Stretched Handbrake Cable

[NickC]

I park on a hill and every time I get out of the car, I get this awful noise from the rear, I eventually tracked it down to my handbrake on the driver side not being applied properly. Upon removing the ashtray my driverside handbrake cable is 5mm longer than the passenger side, that's with both arms (at each wheel hub) being approx 1-2 mm from the stops.
Can I adjust it at the hub? I could not find a way, I tried to remove the nut holding the arm on (at the wheel) but I couldn't get it off. New cables ???

[Crasher]

Not a stretched cable, a failed calliper-this is extremely common on the Golf 4 type aluminium caliper and the right hand caliper is more prone to failure than the left. When the caliper is changed, the hose/pipe must also be changed as the aluminium washers fail and cannot be replaced.

[NickC]

hmm, I'm confused, that's with both my handbrake lever arms, (at each hub) spaced from the stop equally, I then look under the ashtray to see the one cable visibly longer than the other....

I think I'm missing something.

[Crasher]

If the handbrake levers on the caliper do not fully return to just off the stop (the maximum permissible distance from the stop is 3-mm), then you need two new calipers but as to why they are unequally set at the lever by a large margin is difficult to advise on as I can’t see it but cable stretch, especially so unevenly) is unheard of. Maybe one cable is aftermarket and one genuine?

[NickC]

as far as I'm aware neither cable has been replaced, and I've had my car for 7 years now and I've never done it.

I backed off the nut completely the other day, by the handbrake , checked everything was free and then redid it such with the handbrake off, both the arms on the calipers were 1-2mm from their stops. Both discs rotated ok, I needed to apply a bit of torque but they rotated by hand fine. Then looking at the adjuster nut by the handbrake and the joining "bar" , joining the two cables to the handbrake rod, it was severely skewed over, i.e such that the driver side cable looked longer.

I suppose the thing to then is extract both cables and compare them, is this an easy job? I'm not saying they are stretched, I'm struggling to find a method that would enable twisted steel cable too stretch....

[Crasher]

They are quite easy to get out. When the cable are dropped off, see if the handbrake levers can be rotated toward the operating region by hand easily and without actually retarding the disc. If there is a lot of slack, remove the caliper and wind back the piston, re-fit it and pump the pedal and then try the lever again. Between coming off the stop and being impossible to move by hand and having an effect on the disc there should be only a few millimetres movement, less than 5-mm.

[NickC]

ok, thanks, I will give it a go over the weekend.