95 Vectra - hand brake snapped

Typical for a Vauxhall

I think Quak-Fit charged me something life £35 for this some time ago (2+years), although as this was after several days of replacing various other parts of the braking system (true fault was a frayed brake cable, which led to drums, shoes, cylinders being replaced before finally arriving at the cable) - so not sure if this included labour. Phone your local trusted garage, should only be a 1/2 hour job.

In article , Avi writes

sounds very familiar ('95 cavalier here.)

sounds *very* familiar :) I live on a steep hill. parked the car, got out with my arms full of paperwork, shopping, etc, and with one foot in the car, one foot out, heard this "ping" noise.

Idly thought "wonder what that noise was?", followed in short order by "why is this f*cking car rolling down hill?"

managed to drop everything, jump in and stop it with residual vacuum in the footbrake. thank god the cable let go then and not later.

my local garage charged me about 25 quid to replace both cables. They've adjusted the handbrake twice since then, f.o.c.

wouldn't go there if you paid me, unless you really want a safety critical component on your car looked at by a spotty 16 year old chav.

kwik f*ck are okay for tyres and exhausts, little else.

Why do people not put the handbrake on, let it settle, then put it in reverse on a hill?

I mean, as long as the handbrake is on then the gear isn't actually doing anything apart from sitting on the mesh unless the handbrake dies or it is otherwise bumped forward?

--Nick.

It is just me?, but my driving instructor taught me to ALWAYS leave the car in gear when parked, regardless of whether I was on a hill or not. To be honest, every hand break on every car I've owned has been s*it, even after only a couple of weeks of having it adjusted. There is no way on Earth I'd trust it alone.

Maybe I'm just heavy handed with them which causes it to slacken quickly, but still...