C5 MkII 2008 Estate - where to buy handbrake cable pipes

[ianio]

Hi,

it would appear i cannot source the pipes located in the central tunnel which carry the handbrake / parking brake cables.

mine are binding the cable and preventing the handbrake from releasing. also they dont appear to be fitted to the bulkhead correctly, with broken ends.

trouble is i tried europarts and gsf, and autodoc. but no one ha s a section for handbrake cable tubes.

there are some listed on ebay but they all reference rear axle which worries me as the handbrakes are on the front calipers.

any suggestions welcome.

regards
ian

[mickthemaverick]

Not quite sure what you mean by pipes? Do you mean the sheath supplied with the cable as in this example:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/146347780160 ... 1196.m2219

[Estately]

No Mick,
The cable and sheath run in a tube, from memory about half inch diameter, one each side.

The caliper end of the cable does tend to bind and the pads will not release off the disc so getting hot - not good.
To quote one of my technical terms it is necessary to muck about where the cable activates the caliper.

There is a spring which aides the location of the cable end fitting to a hook on the caliper.
Lubricate and waggle (another technical term) the cable in the tube, unhooked from the caliper until you notice free movement.
The tube is held to the body work but under the exhaust by some thin clips, you may be able to beef up this fitting if you can work around the exhaust to avoid the need for new tubes.

The cables do fray and bind and with wheel off it will become apparent where.
The cables if needed can be removed by rotating them in the tube and pulling off and new ones rotated back into the tube onto the car.
I have successfully done both sides in the now distant past.

Hope that helps.
Andy.