Josh Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 (edited) I took the Yaris for an MOT on Saturday and it failed due to the rear brakes binding. I got back from the MOT and realised the car wouldn't roll down the road out of gear and with the handbrake off. I jacked the car up and lo and behold, both rear wheels were extremely hard to turn. Previous to the MOT, I hadn't noticed this at all. I took the rear drum apart and adjusted the shoes so they were further in. This seemed to fix the problem and both hubs/wheels span freely. I left the car then went back to it a few hours later and tried to drive it, where I realised it was sticking badly as the car was resisting being driven, and although the wheels turned, it sounded like the brakes were on. I've just taken it all apart with my Dad to find out what the issue is, and before doing so I jacked each side up and the wheels were hard to turn again. I noticed as I loosened the nuts on one wheel while it was on the ground, then jacked it up, the wheel span freely. We took the wheel off and checked everything possible to do with the brakes and couldn't find anything rubbing or sticking. We did find that if you put the drum back onto the hub, it spins fine. Once you squeeze it on or bolt it on and try and turn it, it's really hard to turn. When the wheel was back on, again it span freely when the nuts were loose but when tight it was hard to turn, but only at one point in each rotation. It sounds brake related, but as the handbrake and brakes are operating properly and not sticking on when putting on and off and turning the drum, it doesn't make sense. Any ideas what it could be? Thanks for any help Edited January 13, 2014 by Josh (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Did you over torque the hub nut to seat the bearing, back it off and re torque it to the correct value? Was the auto adjust mechanism working alright inside the drum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Did you over torque the hub nut to seat the bearing, back it off and re torque it to the correct value? Was the auto adjust mechanism working alright inside the drum? I've not done anything to the car since I got it a year ago and it's been fine up until now. Yeah it seemed to be working fine as far as I can tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Any other ideas? Need to get it fixed and booked in for a retest Saturday. I don't want to take it to a garage as hopefully I'll be able to fix it without paying someone else to do it. Cheers guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 Going to bite the bullet and book it back in to the garage. Hopefully they can find out what the issue is. The problem just seems to be, when the drum is placed onto the hub it spins freely. Once it's bolted on or squeezed on, it's extremely tight and hard to turn. When the wheels are bolted back on properly, I can only just about turn the wheels by hand, and when the car is lowered back down, I can only push it one rotation of the wheels until they get "tight" again and it won't even be pushed down a hill. I've been thinking about it constantly since the weekend, and my Dad (who is good with cars) can't work out what could be wrong either. It's odd that it's just started happening, and when the brakes are applied to the hub when just placed on, they release fine, so it doesn't appear to be the brakes, but there's not much else it could be! Nightmare!! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 Just spoke to Halfords autocentres who did the MOT and was advised to slack off the handbrake completely, then adjust the rear shoes so they're away from the drum, then readjust the handbrake and that should fix it. I just don't understand how when the drum is slightly loose, it spins freely, but when it's tight, it won't spin. If it was the handbrake, surely whether the drum was on fully or not, it would still catch. I hope this sorts it, as I'm fed up of not being able to use the Yaris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 17, 2014 Author Share Posted January 17, 2014 Sorry to keep posting about this, but I'm going to have a go at fully adjusting the handbrake tonight. Does anyone have any suggestions in case that doesn't work? For the self adjusting brakes, I've read I need to reverse and hit the brakes hard to a complete stop 10-12 times to get it to adjust. I'll try that tonight, then if not I'll get the handbrake adjusted and hope it's sorted to get the brake test tomorrow to complete the MOT. Cheers guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulley Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The auto adjust brake shoe setup just compensates for wear and will click over to always keep the shoe close to the drum Sounds to me like the mot station have adjusted the cable maybe and that's not allowing the brake mechanism to release fully Considering its both rear wheels I wouldn't have thought it would be a mechanism issue of the brakes themselves , more likely the adjustment of the cable that joins the two I'd jack the rear up, with the handbrake fully off and main cable that attaches to handbrake adjusted so the wheel spins freely, then give the handbrake a good pull, and release and see if the brake releases properly I have a yaris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 The auto adjust brake shoe setup just compensates for wear and will click over to always keep the shoe close to the drum Sounds to me like the mot station have adjusted the cable maybe and that's not allowing the brake mechanism to release fully Considering its both rear wheels I wouldn't have thought it would be a mechanism issue of the brakes themselves , more likely the adjustment of the cable that joins the two I'd jack the rear up, with the handbrake fully off and main cable that attaches to handbrake adjusted so the wheel spins freely, then give the handbrake a good pull, and release and see if the brake releases properly I have a yaris Thanks for your help. I tried this and it didn't seem to do anything unfortunately. The drums were still hard to turn when held on tight, which really doesn't seem to make sense, as I can't see them rubbing on anything. It's at the