When applying handbrake I get what appears to be a "bang". Eventually, after the looong winter, whilst swapping tyres around, I noticed that with the handbrake on the RH wheel has about 2" of free play at the rim!! I haven't stripped it down, but my guess is the pads are tight enough on the drum, but they must be slack to the backplate. Something clearly isn't right. Has anybody has this issue - and know what it is?
Yes. It's quite normal and nothing to worry about.
The noise frightened me the first time. The handbrake mechanism floats a bit and gets a bit sticky. It's the same movement that allows the car to roll forward or back a few inches if you park on a hill and apply the handbrake.
But it's fine. It bangs once, then not again if you try again immediately.
The handbrake adjuster is easy to get to, being in the centre console behind the little rubber cover you never knew was there. Pull up the hand brake handle and see if the cable goes taught. Probably won't in your case. Try taking a few turns out of the slack to get the handle to only click 6 times before it really bites. use a long extension on a socket/ratchet before you try a spanner(not a great option in there). Copper grease will help in the handbrake assembly too, just on the rub points that the side of the shoes touch the plate.
The only constant problem I have on our cars is rear brakes. It seems the design is really prone to poor performance.