[Punisher41]

My Beetle's parking brake is very weak. When I pull the brake handle, it works but just barely. I'm going to replace the brake pads on the front and rear this weekend. Can I adjust the parking brake at the rear calipers or does it need to be adjusted at the handle? Also can anyone tell me how this is done?
I'm not sure if I can put regular pads on it or do I have to put the ones that have the wired sensor on them.
Thanks

 

[jfoj]

Parting brake is adjusted at the handle as I recall.

Keep in mine you will have to "screw" the rear pistons back into the calipers. They turn clockwise and you may need a special tool, I used a long pair of long nose pliers as my brake piston tool was not going to work. Once you get the new brakes installed, you may not need to adjust the parking brake?

Also only the drivers side front brake pad has the sensor. I would use decent quality pads, the OE pads actually should last close to 80k miles if the calipers do not hang.

 

[red99]

It could be the parking brake is weak because the pads are worn out. There are self-adjusters in the rear calipers. Because of that there is a special tool needed that pushes and turns at the same time on the caliper piston. I have used a tool loaned by Autozone on mine and it works perfectly.

You shouldn't need to manually adjust the parking brakes unless the cables have stretched. The factory adjustment is on the tight side. I had to loosen mine to keep the brakes from dragging.

One of the front pads has a wear sensor built into it. If you replace it with a standard pad there is a shorting plug that you will need to get to attach to the sensor connector. Otherwise the "pads worn" light will stay on.