Hi guys,

I'm in a bit of a dilemma, I've recently had my car serviced, i asked for my handbrake to be tightened at the same time.

I get it back, the handbrake finally works without me having to yank it all the way up, but the brakes start the squealing like hell.

On the phone to the mechanic he said you usually need to wear the new brake pads in and it may have glazed over, so i bring it back, he machines the front wheels, charges for it, i get the car back and after a week it's squeaking again.

I brought the car back again, i should have written down what he said cause i forget what he did. Either way i got the car back, it was working fine but the handbrake is now as loose as it was before. After 2 weeks the noise comes back again.

Now he's saying that it must have been driven with the handbrake on and that he can't seem to fix it properly but mentioned that if i drive with the handbrake up one notch that the squeking will go away (which it did) but still the handbrake it really loose & needs to be all the way up for it the even hold on a small hill.

As you can imagen i'm pretty pi**ed off. I don't know all that much about this sorta stuff to have a go at the mechanic yet. I'm just trying to find out if it this is all happening because that pads weren't worn in properly or if the mechanic is trying to dodge doing something here & what i can come back at him with for him to fix all this without anything coming out of my pocket.

Thanks for any help

im pretty sure that its a problem with the handbrake springs/clips, from memory ford released an upgraded version of the springs, might pay too give ford parts a call

it would help if you can tell us what car it is

I have had exactly this same problem with my XG, which has the same discs on the rear as the e-series i think. I noticed that the lever that the cable actuates doesn't sit against the stop, it shifts itself back somewhat, so you can't adjust it properly without ending up with brake drag. I was going to dismantle the brake cylinders to see what i could find but if it's just a matter of the springs that would be good to hear.

Ha good call Nicko,

It's a 2001 AuII XR6 VCT manual, i haven't had any brake or suspension work done on it.

anyone?