My wife’s Soul sits on our steep drive in gear with handbrake on. Can’t be left just in gear as it will roll due steepness.

Normally no issue, but if we’ve been away on hols and it’s sat for a week or more the rear wheels are jammed up. Yesterday involved driving it sharply down drive, with one releasing with a bang and other actually being locked and dragged by about a car length, which can’t be good for it. Any solutions ? GT85 on pads before leaving it ? 😀 . Wondered about leaving chocks behind wheels rather than using handbrake ?

If she’s anything like my wife she drives gingerly and never really uses the brakes hard, meaning that the discs go rusty and then wear unevenly and if there are rear discs, the rear hub and hence the small parking brake drum never gets warm enough to drive out moisture, which is causing it to rust on.

Could you try driving the car with the handbrake held on so as to generate some heat and dry out the pads and drum?

When I leave my car for a few weeks on holiday I park it at my dads (cos it’s flat) with the handbrake off, in gear, wheels blocked.

Works for the handbrake. Still rust on the discs affecting braking for a few miles when I come back.

Probably just needs the calipers cleaning up. If they were sticking all the time then it probably has corrosion in the cables which is cheap to replace.

Leave it in Reverse and put the handbrake on gently rather than going Full Hulk on the lever. And / or chock the wheels.

Thanks, they don’t stick unless it’s sat for at least 5 days. Might find some wheel blocks.

That will be the pads sticking on the disks – flash rust, Google it – unlikely to be the calipers, just leaving the car overnight after washing it can cause similar symptoms.

As above a couple of bricks or proper chocks.

If you are going to chock it with the handbrake off on a steep drive, get some proper rubber chocks, I have some Sealey 4 ton chocks as a safety measure to stop either of my two large vans rolling down our very steep drive and through the neighbours house! None of this plastic chock rubbish, we have a cheap pair for the trailer and they wouldn’t hold a car on our drive.

And make sure you reverse up and chock the front, if you drive up forwards and chock the lighter back end there is a risk of the chocks skidding or the car riding over them.

I wouldn’t leave the handbrake on lightly, it was only when we moved here that I realised if the hill is steep enough the weight of the car is enough to overcome the engine compression and roll down the drive fairly briskly!

I wasn’t really meaning “lightly” so much as “sufficiently” without swinging on the bloody thing (which I’m guessing might be an issue, it’s a steep drive so better be sure, right?).

Must be a steep drive indeed if it rolls away when left in Reverse.

It’s not that steep, but steep enough to roll in gear, parked either up or down, reverse or 1st. It’s a light petrol car. I used to have a Mazda 6 which would also creep a bit of handbrake off, current 5tourer doesn’t. Will get to halfords for some chocks.

I’ve got two vans and depending on what work is on the Wee one can get left parked for quite a while and the handbrake can seize. However instead of a steep drive I park on uneven slippery cobbles. So when it jams on good and proper the back wheels just slide across the cobbles then along 100 yards of gravel track before I get to Tarmac with enough grip to unstick it. 🙂

Take a spark plug out and stick a bit of rag in it, that should stop the engine turning, don’t forget to remove when you want to start it again. Getting brakes hot will not work for long, they’re metal so water will condense on them and cause surface rust anyway. What you need then are carbon ceramics.

Take a spark plug out and stick a bit of rag in it, that should stop the engine turning,

eh? What’s that crackers suggestion about?

What you need then are carbon ceramics.

it’s a Kia Soul, not a Ferrari F50 😆

Park it across the way.

/thread closed

Take a spark plug out and stick a bit of rag in it, that should stop the engine turning,
eh? What’s that crackers suggestion about?

It was firmly tongue in cheek, as were the carbon ceramics.
I would suggest though, turning steering full lock (the last bit with the keys out to engage the lock) and rolling into a brick or chock and pointing away from anything important if possible