Rear brake pad change (electronic handbrake). Any way to change without VCDS / OBD11 etc?

[E_T_V]

Rear pads on my better halfs '17 plate 184FR need changing. I'm more used to working on old-skool cars as you can see in my avatar.
Is there any way to replace the pads without diagnostic gear? I've seen people remove the handbrake motors before in order to wind pack the handbrake adjustment mechanism - is that a sensible option? Or do I REALLY need to get myself some diagnostics gear?

 

[RUM4MO]

You can remove the motors and wind them back in by hand(tools), there is a possibility that you crack or break the motor assembly housing if you are not lucky, also I'm sure that there is a thin rubber O - ring sort of gasket in there to protect the motor assembly from water getting into it - another possibility for ending up damaging one or two - but maybe you'll get lucky.

I've never had this issue as I did dig deep and bought VCDS, although there will be more universal "brake tools" available for dealing with electric handbrakes, I just don't want to encourage you to take the risk, but fair enough if you're game to do that.

 

[E_T_V]

I'm a relatively competent mechanic (I've rebuilt engines, gearboxes and many calipers before), I just ain't used to this electronic trickery!

 

[RUM4MO]

Gone brittle plastic might be your enemy here - like "aluminium castings with steel parts and bolts passing through or into them" tends to be mine.

I'm sure that there is a Torx or similar female on/in the head of the motor, that allows you to wind them back, some people just suggest applying battery voltage to them.
I'm not sure if doing this causes any error codes to get set though, and how you could resolve them without a scan tool - maybe disconnecting the battery would work.

 

[RADIOTWO]

Rear pads on my better halfs '17 plate 184FR need changing. I'm more used to working on old-skool cars as you can see in my avatar.
Is there any way to replace the pads without diagnostic gear? I've seen people remove the handbrake motors before in order to wind pack the handbrake adjustment mechanism - is that a sensible option? Or do I REALLY need to get myself some diagnostics gear?

I did hear a trick that can be done and that is unplug the motor on the calliper and then apply 12 volts
to the motor (not the car side of the wiring) and if it does not work just reverse the polarity so one way will close the piston and the other will close it, then just connect back to the socket.
Do a search on youtube and it will show it being done

 

[SuperV8]

You can in theory un bolt/pull the actuator off the back of the caliper and wind back the screw - and then push back the piston to fit new pads, this is called an emergency release.
The problem though is re-assembling as you need to do an "Electronic parking brake (EPB): initialisation" with a scan tool - which re-calibrates the actuator.

 

[RUM4MO]

@SuperV8 I've always wondered if that is really the case, or if applying the handbrake and releasing it a couple of times would sort that out - I've no need to try that out obviously though - and these comments were a "get out" to cover things not exactly going to plan if mechanically retracting the motor as you describe.

One way to find out I suppose.

 

[SuperV8]

@SuperV8 I've always wondered if that is really the case, or if applying the handbrake and releasing it a couple of times would sort that out - I've no need to try that out obviously though - and these comments were a "get out" to cover things not exactly going to plan if mechanically retracting the motor as you describe.

One way to find out I suppose.

That is what the work shop manual states.

I have no idea on the actual algorithms and the process the EPB goes through during this initialisation process, or if the caliper will eventually learn the correct pressures/time/distances etc.. But they aren't cheap calipers - so I wouldn't want to find out the hard way!

Some cars have some button presses/clicks sequence to carry out this initialisation process without needing a scan tool - but not aware of this for MQB cars?

VAG use a TRW EPB - see their datasheet also stating needs to be closed and calibrated using a scan tool:

 

[RUM4MO]

Must be some "lucky" person out there.

My older daughter's partner was a bit concerned about me about using VCDS on her 2019 Leon Cupra as "lots of chat about doing this damaging the ABS controller - or similar", but for me, doing that job on my 2011 S4 and that 2019 Leon Cupra, all went as planned.
It seems that Citroens from maybe 10 or 15 years ago, probably the big plastic people carriers, suffered from that, and he has a friend that has "been there done that" and had to suffer the wallet crunching that goes along with "things going wrong".

Mind you, I'm old enough to remember that using early versions of VAG-COM could seriously annoy your airbag controller, there used to be a warning issued by VAG-COM when you approached that area!

 

[SuperV8]

My older daughter's partner was a bit concerned about me about using VCDS on her 2019 Leon Cupra as "lots of chat about doing this damaging the ABS controller - or similar", but for me, doing that job on my 2011 S4 and that 2019 Leon Cupra, all went as planned.

I know what I'd do if someone was moaning about getting free work on their car which saves them hundreds of pounds!

There are many cheap knock offs of the popular scan tools - I would think these are 99% the cause of any 'rumors'' about them causing trouble.
We used to get daily calls from "customers" saying they had brought our (£2000) scan tool of ebay for £30 and now its not working!!
For mundane tasks like clearing fault codes - or winding back pistons I am 99.99% confident a decent scan tool from a reputable company is fine - as long as the instructions are followed to the letter.

Where you include more major stuff like updating firmware etc.. - even dealers have clauses like 'if we brick your ECU we're not responsible' out of warranty!

 

[E_T_V]

You can in theory un bolt/pull the actuator off the back of the caliper and wind back the screw - and then push back the piston to fit new pads, this is called an emergency release.
The problem though is re-assembling as you need to do an "Electronic parking brake (EPB): initialisation" with a scan tool - which re-calibrates the actuator.

If I apply 12v to the parking brake to take up the slack then that is probably all the initialisation is doing. (running the motor for longer than usual).
As there are only two wires I can't see how it gets any position feedback for a proper calibration, so I assume it just runs the motor till it stalls to apply, and then winds it back for a set duration to release.