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Sat 20 Jul 2002 13:46

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - 406_666

I've had a mass of problems with the brakes on my R Reg Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate.

In just over one year, I have had the front disks on my R reg Peugeot Diesel Estate replaced 6 times due to wheel judder:

Date Mileage Work carried out
12.03-01 72657 Changed front disks and pads
31.08.01 80821 Changed front disks and pads
12.12.01 86837 Changed front disks
15.04.02 91590 Changed front disks
17.05.02 92816 Changed front disks, flanges and bearings
28.06.02 94276 Changed front disks

The work on 17.05.02 cost me £510 and achieved nothing - after 1000 miles, again I had wheel judder on braking.

On May 1, 2002, the vehicle received its MoT test from the local dealer. Brakes, steering and suspension were fine. Less than 600 miles later, it was back in the dealers workshop on May 17, because of wheel judder. This time the front hub bearings and wheel hubs were replaced because ?that?s the only thing we haven?t tried yet?. Including replacing a drive belt, the total bill to me was £510.

I've spoken to Peugeot Customer Service and got nowhere. Their response was as follows:

Peugeot will not refund the money as it "could be a problem with vehicle causing the disk wear" (or words to that effect)

The disks currently fitted (on 28.06.02) are Girling

The disks fitted 17.05.02 and on 15.04.02 were Bendix. These ones lasted between 1000 and 1500 miles before replacement. The dealer had reported to Peugeot that there was a "material problem" with these disks. This problem was unspecified. Was it manufacturing, design, material, finishing, storage or what? With modern manufacturing standards and regulations surely this should be impossible?

The disks replaced on the dates below were Peugeot supplied parts:
12.03.01
31.08.01
12.12.01

The disks I've got now have done just over 1000 miles since the last change.

I've asked 'Honest John' about this via email and he suggests

"The problem is most likely to be dirty or corroded caliper pins. These are the pins on which the calipers travel in and out to clamp the discs. If the calipers stick slightly, the pads remain in contact with the discs and wear both out very quickly. Franchised dealers rarely bother to clean these pins as part of a routine service."

I've no way of knowing what happened here or if Peugeot suggested this.

Peugoet don't seem to understand the concept of identifying the root cause of a problem - anyone had any similar problems and/or have suggestions on who I can contact in Peugeot who might be more clued up and responsive than P. customer service?

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Sat 20 Jul 2002 20:38

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - M.M

Brian,

Given the mileage of your car I would be looking hard at the front suspension bushes. If they are soft this could allow a minute brake judder to amplify???

Also I wonder if your useage is such that the brakes are used very hard just before the vehicle is stopped/parked for a while. This will greatly increase the rate at which the judder will appear due to the disc material being affected at the hotspots.

Another long shot but you have tried changing the wheels/tyres round???

David W

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Sat 20 Jul 2002 20:48

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - David Davies

Another possibility is that the discs simply need trueing up after a short period of use.You do not mention whether your agent is using an on car disc brake lathe.If not I would suggest you engage the services of a garage that offers this service.I've found it to be very effective for curing a problem like yours.
David Davies (Tune-Up Raglan)

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Sun 21 Jul 2002 09:06

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - M.M

DD,

Fair point that the on-car lathe may sort the problem for "X" thousand miles but why do you think this is happening anyway.

I only have one customer who suffers this judder problem, and then only after around 25-30K miles. All the other discs I fit seem to be fine until worn out.

David W

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Mon 22 Jul 2002 09:25

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - 406_666

Thanks for all comments - the problem I have is that something is causing these disks to fail and that Peugeot UK don't have the capability or interest in finding the root cause.

I've found several other owners with the same problem - here's a comment I got yesterday "I too had a similar problem and the dealer replaced the discs 3 times within as many months. To be honest I gave up with them after that. The last set of discs seemed better and so I left it. But the brakes are still not 100% judder free."

I'm sure that the probability it that around the UK there are many other unreported problems with these disks.

