Hand brake adjustment

[pitman]

Hi all,

Does someone know how the MOT garages judge the hand brake with 5 notches on a Polo?

On a road with strong upward gradient, maybe 10%, the handbrake seizes only at the 4th notch, and on a even steeper road I have to go up to the 5th and last notch.

At the 3rd notch, the hand brake starts working, but the Haynes manual says, at the 2nd notch it should be "just possible to turn the rear wheels".

Will the MOT engineer see this as a failure?

I am asking because the nut on the hand brake cable where the compensator is, is quite rusty and maybe worn. In the worst case, I will have to replace the hand brake cable just because of that rusty nut.

[omicron]

Provided it's braking equally, you can take them up at the front too. Little round nut under the lever

[steveo3002]

chances are the rear brake shoes arent ajusting well

get the rear up on stands and remove one wheel bolt on each rear wheel

with a torch and pointed screwdriver you should be able to pull the ajusting wedge down by poking the screwdiver through the wheel bolt hole until its better....i aim for 1 click on the handbrake makes the wheels bind, you should find that its better after that and you will have a better feel on the foot pedal