Hi guys,

Just to let you know, I'm pretty new to Magnas and to the forums!

I took my Magna Ralliart for a routine service (127500km) recently. There were no issues that were picked up by the mechanic, other than the handbrake apparently needing adjustment, which I was charged extra labour for. When I dropped the car off, the handbrake was fine, the lever probably needed 3 maybe 4 clicks. When I picked the car up after the service, the lever just made it to one click.

Since the service, there has been a loud scraping/screeching sound coming from the rear wheels. I spoke to a couple of people at the service center ASAP and both told me it's normal after a handbrake adjustment and that it would soon go away. After a day or two of driving, the noise got louder, so I took it straight back to the service center. The mechanic adjusted the handbrake cable and assured me that there would be no noise. It's now been weeks since the service and the noise is still there.

I've owned the car for 5 months and it's never made this noise before. I guess the only fix for this would be to replace the brake shoes, but I'm just wondering what happened with the service and why the handbrake was adjusted in the first place when it was perfectly functional beforehand. I'm reluctant to take my car back to this service center because they've been pretty dismissive about the issue and generally unhelpful.

Could someone shed a bit of light on this and perhaps advise on how to stop this noise. Should I just go get some new handbrake shoes put on?

Cheers guys,
Alex

The hand brake adjustment is done in 2 parts. First is slacking off the cable and adjusting the shoe at each wheel. After the shoes are adjusted it should spin freely with no noise at all. Next step is to adjust the cable till you have about 5 clicks on the lever.

To fix your problem I would try slacking off the cable and see if the noise goes away. If it does then adjust it back so you got 5 clicks. If not then they have adjusted the shoes incorrectly.

How much did they charge for this?

Thanks for the reply, jimbo. The invoice is vague in that it doesn't actually specify the extra labour cost for the adjustment, but I will find out, because I don't think it's right to charge for something I didn't request, let alone something that was done incorrectly.

When I took the car back to them, they did slack off the cable to what it is now, which is 4 clicks. I'll try slacking it off some more, but I'm almost sure that they must have adjusted the shoes incorrectly. I just wanted to hear someone else's opinion before I went ahead, so thanks for that.

Correct procedure:

Slacken cables at lever if they have been fiddled with. Normally not needed.
Adjust brake shoes at the wheels. There should be no contact noise.
Tighten cables to give 5 or 6 clicks.

Clearance between drum and brakeshoe is adjusted at the discs. The adjustment at the lever is to compensate for any cable stretch. People who CBF'd to read the manual seem to go straight to the cable adjustment at the lever.

Any DIY person with a car jack, screwdriver and the ability to read a manual can outperform some lazy mechanic.
(Hint, hint)

Thanks MadMax. Point noted. I'll give that a shot and see how I go. Appreciate the help.