Handbrake Frozen

[Dolby]

About a month ago, I left my car parked outside as opposed to in the garage.

The next morning the handbrake wouldn't go down :/ I thought the mechanism was broken, but kept pressing etc and after 15 minutes (and sore fingers), I managed to get it down. Some people said I pulled up the handbrake too far - but others said that it *may* have frozen (metal on metal) and they say in Europe they don't use a handbrake in winter.

I thought nothing of it - until this morning (also parked outside, and it was pretty icey in JHB) the same thing happened. Took a pot of slightly warm water and threw it on the wheels incase the freezing thing was right After a few minutes I could release and drive.

Any of you experienced this?

I understsand the logic in -20 degrees ... but at 0?

 

[mak2000]

What car is it ? May be its a combination of the two ... you pulled the handbrake too far and freezing conditions make the release harder

 

[Fox1]

Your hand break cables need to be lubed. Use a silicone spray like Q20/Tool-in-a-can to prevent it from freezing again.

 

[FrancTheTank]

About a month ago, I left my car parked outside as opposed to in the garage.
...I understsand the logic in -20 degrees ... but at 0?

Frozen is as frozen does.

Water will freeze at -20 and at 0. Not at 1 or 2 degrees, at 0.
(wind chill may aid the cooling down process)

You should still be able to put the handbrake lever down, regardless of the brakes been frozen. - the shoes or disks (depending on your car) will just be frozen.

 

[FrancTheTank]

Your hand break cables need to be lubed. Use a silicone spray like Q20/Tool-in-a-can to prevent it from freezing again.

Agreed

 

[Dolby]

Thanks for the replies.

It's a Volvo C30 ... and the lever doesn't go down - so perhaps that's not the issue? I see on the C30 forum its a reasonably common issue too

 

[Fazda]

If it's a Volvo, the handbrake is tested NOT to freeze under almost any icy conditions!!

When using your car north of the Arctic Circle, sure thing, but in SA...sorry, that's bollocks.

We had handbrakes seizing on freshly washed cars that were then parked on the showroom floor and left for a month, but overnight, it should never happen.

This needs to be investigated further. otherwise you would have three quarters of Sweden running around with kettles every morning...