Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 17:02
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - drpop
Hello.

Back in September, I regretfully agreed to keep my previous motor (ford focus 03) for my niece to purchase when she passed her test; An event I was assured would take 'a few weeks'. Fast forward till now and the car is still sitting on my driveway, SORN'ed and 3 Months past MOT.

I have been starting it up every few days as advised by a friend to keep the battery working, however as it has been without tax or insurance I have not moved the car.

As it is now more than obvious that my niece will not be taking the car off my hands anytime soon, I have resolved myself to cut my losses and sell it.

Today I tried to reverse it down the drive a touch and into a position more suitable for a good clean-out and the thing wouldn't budge. It all starts up ok, so I assume that there is some issue with the brakes being 'stuck'.

Does anyone have any advice as to the best course of action, ideally one that wouldn't cost as much as I am likely to get for the car (81.3k miles).

I know this is pretty much a 'how long is a piece of string' type question, but any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by drpop on 20/06/2011 at 17:03

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 17:10
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - Victorbox

It's a shame you didn't leave in gear with handbrake off or chock the wheels. I suggest you try engaging first gear and then try reverse in the hope that the rocking motion breaks the rust bond between the rear shoes and the brake drum - assuming it has rear drums and not discs. You may have to be quite aggressive in your forward and backwards motion attempts. The shoes often let go with quite a bang.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 17:34
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - Bobbin Threadbare

They're drums. You can also try knocking the drums with a bit of wood.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 18:04
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - drpop
Thank you for the replies. I shall endeavor to whack the thing free of its shackles!

It is perhaps worth also adding that the hand-brake feels very 'loose' when I disengage it. Could there perhaps an issue with that as well? and are their any simple home remedies or checks I can perform?

On a side note. Would it be advisable to put the vehicle through an MOT before any attempts at a private sale?
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Mon 20 Jun 2011 18:20
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - Bobbin Threadbare

I think I know what you mean by 'loose' but I guess it's hard to describe. If your brakes are gummed up with cack there's no reason why your handbrake calipers won't also be in the same condition! Might be worth getting a garage to check out the braking system; it won't pass MOT without all of that!

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 18:29
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - jc2

If the shoes are rusted to the drums the handbrake will feel loose when released-no tension on the cable.A little ignorance and plenty of brute force is called for-it could be worse-the clutch could have seized as well.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 19:44
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - injection doc

I seem to re-call that as of today it is now illegal to have a car that is uninsured even if its sorn ?

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 20:19
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - jc2

No-if not SORN'd,it must be insured-even if not on the road.It's one or the other,not both.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 21:29
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - unthrottled

My brake drums are hard to free off after even a few days without moving. You really do have to rock the car quite vigorously to free them off. Still glad it has drums though. Discs on the rear end are a silly fad.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 21:50
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - FP

"Discs on the rear end are a silly fad."

Drum bakes are more economical to manufacture and, for most cars, provide adequate braking.

Being a "fad" doesn't come into it.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 22:10
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - unthrottled

Rear axle drums provide adequate braking for ALL road cars-90% of the braking effort is carried out by the front brakes. Try getting a set of drums to overheat-you'll be trying very hard.

Drums are sealed from the weather and don't rust due to inadequate heat-unlike discs.

Shoes have a positive engagement which makes them ideally suited to a simple handbrake mechanisms-discs don't.

Drums are not cheaper to manufacture than discs/calipers. They are by far the most appropriate brake device for rear axles falling short only on the grounds of not looking sporty enough for consumers that judge the quality of a car by the size of the alloy wheels.

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 22:38
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - FP

I'm not an expert, but Googling "drum brakes vs disc brakes cost" produces a lot of results all saying the same thing - drum brakes are cheaper to manufacture.

I suppose they could all be wrong.

If you Google "drum brakes vs disc brakes overheating" quite a few results say drums are more prone to overheating than disks. I can't find anything to the contrary.

But they could be wrong as well.

Please note I'm not suggesting that rear drum brakes are likely to overheat - they don't have that much work to do; most of the braking effect is via the front wheels.

Edited by FocalPoint on 20/06/2011 at 22:41

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Mon 20 Jun 2011 22:46
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - unthrottled

say drums are more prone to overheating than disks. I can't find anything to the contrary.

They're right. I'm not advocating drums on the front axle. On the rear axle, heat is a moot point so it is irrelevant.

all saying the same thing - drum brakes are cheaper to manufacture.

They're (sort of) right again-until you factor in the handbrake problem. Why do you think so many manufacturers started using electronic parking brakes when no one wanted them? Because disks and handbrakes are a headache.

A lot of the perceived wisdom is out of date. In the early days a pair of ventilated discs were expensive-now you can pick them up iat a factor for very little. A bit like the myth of factory air intakes being 'restrictive'. It was once true, but is now obsolete. But there are still a lot of people clinging on to knowledge passed on to them by their fathers. Your dad's Lotus Cortina is a world apart from a focus RS.

Edited by unthrottled on 20/06/2011 at 22:58

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Tue 21 Jun 2011 00:38
Ford Focus 1.6 lx - Car on driveway since Sept - unthrottled

Wiki, for once, is spot on:

"Although drum brakes are often the better choice for rear brake applications in all but the highest performance applications, vehicle manufactures are increasingly installing disc brake system at the rear wheels. This is due to the popularity rise of disc brakes after the introduction front ventilated disc brakes. Front ventilated disc brakes performed much better than the front drum brakes they replaced. The difference in front drum and disc brake performance caused car buyers to purchase cars that also had rear disc brakes. Additionally rear disc brakes are often associated with high performance race cars which has increase their popularity in street cars. Rear disc brakes in most applications are not ventilated and offer no performance advantage over drum brakes. Even when rear discs are ventilated, it is likely that the rear brakes will never benefit from the ventilation unless subjected to very high performance racing style driving."

[My bold]

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