MOT place now (as of Saturday evening), and I'm waiting for them to call me to confirm it's passed and what the issue was. There's a lot of material left on the pads (the car's done 40k miles), so hopefully it'll be a cheap adjustment. I'll post up their findings once they've contacted me Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Just spoke to Halfords who have the car, and they say it's the drivers side handbrake cable that's siezed. I don't see that that's right, as both sides are the same, and both sides release when the handbrake is released. They've now also said that the front pads and discs are below the limits and need changing before the MOT. The MOT has to be completed by tomorrow, otherwise I've got to have it all done again. He said they'll charge £95 to fit a new cable, so I told them to forget it, I'll pick the car up and fit the cable myself and just get a new MOT with them. Thinking of just selling the car once it's all sorted and getting a pushbike for work.. Stress!! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 The new cable would be £50 from Euro Car Parts and then I've got to fit it tonight to get the MOT completed tomorrow. If I don't make it in time for tomorrow then it'll be another £27 for another MOT. I've just asked the garage to fit it for £95 and pass it. Sucks to have to pay, but at least it can be sorted without any extra stress to me, and just a little extra expense than it would have been. Cheers for the help guys, shame I/we couldn't sort it before now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willson Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 What was the outcome? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 It's fixed now and it just needed a new handbrake cable. I felt as though the garage (Halfords Autocentres) kept dismissing me when I was trying to get them to explain what the problem was. They just said changing the handbrake cable sorted it. I wanted to know why the handbrake came on and released correctly, and the drums only wouldn't spin when they were held on firmly and only at one point in each rotation on each wheel, but they just kept saying "it was the handbrake cable mate" so I guess we'll never know if there was anything else to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willson Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Oh well, at least its sorted. Thanks for the update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Oh well, at least its sorted. Thanks for the update. No probs, thanks for the interest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibby Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 No probs, thanks for the interest If I had spotted this tread before i would have told you to check the cables. Generally anything with rear brake issues, especialy impalanced / binding brakes check cables, capliper and pads / shoes. The self adujusting thing just moves the pads / shoes in as they wear down. Sometimes you can manualy set the settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 If I had spotted this tread before i would have told you to check the cables. Generally anything with rear brake issues, especialy impalanced / binding brakes check cables, capliper and pads / shoes. The self adujusting thing just moves the pads / shoes in as they wear down. Sometimes you can manualy set the settings. They did say it was just the cable on one side, but both sides had the problem. I need to get the car on the ramps at some point (when it's finally dry and I'm free at a weekend) to have a look and see what they've changed and if anything is noticeably different now. I'll update this thread if I find out any more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kevin pulham Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 I have almost the exact same problem. Only one rear brake binds when the wheel is rotated through 360 degrees at two points this only happens when the wheel nuts are tightened. After reading this thread I removed the hand brake cable still binds. I have also swapped brake drums from one side to the other. I have spent a day on this car and got nowhere any help would be appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 It is a ridiculous problem. I still can't get my head around it. Even when the brakes were slackened off so the pads were nowhere near the drum and it span freely, when the bolts were tightened it was hard to turn. It still makes no sense. Good luck with it, but I doubt I can be of any assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest frootloops Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 Bit of a thread bump and I'm wondering if anyone ever sussed a solution to this? Took the yaris for an mot. It passed. The second i started to drive away it felt odd and as if the rear brakes were binding. Did a couple of miles, felt alloy, roasting. Took it back and they put it on the machine again and confirmed binding rear brakes. Now it wasn't doing that when i took it in, and it passed the MOT which they confirmed it wouldn't have done with the brakes as they now were. So what have they done to them!! Book it in for a brake service they say. You broke it i say. No joy. Kwik fit will not be getting my custom again. But long story short, it's clean as a whistle in the drum, everything is moving freely, and it only binds when the wheel is tightened up. Any advice appreciated Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkerstrider Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 First mistake was taking it halfrauds. They probably did it on purpose to make some cash out of you! Wouldn't trust them or kwikfit as far as I could kick them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest frootloops Posted August 6, 2017 Share Posted August 6, 2017 Haha yes. Bit late for that though. I was just on a tight schedule with regards to dropping/picking kids up so needed kwikfits booked hour slots (which they also failed to meet but that's a different story!). Just bamboozled as to what's causing it only to bind when the wheel nuts are tightened up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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