! Anyway, are the '05 plate V70's on shoes or could this be a pad that has decided to disintergrate?

Help would be much appreciated

Neil

Yes happened to me, the handbrake shoes delaminated. I got a new hub assembly from a scrap yard. At the time they were hard to get as it was a common fault. The handbrake shoes didnt appear to be a service item so stayed in place until this happened. If I remember a new hub could be £1000 and that was ten years ago. Use Volvo shoes as they fit. The cable is another failure point and cause the shoes to bind.

[volvosam]

To share my experience with the rear brakes on a 2002 V70 D5.
The handbrake shoes and fittings had already been replaced before I got the car - Delphi parts.
I fitted new Febi calipers and genuine discs and pads. The handbrake would not hold the car when it was put into D but would hold it if in R.
I figured that only the rear part of the shoe was making contact with the drum - so fitted the adjusters. Slackened off the cable in the car, wound the adjusters up on the shoes until the drums locked then backed off three clicks. Hey presto the handbrake now works great. Not sure how these cars would ever work without the adjusters in place.

Re the fiddly springs holding the shoes to the backplate - they are actually pretty easy to fit and remove if you pay attention to the orientation of the hook on the rear and how it fits into the horizontal slot on the backing plate. The horizontal piece on the outside end of the spring is 180 degrees from the hook on the rear - so you always know which way the hook is pointing even when it is behind the shoe - and it needs to be pushed in and then slid horizontally towards the front of the car - not twisted through 90 degrees like traditional holding down springs. It actually becomes quite quick and easy.

[john493]

All you really needed was genuine Volvo handbrake shoes.
The adjusters just get in the way of the shoe springs and are not needed.
However, if you've got a good handbrake, that's ok I guess.

[volvosam]

I had seen that advice on here and had actually ordered a set of genuine shoes but thought I would give it a go with the adjusters - and they have solved the problem with the Delphi shoes. I have looked at the genuine shoes - they appear to have a bit more of a chamfer to the leading and trailing edges of the braking surface - maybe that enables them to bite more across a wider area without the adjusters.
I agree with you re the adjusters fouling the spring but the design of the brake means that it is going to work better by having some adjustment on the front edge so I will stick with them even if I do put the genuine shoes in.
It's only really for the MOT, the handbrake is only normally used to stop it seizing up.

[john493]

I think it's likely that the lining material needs to be softer for handbrake use, whereas aftermarket use harder lining material more suited to a service brake (footbrake).

[Simmy]

I had seen that advice on here and had actually ordered a set of genuine shoes but thought I would give it a go with the adjusters - and they have solved the problem with the Delphi shoes. I have looked at the genuine shoes - they appear to have a bit more of a chamfer to the leading and trailing edges of the braking surface - maybe that enables them to bite more across a wider area without the adjusters.
I agree with you re the adjusters fouling the spring but the design of the brake means that it is going to work better by having some adjustment on the front edge so I will stick with them even if I do put the genuine shoes in.
It's only really for the MOT, the handbrake is only normally used to stop it seizing up.

volvo shoes are a a different shape and a softer compound the spring touches the adjuster to stop it unwinding early volvos had this set up until some one decided that they were not needed on the latter cars:regular_smile: