Hi,
I bought a 98 Vectra 2.0L DTH some time ago. The handbrake was only useable while the car was stationary. At any speed at all, applying the handbrake was like throwing the car into reverse gear and lead to a sudden and complete halt. It appeared superficially to be correctly adjusted and was quite free when fully released.
This summer I wanted to rectify the matter so as to have some emergency braking if it was ever required. I removed the disks and examined the central drums, one of which was quite deeply worn. I'm sure that should not be able to happen to a correctly set-up handbrake as there is only contact when using the handbrake lever unlike former drum brake designs where handbrake and foot brake both operated the shoes.
I fitted new disk/drums and handbrake shoes, released the handbrake cable from the interior lever and set the shoes to run just freely inside the drums. Then the cable was re-adjusted to come hard on at 7 clicks of the lever.
The system works much BETTER and can be applied while still rolling, but the left rear brake still comes on more abruptly than the right one and can easily be locked on while the other is still rolling.
Is there an inherent faulty design with these brakes - I have certainly heard of others with grabbing Vectra handbrakes - or is there some tecnique for setting-up the smooth operation of this item?
Any personal experience of this would be much valued.
TIA.
Tony.