When I've got enough additional information, I'll take it up with the small claims court.

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Wed 31 Jul 2002 21:44

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - deepseamark

Have you tested the disc and also the hub with a run out gauge
If you are fitting new discs on to a dirty/rusty hub or a hub that is not true you will get brake judder after a few thousand miles

The hub must be spotless do not smear the hub or the disc with grease before you fit them. If you were to place a piece of letter writing paper in between the disc and the hub at one side of the hub the runout deviation caused by the thickness of the paper will cause you to get brake judder after a few thousand miles it is that critical

it will say in the box, probably on a sticker stuck to the disc the maxinum runout permisable

Mark

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Fri 25 Apr 2003 20:11

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - ubcaps

Ive had the same problems on a 406 Hdi estate. One month after it was delivered it had to have new front discs. Since then (July 2000) I've had about 5 sets of discs. However, just recently I took it to an independent garage who diagnosed a siezed left front caliper, partially siezed rear calipers and a bust handbrake cable. So much for Peugeot service! They also used non-Peugeot discs and pads and as a result the brakes have never been better AND they dont judder at all! I reckon Peugeot have had a quality problem with these calipers, but wont fix them, or even admit that something is wrong.

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Sat 26 Apr 2003 17:32

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - Robin the Technician

This is a common problem across a wide range of vehicles. For years i had a Montego which braked perfectly until Once when I replaced the pads with OE ones. I must have replaced about twenty discs and pads on it including checking them with a dial guage upon fitment to check out they were true. All were ok and 1000 miles later they were juddering. I did hear that pads might be a problem so I changed to Lucas type which are a bit softer and it certainly worked. When i got my Peugeot 406 estate it wasn't long before I needed to replace the pads on that. So i replaced them again with lucas ones. Now, I drive fast and use my brakes hard and they are really good with no problems.
Go to your local Partco branch and specify you want LUCAS pads. When getting the discs changed get the garage to fit the Lucas pads and I'll be surprised if we hear from you on here again.
Hope this helps.

These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am.....

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Sat 26 Apr 2003 22:21

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - M.M

From a wide experience of all sorts of Citroen and Peugeot models I do not perceive this as a particular problem. In fact I've only really suffered this problem with one car (a Rover) and one particular driver.

I use OE Bendix discs and pads 80% of the time and they're fine.

Other 20% of time I use Lucas, Mintex, Halfords own and sometimes Partco Powertrain brand. I could also tell you some other brands that make brake parts from cheese but won't!

Lucas and Mintex are the best of the non-Bendix ones.

**Above advice refers to cars used for normal to fast road use.

MM

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Sun 9 Jun 2013 19:53

Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate Disk Brakes - vmturbo

I had a similar problem on an 850 cc Mini over forty years ago. I thought that it might be the brake shoes snatching but it wasn't that. The wheels were re-balanced but it wasn't that either and the wheel bearings and CVJs were 100% perfect. Braking at low speeds in traffic was OK but braking at high speed caused vibration. Very puzzling indeed.

One day I was driving home from work grinding along through heavy congestion at a snails pace when I dropped something into the passenger side footwell. As the car was travelling so slowly I bent down to pick up the item. As I bent down my eyeline ran along the bonnet and the bonnet seemed to be going up and down!

Once I got home I jacked-up the car and placed a brick next to each front tyre in turn. As the wheel was rotated the gap between the tyre and the brick varied by about 3/8" (10 mm in Metric) I had an oval tyre! This problem had been bugging me for three months and the tyre still had plenty of tread left. Possibly the fact that the tyre was on the side that got blasted with hot air from the radiator had caused the problem.

I did read about a bloke with a Jaguar having a similar problem over a mere one eigth of an inch. As the tyre still had loads of tread left the blokes garage sanded-down the high spot (not sure whether this would be legal today) This cured the Jaguar!

Watch out for oval tyres and only use round ones!

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