Fanatec Handbrake
I’m trying to see how durable the Fanatec Handbrake is. I have 2 currently. 1st one broke, I ordered another while I sent the broken back for warranty work.
I do mostly drifting so I use the handbrake a lot. I admit I didn’t know there were plastic parts in it.
Before I ordered everything I watched a lot drifting and rally driving videos where they are just ripping the e-brake.
I wasn’t no where as hard as some of the videos I seen but it broke.
How it broke was the a bolt for the handle would back out during racing. I’d screw it back in not over tightening it many times. Then it backed out a lot and I noticed plastic threads on the bolt and it would not tighten and the handbrake no longer worked. The bolt screwed into a plastic knob that connects to the potentiometer.
Fanatec took care of it.
But now even with 2 I’m comprehensive about using it. I treat the thing like glass hoping it don’t break again.
Are you guys loosen the bushing it the back of the handbrake at all or doing anything else not to break it.
Or did I just get a bad one last time.
Not trying to bash as I want this stuff to last as I’m looking to buy a second Fanatec system.
Thanks
Herb
Comments
Its not very well-made. They need to release something better, hopefully along with a new H-pattern with less of a loose feel.
Had the exact same experience with Fanatec Clubsport Handbrake V1.5 (twice, actually), and came to realize that this is a VERY poorly designed product.
1st handbrake arrived and worked right out of the box. I had no issues for the first 5 days or so (approximately 200 pulls of the handbrake total), then it suddenly stopped working. After removing the cover, I could see that the black plastic component connected to the potentiometer was no longer rotating when the handbrake was pulled. When I looked closer, I could see that there is a METAL bolt screwed into this PLASTIC component, which ROTATES the plastic component every time you pull the handbrake.... It doesn't take an engineer to predict that the metal bolt will inevitably strip the plastic after repeated rotations and turn the entire handbrake into an expensive paperweight. I returned the handbrake and was given a full refund.
Hoping this was just a faulty handbrake, I ordered another one. Like you, I treated this thing like it was an uncooked spaghetti noodle - I never even used it's full range of motion because I didn't want to apply too much torque to the plastic bushing inside and have to wait another 4 weeks for a refund. Nevertheless, this one lasted a whopping 3 days (a total of 6 hours of gameplay and probably 100 total pulls) when the same exact component failed and I had to go through the trouble of shipping it back to get another refund.
I have no idea why they decided to make this handbrake 99% solid metal and 1% plastic... If you've been considering buying this handbrake, I strongly recommend steering clear of this one from Fanatec until they release a redesigned version 2.0...