Dealing with the dealer - handbrake is costing me hundreds!

Hello all, After some advice. I had the 996 serviced at Cardiff Centre on April 1st - the handbrake was too loose and they tightened it (via the shoes I believe) at the time. It went from 5+ clicks to just 2. Great I thought. However in just 3 months and no more than 3k miles, the handbrake is decidedly dodgy again. As if that is not bad enough, whilst visiting my dad, the handbrake gave on his drive and my car rolled into his audi! I need a new front bumper which is looking like £800 +VAT plus about £200 for my dad's car. I'm not impressed with the dealers for this. I'm dropping the car there tomorrow for them to take a look but where do I stand for liability? Now on the service report it mentions the shoes are on the way out but the notes say "advise when pads go through" and the pads have not, yet. Do I have any chance of getting them to cough up some or all of it? Is it worth trying to complain to Porsche HQ in Reading? Advice please!!!

Legally you haven't got a leg to stand on. I'm not sure Cardiff have done anything wrong - the handbrake was adjusted, and unless you can prove negligence then they are on solid ground (ie something not tightened). However the 911 (996 and 997) has a pretty shocking handbrake - in fact I think Jamie posted something recently, so (20:20 hindsight time) I always park in gear on a hill. Also, in the interest of longevity of rear brakes I don't use the handbrake at all in my garage (in gear only).

Yes but surely you can't expect the handbrake to go in 3 months? The advice I had on the service report is to sort out the shoes when the pads go through, doesn't that count for anything?

when they look at it they ethier shoes went but you did not sort it, or the handbrake operates ok and could could not have put it on correctly. I was taught to always park with my car in gear (when i had gears)

- or you haven't been releasing it fully - if it has worn down in 3000 miles? LOJO

As posted above, you can't blame the dealer for that one I'm afraid.... When you say the handbrake gave out, did the cable snap, or stretch, or the ratchet fail? If so, maybe there's a warranty claim there somewhere? If you secured the car initially, then the shoes can't suddenly fail while the car is stationary - so I'm afraid it is your fault for not checking that the brakes were holding when you got out of the car. This will be the argument that the OPC will successfully use to counter any claim from you... Sorry, but I'm afraid you've learned the 'always in-gear on a slope' lesson the hard way :nooo:

In San Francisco where it is pretty hilly, you have to park with the car in gear and the wheels have to be turned into the kerb to stop the car rolling. If you haven't turned the wheels in and a cop sees it, you get a ticket! TB

Does the 996 have shoes & drums at the back in addition to the discs then? My handbrake doesn't fill me with confidence, but then I don't think I've ever had a car that I would have trusted on a slope held just on the handbrake.

Yep... And pathetic little things they are too... Unsprung weight and all that... :thumb:

Well I'm part of the put it in gear gang! The handbrake requires the strength of 10 men to get it to the extent of the ratchet and then you dont feel confident leaving her just in case. So tend to just give her a couple of notches and put her in gear. martin

Seems a bit pointless bothering then! Although my previous car was an S2000 with just discs at the back which were prone to sticking slightly if I used the handbrake at all, so I guess it's slightly better than that!

You have paid OPC to correctly adjust your handbrake It sounds as if they have short cut and wound it in at the wheels Incorrect hence 2 clicks and an unbalanced handbrake possible causing the shoes to bind and wear rapidly. Unsatisfactory workman ship procedure not followed Have a go!

I would suggest taking your car to an mot test station and ask them to check your handbrake. That will check correct operation and balance. The handbrake is correctly adjusted at the wheels, not the cable! If it takes excessive force to pull on the handbrake then something is wrong. Ray :bandit:

An OPC adjusted my handbrake as I have described This is wrong The adjusment at the wheels is done after the cable has been released of all tension It is in the manual and critical to get this poor set up to work. So I would bet they have just tightened up the adjusters cause they are lazy and don't give a flying fork Do em

Adeymars, I agree with you - well sort of. However it's rare to touch the cables - they certainly should never need slackening off, only tightened up if they really stretch a lot, and only after the slack has been taken up on the shoe adjusters first. So the method the dealer followed is correct. If the hand brake doesn't operate properly there is something at fault. Take it back to the dealer and get them to fix the fault if you don't have the skills or inclination yourself to investigate. Maybe some muppet tried to adjust the brakes via the cables and then when the dealer adjusted the shoe adjusters as well so everything locks up. My suspicion is that either the cables are too taught or one side has rusted/jammed up hence the huge effort required to pull the handbrake on. Ray