The dreaded rear brake struggle.
My 1988 1.8 8v had it's first MOT after being in storage for 7 years. It only failed on one thing. The handbrake wasn't catching enough on the drivers side. I have since had the caliper off and the arm the handbrake cable attaches to is moving freely. I've tried tightening up the cable and I have got it that the rear drivers side wheel turns slightly with extreme force turning the wheel by hand. But the passenger side doesn't turn at all.
Is this most likely a caliper problem or possibly a stretched cable?
Thanks.
The handbrake mechanisms do seem to fail for a past time on those.
I had a similar issue, swapped the calliper out and all was well again.
They can take a bit of love to get them moving freely but once done you can upgrade the release spring to those for a Ford Granada. It's the same size but the coil is thicker, suggesting the spring has more force.
This helps release the arm when you let the handbrake off. I did this in 2021 and haven't had any issues since: https://www.vwgolfmk2.co.uk/clubforum/index.php?topic=118.msg7942#msg7942
Thanks for the replies. I have ordered a new rear caliper and will fit it sometime next week. I will update once I have this done. Hopefully that fixes it and I can get the car on the road after 7 years.