Vauxhall Astra 1.4i - M reg (rear wiper and brake problems)

mad man ( snipped-for-privacy@agent.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No. Not testable.

Fix it. Properly.

No, adjusting the handbrake cable won't compensate for the fact that the shoe adjustment's seized.

Nor will it help much when your missus gets a flat in the middle of nowhere on a pissing wet night. Or when you get nicked for having two bald tyres because you couldn't change 'em "a few months back"...

Now thats an idea.

I think I should have said the tyres were changed a few months ago at a garage. Now I have come to do the brakes and I cannot get the bolts off. The garage has done them up to tight ??? I've bent one rachet bar, with a 3 ft extension tube.

Moral - Get the job done right in the first place. Don't employ a garage that torques the wheels up too tight.

No.

No.

If the excess brake pedal travel is due to the rear self-adjust not working, adjusting the handbrake cable *may* mask that fault. What would happen if subsequently the handbrake cable snapped? Answer: the brake pedal would go to the floor!

The excessive travel may also means that the brake shoes are worn to the point where they will adjust no further. At any time soon, the remaining sliver of friction material may disappear, leaving you with much reduced, and very unbalanced, braking. This is likely to be just when you need perfect brakes, in an emergency.

There are other reasons for the excessive travel. They all need investigating promptly!

Why not take the car back to the garage that over-tightened the wheel bolts and get them to slacken them? In future, whenever a garage removes your wheels, do what I do and slacken, then re-tighten them correctly.

BTW, I would never lend you my tools if you use 3ft extensions on a ratchet!

Go to a decent tool supplier and get a proper breaker bar.

HTH

Chris

mad man ( snipped-for-privacy@agent.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ah, OK. I read it as you tried to, but couldn't.

You're as bad a bloody chimp as they are. Use the right tools correctly.

Looks like DIY, then.

I'm curious. How is it possible to remove overtorqued bolts, without using extreme torque?

Ian Stirling ( snipped-for-privacy@mauve.demon.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It's possible to do it easily - by not abusing cheap crap tools made of chocolate.

The OP's lucky that the crap ratchet didn't let go and do him an injury.

You are Conor, and I claim my five pounds.

Steve

shazzbat ( snipped-for-privacy@spamlessness.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You *bastard*... That's low...

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Yeah, with inflation it's got to be at least a tenner by now.

MUHAHAHAHAHAAAAA....my evil plan is coming to fruition. Just a little more patience Egor.

The message from Conor contains these words:

Please master, can't we play Freecell one day?

Moral - don't use a ratchet with an extension tube. They're not designed for it. Get a proper breaker bar - a good quality one. Halfords guarantee their Pro range against breakage, so you can't lose.

The place I use for tyres does do the wheelnuts with a torque wrench, but they still need a breaker bar to get them off again.

T'ain't broke, just bent ;-)

Adds street cred to your toolkit, dunnit!