Parking brake

[NigelDay]

My new XC60 is my first car to have this. I park on the flat on rough stone and there is no chance the car would ever move. It's also wild, windy and wet where we live. So, I have got into the habit of not applying the (manual) handbrake. If not used for a week, I have experienced the handbrake sticking (OK, it easily releases as you move off).
Is it OK to leave the electric parking brake off when at home ?

[volvorocks]

I don't see any reason why leaving it off would cause issues, so long as the car is left in gear. You say the road is flat, so there should be no strain on the gearbox. However myself personally I always apply it. My old D5 sometimes was not used for a few weeks and there was a bit of a clunk when setting off. Never had any issues. The main problem I found after little use was vibration and steering wheel wobble under medium to hardish braking as the discs rust very quickly.

Regards

[GJB]

I think it is a case of use it or lose it ,as I come from the XC90 and if you do not use it when you do want it it will not work also it takes the strain off the running gear.

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

I don't see any reason why leaving it off would cause issues, so long as the car is left in gear. You say the road is flat, so there should be no strain on the gearbox. However myself personally I always apply it. My old D5 sometimes was not used for a few weeks and there was a bit of a clunk when setting off. Never had any issues. The main problem I found after little use was vibration and steering wheel wobble under medium to hardish braking as the discs rust very quickly.

Regards

Oh yes, the rusting brake discs. My wife's Panda Cross suffers from this and (to my annoyance) failed an MOT two years ago with an expensive "new discs required guv" comment. Now I take it for an Italian tune-up the night before the MOT. We have some good hills up here and it does the trick.

[richardcurson]

Just experienced this for the first time today, it was so stuck that when I tried to unstick it by moving off it was solid, eased off and then “rocked” it from D toR which eventually unstuck it. Is there anything that a complete novice to the xc60 could do to sort it or is it a trip to the garage.

[capt jack]

Originally Posted by richardcurson

Just experienced this for the first time today, it was so stuck that when I tried to unstick it by moving off it was solid, eased off and then “rocked” it from D toR which eventually unstuck it. Is there anything that a complete novice to the xc60 could do to sort it or is it a trip to the garage.

Is the problem the electric part of the parking brake set-up, or is it more likely to be just the pads themselves?

My V70 has an electric brake and so the only experience I have is of this one car, but removing, cleaning and lubricating the rear pads and slide pins is no more difficult than the same operation on a car with a regular handbrake.

In fact, if anything on a Volvo it's easier because Volvo handbrakes actually use brake shoes within drums that are integral to the rear discs. Servicing or replacing those rear shoes is not for the faint-hearted - from bitter experience with both our S70 and our old S90, getting the disc/drums off is a challenge, especially if the shoes have delaminated, getting new shoes to fit and cables adjusted and to work properly can be a total nightmare.

If you're having problems with the electric parking brake then it's actually quite simple to strip, clean and re-install the pads. The only time you'd need to worry about the electrics part would be either if you we're fitting new discs and / or pads, or, if you'd activated the brake whilst the pads were out of the caliper. Under these circumstances you'd then need to wind in the electric motors.

But on the basis that electro-mechanical systems give the best service when they are used and kept cleaned and properly lubricated, I think it's best to use the electric brake as much as possible, and perform a little preventative maintenance from time to time.

Jack

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

My new XC60 is my first car to have this. I park on the flat on rough stone and there is no chance the car would ever move. It's also wild, windy and wet where we live. So, I have got into the habit of not applying the (manual) handbrake. If not used for a week, I have experienced the handbrake sticking (OK, it easily releases as you move off).
Is it OK to leave the electric parking brake off when at home ?

Perhaps you need to consider disengaging and re-engaging the parking brake every couple of days as a preventative measure?

It would be a bit like someone with a dodgy back visiting the osteopath occasionally just to keep things straight and thereby preventing any "everything's jammed up and I'm in agony" crises.

Keeping the parking brake working would, however, be a lot cheaper than visiting an osteopath, however.