Third-party handbrake cables - my experience

[Bossworld]

Plenty of threads on this one but just wanted to share some knowledge.

I had my cables replaced in Jan 2017, the car has since covered around 6000 miles after that point.  The cables which came off were branded Herth and Buss and are available as a pair from an eBay seller for £44.99. Said eBay seller states a two year guarantee on the cables but does not reply to messages or answer the phone.  These cables are branded up as being compatible for 99-07, whereas Toyota and other 3rd party manufacturers provide different model numbers for PFL/FL.

The first pics are the driver's side cable which came off. This has split where the plastic covering the outer cable meets the metal jacket that slots into the caliper bracket. The metal jacket on the driver's side is noticeably shorter than the passenger side. Whether this is to help with the bend/routing I'm unsure but it's contributed to this split as it seems to need more reinforcement.





More worrying is the second pic, which is the approx difference in length between the Herth and Buss right hand cable, and the Borg and Beck that replaced it. With the H&B cables fitted, the equaliser had a slant as if the driver's cable wasn't long enough.



Third pic is different brand cables side by side.  There is a much bigger length difference.



Note that with the new Borg and Beck L and R pair side by side, at worst there was only 1cm difference between them (they are quoted at 1600mm left and 1610mm right). So it looks like this removed Herth and Buss right hand cable was too short for the car.

I now have a working handbrake that applies on both sides and the equaliser stays dead straight throughout. It also no longer requires Herculean strength.

The equaliser previously looked like this (handbrake not applied)



This meant that the initial pull engaged the (comparatively longer) passenger side, then the driver's side had too much resistance to fully pull on. 

I think this was a combination of cable routing and cable length.  With the cable off the car and straightened, the old cable moved freely. That threw me when I was trying every trick in the book to get a working handbrake.

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Tl;dr? Avoid the Herth and Buss cables if you can, the driver's side is neither well made or a good fit for the car.


For reference, the Herth and Buss cables can be seen here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201402949921?ul_noapp=true

The Borg and Beck ones I got were:

LH: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Handbrake-Cable-fits-TOYOTA-MR2-Mk3-1-8-02-to-06-Hand-Brake-Parking-B-B-Quality/332571010130?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

RH: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Handbrake-Cable-fits-TOYOTA-MR2-Mk3-1-8-02-to-06-Hand-Brake-Parking-B-B-Quality/232682391157?fits=Model%3AMR+2&epid=1361265540&hash=item362cf38675:g:XoYAAOSwIo5avA3x

LH cross references (Facelift)

BLUE PRINT   ADT 346360
FIRST LINE   FKB3402
QUINTON HAZELL   BC 4272

OEM references

TOYOTA   46430-17100


RH cross references (Facelift)

BLUE PRINT   ADT 346361
FIRST LINE   FKB3403
QUINTON HAZELL   BC 4273

OEM references

TOYOTA   46420-17100

[StuC]

I had a similar experience when mine went a couple of years back.

The local garage tried 2 types of non-oem cables, despite me saying I only wanted them to use OEM stuff. In the end Steve@D1C had to write a report for me to show them why the non-oem ones didn't work.

[Bossworld]

I had a similar experience when mine went a couple of years back.

The local garage tried 2 types of non-oem cables, despite me saying I only wanted them to use OEM stuff. In the end Steve@D1C had to write a report for me to show them why the non-oem ones didn't work.

Agreed, I would have had the Toyota ones if finances had allowed. These Borg and Beck ones look much better made than the H&B ones, have a plastic coating all the way down the inners. I've heard mixed opinions on the Pagid ones.

The bizarre thing is that we don't have a conclusive answer as to the difference fl/PFL. I wondered if it might relate to those metal collars.

The only major, unexplainable difference I found with the PFL equivalent 3rd party part numbers, was that both sides are only 1585mm.

[StuC]

Oooo not sure if I have the lengths if my oem ones somewhere as I thought it would be good to have the same info.

I'll do some digging.