Iain Young

Hi folks.

I've noticed a strange phenomenon with the handbrake in my MY00 4-door UK turbo. If I stop using the footbrake, apply the handbrake, then release the footbrake, occasionally the car seems to move a very small amount before the handbrake grips. I haven't noticed this with any of the other cars I've owned or driven, and whilst the brake works fine, I'm not 100% sure it should do this. Has anyone else experienced this?

Cheers,
Iain

Julian

Oh yes indeed! Wait until you're in a queue of stop start traffic going up hill and then start to wonder if the guy behind you wants a new bonnet mascot

Julian.

[This message has been edited by Julian (edited 23-05-2000).]

Julian

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Julian:
<B>Oh yes indeed! Wait until you're in a queue of stop start traffic going up hill and then start to wonder if the guy behind you wants a new bonnet mascot

Julian.[/quote]

SDB

How far does it move before the handbrake grips?

Martin Cook

Iain
My MY99 does exectly the same on my driveway.
Rolls forward about 75mm.

Martin

SDB

I think you may find it is just the front wheels moving forward a touch as the suspension relaxes, when you effectively release the front brakes but not the rear.

All cars will do this when you come to a stop forwards.

If you stop in reverse does it still do it?

Cheers

Simon

[This message has been edited by Simon de Banke (edited 23-05-2000).]

Lars

I realised one other special behaviour of the Impreza handbrake.
During my skiing holliday in the French Alps I booked one hour on the Alpe D'Heuz snow track - The one you know from Eurosport where they drive on snow with 4 wheel steering cars -
My car was on normal Bridgestone summer tyre, but the grip was quite good. As I'm used to drive front wheel driven Alfa Romeo cars, I tried to use the hand brake to force a break out of the back (owersteer) before the corner.
This don't work on a Impreza. I assume the four wheel drive try to move braking power from the rear trough the driveline and apply it on the front wheels. Result is the car just stop.
After that i had to learn how to set up the car before the corner. After 1 hours driving I think I succeeded 1 out of 10 times. But when you slide into the corner and apply power to all four wheels, the feeling is just
Price for one hour is 200 FF. If possible try to plan your next skiing vacation in Alpe D'Heuz
Can anyone confirm that the driveline is able to move braking power from the handbrake to the front wheels ??

Lars.
I live in Paris, anyone out there having some information on the French Subary Club

SDB

Hi Lars

I think we need to arrange a trip to this snow track!! Any contact info / web address would be great.

Who's up for it?

How many other people are on the track at the same time?

Re Handbrake Turn in Impreza.
Check out

Iain Young

It does only move about 1cm (I haven't noticed it do it in reverse), so I suspect that the suspension relaxing theory is probably the most likely.

Strange that I haven't noticed this on any of the other cars I have owned though. Perhaps it is because they were all knackered

Cheers,
Iain

SDB

Many thanks Lars

It looks fantastic.

Excuse my stupidity, but is their snow their all the time or only during winter?

If only during winter, do you know when it will be going again?

Cheers

Simon

Lars

Thanks Simon, for the information.
I don't think there is any web adr for the Alpe D'Huez snow track. but try the Andros trophy web

Dr Hu

Whats even better is the fact that a slow chairlift goes right over the top of the track, so I went over whilst some mad nutter frenchie in a fooked Renault 5 slammed it into every snow wall he could find....I think he was trying to steer it round the corners, but it was having none of it....
Good chairlift entertainment anyway......, don't know if I'd like to do it in my own car mind....Hire car maybe.......

robski

Anyone get the impression that Simon likes the sound of this

robski

SDB

Am I that transparent ??

SDB

I KNEW IT!!!!!

That's like giving Candy to a baby, then takin it away!!!

Right.. we need to find a similar thing which is covered in snow all year round!

Any ideas?

Regards

Simon de Soon-to-be-MORE-Sideways

BarryK

Back on the handbrake topic, I read somewhere that the handbrake doesn't actuall y "actuate" the disc brake at the back. Rather there is a "miniature" drum brake assembly specifically for when the handbrake is used. Thus when you have your foot on the brake, pull the handbrake, release the footbrake, the drum and shoes take an n th of a turn to anchor the car.

Reason for this? Well I had a Peugeot 205 1.9 Gti where the handbrake simply replicated what the footbrake did at the back, ie it gripped the disc. Talk about crap, the handbrake neede to be nearly pulled out of the floor to stop the damn thing rolling off. I also found this to be the case with the Renault19 16v, which also had discs all round, and crap manual handbrake gripping the rear discs.

Subaru put some thought into this.

Incidentally, the Sport has a "hill holder" clutch, so when you put the footbrake on and the clutch in, the car won't roll backwards until you let the clutch out even when you release the footbrake! Absolutely brill, why don't all cars do that.

A bit weird when you're reversing though, think about it! As you reverse, put the clutch in, touch the footbrake and release, car reverses to a brake induced standstill!

DavidRB

I'm surprised he hasn't looked into buying a snow-making machine!

Lars

Simon, I fully understand your enthusiasm - it is great fun, and I did 1.5 hours without hitting the snowwall.
You only find the snow during winter (December to March). For the rest of the year the track is a normal track used for advanced driving education.

Go there in the winter, do half a'hour every morning and enjoy the skiing for the rest of the day.

AndyMc

Ah this old chestnut again.
It is a case of 'they all do that Sir'and the movement is a design feature of the handbrake.

As Barry has said the handbrake works on a small drum inside the disk.It is the strange design of this mechanism that allows the small amount of movement that people have noticed.

Normally the post that supports the brakeshoes and the pivot that pushes the shoes apart are at opposite ends of the drum but for some reason Subaru have put them at the same end.This means that when the handbrake is applied the shoes move away from the post that supports them,this allows the drum and shoes to rotate slightly back and forth before they touch the post.(as Dave said)

It also means that as the shoes wear(to many handbrake turns tut,tut )the amount of movement will increase,and so the movement will vary from car to car.

Whats more it is possible to adjust the degree of play.The mechanism does not automatically adjust but Subaru have fitted a manual adjuster which is accessible through a rubber plug at the bottom of the drum backplate.
This can be used to reduce the movement down to about 1/2 of an inch or so,which is about the best you can do without the shoes binding.

Its very fiddly to use though and will have you throwing tools around the garage before you get it right.

By the way the handbrake cable can also be adjusted (Under the centre console trim) this reduces the handbrake lever travel but not the drum movement.

Hope this helps Andy

Iain Young

Thanks for the info. I think I'll get the dealer to check / adjust it when I have the 7500 mile service. I'd do it myself but I'd probably only end up making it worse

I just wanted to make sure there was nothing drastic going wrong...

Cheers,
Iain