406oc.co.uk

Is it true that hand brake of 406 is bad "by design" and cannot be repaired to work good, at least not for long time? If yes, is it possible to make some modification or improvement do make it better?

I'd also be interested as the handbrake on my GTX is awful.

Have a look in the Knowledge Base on the home screen - our member Jasper5 did a how to guide to make it work to the best of its ability.

I've just adjusted the er, adjuster every 6 months or so ( when I greased the caliper sliders ) to keep it working fairly well.

I have had three of them, all useless handbrakes except after you have been driving it in the rain and left it standing for a while, handbrakes brilliant then for about 5 minutes until the rust has worn off the drums.

I'm sure its just bad design which is a shame because the rest of the car is almost perfect, the drum surface area is just not big enough or the linkage is not designed to give sufficient leverage. I have thought about ways to improve it but its so simple that there is not much to do.

I think its all down to the brake linings, if you can find some soft high friction ones it would improve it, I bought some Mintex ones several years ago but neither of the two I am running at the moment have required replacement so haven't tried them yet. Mine do work if you pull the handbrake up really hard but then my wife can't release it.

I haven't found adjustment makes much difference except that they work better immediately after you have adjusted the shoes, so do that just before the MOT.

Ideally you need some way of squirting water on them automatically every time you stop

Peter

You could try this mod

I fitted genuine handbrake shoes,slackened off the cable at the handbrake lever end,adjusted the shoes up (within the hub) until slightly binding and backed off very slightly,adjusted the cable back up at the handbrake end once again untill the brakes shoes were just starting to bind and backed off slightly.I have had a perfect handbrake now for approx 2 years,it will lock up the rear wheels if you pulled it on while moving at slow speeds.It is possible to get a good handbrake with patience and good quality handbrake shoes.

You don't happen to know who manufactured the shoes were do you? That seems to be the answer.

Steve : yes that would do it.

Peter

They were OEM Peugeot hand brake shoes, , I've tried other makes in the past but got the best results with OEMones

Do you know the OEM code of the shoes?