[2beer]

Hi,

I've got this very odd issue. I replaced all the brake hardware (disc, pads, calipers) on wife's 2013 1.6 crdi i30. This one is with mechanical handbrake. When the handbrake is pulled, right hand side lever goes quite far, maybe close to five millimeters from the stop and in few seconds something inside the caliper brakes loose and the lever goes up to the stopper. This happens with a loud bang.  When this happens, right hand brake wont hold anymore and as both sides are connected that slack also release the left side handbrake. I was pretty sure that the caliper is broken so I got Febi -brand caliper as a replacement. I replaced it and it does exactly the same thing.

That makes me wonder, could it be really that bad luck that both of the calipers are bad from the factory? Or is it normal that when the lever travel close to the maximum, the threads jump over and the piston drops in?

[2beer]

Update. I decided to bite the bullet and have third try. Local spare parts shop had remanufactured originals in Brembo box so I reluctantly bought one. Just replaced it and it simply works!

Two of the previous ones were new-production, NK and Febi -brand. How on earth both of them were faulty the same way. Maybe both used some internal mechanism component which were from faulty batch.

I quess my message is that go for the remanufactured version if you'll not buy the original and stay away of the new-production.

Fortunately my wife was in the car when the handbrake failed. Our parking lot is inclined so it could have been expensive lesson...

[BrendanP]

It sounds strange, I had to replace a caliper on my 2015 car because the handbrake shaft became stiff  and stopped the internal self-adjusting ratchet from operating.

This may sound like a stupid question, but when you fitted the new pads and calipers, was the pin on the back of the inner pad correctly seated in the groove in the face of the caliper piston? If it wasn't in the groove, the piston would push on the pin, and if the piston rotates when applying the handbrake, the pin could suddenly drop into the groove, causing the noise and making it go slack.

If that's what it was, the self-adjusting mechanism should take up the slack if the brake is operated, and then they should work fine. If not, I can only think the ratchet in the caliper can't take the force and allows the piston to slip back.

[2beer]

Yes, sure the pin was seated in the groove of the piston.