Are handbrake turns legal

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 17 Mar 2008, 19:45

reblack68 wrote:I think Mike was taking issue with the suggestion that his car was dangerous to drive because it had no handbrake....but the "dangerous to drive" statement is normally reserved for something a little more serious than a handbrake. It's the CMA culture at work again.

Maybe my sense of humour is too warped

What I didn't mention was that it was one caliper only (O/S) that had a failed handbrake mechanism, the N/S is safe.

What does CMA stand for?

reblack68 · Unread post by **reblack68** » 17 Mar 2008, 19:54

Cover My Arse. It's the raison d'etre of the Health and Safety at Work Act

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 17 Mar 2008, 20:01

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 17 Mar 2008, 20:02

reblack68 wrote:Cover My Arse. It's the raison d'etre of the Health and Safety at Work Act

Never a truer word spoken Richard

I recently attended an all-day H and S training course and that message was very much rammed home and ran like a thread throughout the whole day

Mike, how's the caliper? Is it freeed offf and working now?

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 17 Mar 2008, 20:24

citrojim wrote:Mike, how's the caliper? Is it freeed offf and working now?

I'm getting stuck into the emissions failure at the moment (and having great fun learning). From the looks of things (the disc is rusty and the pads are at their service limit), it's new caliper time - unless I can source a service kit. Looks like I need a new driveshaft gaiter as well, it's got a 5p sized hole/split. Are they an MOT failure because he hasn't picked it up on the failure sheet?

Unread post by **myglaren** » 17 Mar 2008, 20:42

Are they an MOT failure because he hasn't picked it up on the failure sheet?

Certainly is. Muck and water in there and your CV joint seizes, sometimes catastrophically. I got an advisory for a pinhole in a trackrod end balljoint rubber. At least an easy fix.

That tester should be dismissed!

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 17 Mar 2008, 21:38

Not sure if it makes much difference but just for clarity, this a rear wheel driven car and the gaitor is at the wheel end.

reblack68 · Unread post by **reblack68** » 17 Mar 2008, 21:48

I'm sure an MOT tester once told me that the reason they fail split gaiters is because grease can get onto the brake disc and not because of any risk to the joint itself.

By that logic a split gaiter shouldn't fail if you have drums or inboard discs.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 17 Mar 2008, 22:09

Failed my GS for it, inboard discs on that.

bxbodger · Unread post by **bxbodger** » 18 Mar 2008, 14:16

For those of us with older cars some form of working handbrake is essential- my Triumph has single circuit brakes so any single failure of say a pipe will result in total loss of ALL the hydraulic braking system....no brakes at all apart from the mechanical handbrake.

Hopefully it'll never happen as I have kunifer pipes all round but you never know!!

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 21 Mar 2008, 19:46

myglaren wrote:
Cars have dual circuit brakes, which provides the back-up braking system.
I don't think this is true anymore as ABS and dual-circuit are not compatible.

Modern ABS can mean that you have more than one independent circuit.

The Xantia for example has 3 ABS channels, front left, front right and rear, that gives slightly better split than a non ABS Xantia with front rear split. Some cars have 4 channels.

Plumb bob · Unread post by **Plumb bob** » 10 May 2008, 15:10

I think the point is ( apart from poking fun) that you do not use the handbrake whilst driving the car, only whilst parking the car, unless you is a chav, and need to handbrake turn into the local shopping precinct!

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 10 May 2008, 19:49

Plumb bob wrote:I think the point is ( apart from poking fun) that you do not use the handbrake whilst driving the car, only whilst parking the car,

Exactly. Whether other's had picked up on that is hard to tell from the replies given.

Moving on to issue of the split gaiter; I asked the reason for failing and it is indeed to stop grease being thrown over the disc - to suggest the possibility that loss of grease could cause overheating and disintegrating brought a wry smile and a shake of the head from the tester.

dnsey · Unread post by **dnsey** » 11 May 2008, 21:35

Hmmm... A few years ago, I was asked to take a look at a friend's car. Problem was that, although it drove perfectly well on short journeys, once it approached 50miles or so, a severe vibration and noise would start, worse on cornering.
It took a bit of finding, but turned out to be a very small and hard to see split in a CV joint gaiter, which had gradually allowed the grease to escape. The joint was running virtually dry, and was overheating and partially seizing after running for a while. Fortunately, a good clean and dry test revealed no significant wear, and a new dose of grease and a replacement gaiter completely cured the problem.

bigjl2 · Unread post by **bigjl2** » 12 May 2008, 01:14

The reason you need a working handbrake on a xantia is when you have an LHM leak, or your multi belt snaps, you have very heavy steering, and loss of your brakes in a very short peroid of time, this may be a warning due to the design of xantias, not sure of other citroens, but I believe they all have the handbrake on the front wheels. But wouldn't it also be a problem under construction and use regulations? And yes my multibelt did break recently in a very inconvenient place, fast lane of M25.