Tips To Improve Your Brakes

[Turbo7379]

My first tip is to find your nearest lucas agent as they will be able to sell you genuine Peugeot pads & discs a lot cheaper than the dealer (Peugeot pads & discs are made by Lucas). They also can supply calipers, repair kits & pin kits. I made the mistake of buying a rear caliper pin kit from Peugeot for over £20, same thing from Lucas only £12!

When I bought my 406 the first thing I did was replace the brake discs & pads all round. I used all lucas stuff & the brakes were improved drastically. Early last year I thought the brakes were not as good as they should be & I swapped the front pads for some Mintex M1144 compound.

My second tip is that the 406 HDI 90 uses the same front caliper as the 306 GTI6 so there is a good selection of motorsport pads available.

The pads didn't bring the improvement that I hoped & last month I gave the brake system a full check over before MOT. I replaced the front discs as they were near minimum thickness. This time I went for Mintex discs to match the pads. They were a good price at £50, Apex crap were the same price!

I noticed the front hoses were starting to crack so I changed those. When I took off the old ones I tried to blow the old fluid out of them & discovered that they were nearly completely blocked! I cut the hose where the cracks were showing & the inner liner had collapsed. It was lucky I had any front brakes at all! When I saw that I changed the rear hoses too as a precaution.

One of the good things about 406 calipers is that they are steel so they don't suffer from seized bleed nipples but the bleed nipples themselves do corrode & block with rust. I usually take them out & clear them with a small drill bit. This time I finally gave in & replaced them with 2 new ones, only £2 from my local motor factors. They are the same thread as the brake hoses & I used the old hose to make sure I got the correct ones. I think the thread is M10x1mm.

I always wrap plumbers tape around the bleed nipple before fitting as I have discovered that air gets in past the threads when you are bleeding the brakes.

My car was lying up last winter for a long time during the snowy weather & then 6 weeks after that as I fell on the ice & broke my wrist! When I got back on the road my handbrake wouldn't work properly. No matter how hard I pulled it on it wouldn't hold the car on a hill. Adjusting the shoes didn't help & neither did new shoes ( has anyone found an easy way to get the bottom spring on ). I took off the handbrake cables & discovered they were nearly completely seized due to the car not being used. They wouldn't free up so 2 new ones were fitted. Not an easy job & you have to drop the exhaust box to get at the adjuster.

Thats all I can think of now. Feel free to add your tips & tricks for servicing & improving your brakes.

[lozz]

Excellent stuff mate,

yeah your correct on the 306 pads, theres alot more stuff out there that'd fit too, just acase of cross-referencing parts,

[madmadmax]

I can recommend fileing and copper slip all pad to caliper carrier contact points as this will stop the pad sticking and the back of the pas as this sum times reduces sequel.

DO NOT PUT copper slip on pad to disk contact surfaces

[Gary406]

I can recommend fileing and copper slip all pad to caliper carrier contact points as this will stop the pad sticking and the back of the pas as this sum times reduces sequel.

DO NOT PUT copper slip on pad to disk contact surfaces

like i didnt do last year and found myself stripping it all off a week later cos i didnt file down the caliper sliders. and the brakes were sticking

so i agree here . definately file down the section that the caliper slides on.

[Turbo7379]

Here's a link to the online Lucas catalogue & distributor list.
http://www.xpart-allmakes.com/

definately file down the section that the caliper slides on.

Don't you mean file down the part the PAD slides on?

Don't use copper grease on the caliper slides as it dries up & hardens & can also damage the rubber. You need to use red rubber grease, the same stuff that comes with caliper seal kits. Copper grease is ok where the pad slides in the caliper.

Another tip is to file a chamfer on the leading edge of a new brake pad when fitting to old discs. Help reduce squealing during bedding in.

[lozz]

Ijust smooth off the edge of the new pads, theres always a coating on them,
the part of the calipers where the pad slides on, iuse awire brush just to clear off any rust, or dust,

people shouid use a mask too, that dust is no good on your lungs

[omega]

people shouid use a mask too, that dust is no good on your lungs

thats a good point but at least now they are not made of asbestos.

[lozz]

people shouid use a mask too, that dust is no good on your lungs

thats a good point but at least now they are not made of asbestos.

True,but idont take chances idont know what the ingredients are now adays in the pads,
but ive been in a factory where they make them and the workforce are all masked up, if there was nothing in them harmful idont think theyd be wearing masks in a hot factory the smell knocks you sick going to the reception