Hi everyone, I try to search threads about hand brake system problem, but I didn't find, so I hope that someone had and solve the same problem. My 308 qv hand brake, didn't work, I mean that I can't park the car without any gear because it move. You know that this car use the Ate calipers, and the hand brake is integrate on same calipers.There are no leakeges, also when I remove the bolts to find the adjuster srews, no oil flows off I already tried to adjust space between pads and discs, but without success. Sure the pads are hold, but when I checked the functionality of rear brakes ( activate by foot pedal ) the efficient of them looks still O.K. I already bot the rebuild kit for calipers, but before start with this works, I want be sure that everything was prove before. Thanks for you help. Carlo
Yes. They misprinted the owner's manual. It was to read "Handbrake Problem" To be fair there are adjustments on the cables that extend to the brakes but you will still find it fruitless and not able to hold the car on much of a grade.
The problem with the handbrake on any 308 is there are handles and mechanisms that look just like an emergency brake but they don't do anything. There is no emergency brake on a Ferrari 308.
So it's normal, and we can do nothing to have a common hand brake? All 308's owners have this problem and live with it? If yes thanks to take off this doubt.
I think the hand brakes are either you use all the time or not at all. I use mine all the time that my 308 does not roll regardless of the driveway angle, I guess this mean that it's being exercise always which is good for the handbrake system.
My handbrake is like Mike's, it works regardless of the driveway angle. I find it like other things on the 308 (A/C for instance) if all of the parts are in working order and properly adjusted they work.
Hi Carlo I had exactly the same problem with my Euro 308 carb car. You could adjust the handbrake to the point it worked (just), but within a few days you were back to parking the car in gear on anything other than a dead flat surface. The specialist I use for servicing told me all the ones he looks after are exactly the same, so I wouldn't worry. For me parking was not the issue...it was the grief you had to give the clutch when waiting to pull out of an uphill junction. The 328 i have now has a completely different system that works brilliantly (still miss the 308 though!)
I've adjust my 308's handbrake numerous times. It doesnt hold. I always leave it in gear. Pulling up the brake level is just habbit for me.
So Mike you mean to tell me that you would absolutely trust your hand brake to hold your car without putting it in gear on a grade?
mine work but i had to put hardware store turnbuckles on the cables just before the handbrake levers. i tightened them just enough so that there was no drag with the handbreak lever all the way down. the handbrake will now hold the car on a 30 degree incline wih no problem. are they still a terrible design - yes. but they now work well enough for starting on hills or keeping the car from rolling backwards in the driveway. jon s
I had mine at about 5+% grade in neutral, at least I trust it that much and the car still hold but, as a habit , I put in 1st gear now.
Actually the handbrake has nothing to do with the calipers and it is not hydraulic. There are 2 small shoes that function like a brake drum inside the rotor hat. Probably you need to disassemble the handbrake system and clean everything up. Might remove rotors too and make sure that surface inside the hat is ok.
I restored my calipers and they work perfectly I must say. I'd recommend doing this too! The mother and father of all rear caliper re-build posts is here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=304911 Image Unavailable, Please Login
I guess you read that on the Internet and think you're now an expert. 308s have the handbrake incorporated into the caliper (as shown here in this thread). Notoriously ineffective. The separate drum-type handbrake mechanism was introduced on the 328 when they went to one-piston floating calipers.
Good work, but before to rebuild them, you had problem like us or you have leakeges or problem to stop the car by normal brake? I didn't understand reading all messages, if: System should work correctly if is in right or perfect condition and may be if you often use it; Or forget to park car only with hand brake because the desigh is wrong or sh....!!!!!!!!!! Had someone try to modify the system?
I'm wondering if Rockford is correct? I found the parts diagram in the 1983 US model Mondial showing brake drums. Would the 308 and Mondial be similar in 1983. The 328 came out in 1986? Has anyone actually pulled the rotors out and look inside? I have a 1985 US 308 and I also want to solve the problem. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
No Mondial QV changed over from the "308" type brakes to the "328" type brakes around SN 43XXX for the euro version (not sure about the US version -- is there more than one "brake caliper" page and/or more than one "hand-brake controls" page in that 1983 US Mondial QV SPC?). AFAIK, all 308 have the lever-based rear calipers for the emergency brake. My 308 experience was that, immedately after a fresh (close) adjustment, it worked OKish, but would get less effective over time until the next readjustment -- doesn't exactly match the OP's description.
OK, that actually made me LOL. I got the GT4's handbrake to work pretty well. I followed the Rainbolt/Birdman/FChat procedures and it worked. I wouldn't park it in neutral on a San Francisco hill, but it wasn't bad. I thought y'all were just doing it wrong. Now on the QV I've adjusted and used feeler gauges and lubed pivots and everything and it still would move down the street if the wind picked up. And they are all the same parts on the QV and the GT4. A much bigger handbrake rebuild is in my future on the qv. I know it can be as good as "ok" and I want to get there again.
TAnks for this comunication, anyway I already done same exercise, so my H-B make only 2o3 clicks before stop, clearance between pads are O.K. only thing is that the pads are old, but I had no problem during test using the foot pedal to activate rear brakes. The only thing that remain to do is to rebuild calipers, but I've no leakeges, so a didn't see any reason. What I didn't know, is if the HB function well when car was new or not, because I bougth it as second hand so.......... Someone told me that the same calipers and also HB are used in other cars like Porsche or BMW 850i but I didn't find any comments or drawings to understand, if in other cars function which are the different in the layout or system.
The only other suggestion is to make sure that the two-wheeled rotating device that tensions the handbrake cables is free to rotate the entire way. It has been reported that it was found to be bent so that it hit the frame before full rotation was achieved.
