Peugeot 106 front brake pads

Hiram gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Sounds like you're not winding the piston(s) far enough back.

The piston wasn't the problem at all, I pushed the piston (single) as far back as it would go, the problem was the calliper casing fouling the pads on the inside.

Hiram gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Ah, I'm with you. Build-up of crap in the corners of the slides, not allowing the pads far enough back?

Have you measured the thickness of the disks and checked against spec, too? Might be the wrong (too thick) disks.

Nah I haven't, but the disks are quite thin, they are some of the thinnest disks I've seen. But it is a small car.

If the pads were 3mm thinner they fit beautifully.

On the other end you can see that there isn't enough clearance for the retaining pin to pass the inside pad.

Hiram gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Thought you said the metal backing was right? Those really don't look like the right pads - they should be MUCH better supported by the caliper than that.

There's usually one of two different brands of brakes fitted to PSA cars of this era - almost at random, so just specifying the age or engine or spec of the car won't help, you've got to actually get in there and identify what's on there.

The bits are "close but not quite" - a quick look at GSF suggests the pads are different for ATE & Bendix calipers. Are you sure you've got the right pads? If you have a look at any half-decent manual, it'll show you the two sets and point you to the identifying clues.

The retaining pins isn't inserted in the picture, but you can see there is more clearance on the outside than there is on the inside. Basically I can get the pin passed the outside pad but not the inner.

The back plate of the new pads was identical to the ones that came out. My local car spares shop assures me they are the right ones.

Nope, not 100%. But I did take the old ones to the spares place and he matched them to the catalogue. Yet, still they don't seem to fit. Odd.

Hiram gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Which doesn't, of course, mean the ones that were in were right...

We had a similar issue with my daughters 106 , you need to make sure everything is cleaned and that the pistons are pushed right back

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Judging by the photo supplied it looks as if you've got the pads mis-aligned in the caliper housing - see the two vertical lines. If I'm right you need to clean the housing to make sure the pads are properly inserted.

The manual describes two different types of caliper - Bendix and ATE. It looks as if the pads are very different but it's still worth a check that you've got the right pads for your caliper. Yours appears to be ATE.

Cic.

Indeed...

the retaining "pin" is a small flat "pin" that slides arcoss the top of the pads & secured by an r-clip, there should also be two sprung metal clips that sit underneath the bottom of both pads. Check the pads that came out as they were obvisouly right & compare with the new ones, looks like you havnt got them seated right.

I'd left the pins out and the spring clips off in the picture, as at that point I was still working out how they went in.

Yep, they were identical to the ones that came out, apart from much thicker.

The piston was as far back as it goes, there was loads of space side to side. I think you may have a point about cleaning, perhaps there is some rust build-up on the calliper.

Yep I see your point - but its the calliper housing on the bottom that wont allow the pad to sit square. Its the bulgy bit top right.

Yes I'm going to have a look into that - not sure how yet.

I had a 205 where the pads didn't go in as one expected. Garages often used brute force or filed a bit off the pads and got it wrong. Result was that the brakes would bind badly untill you took it home and swapped one of the pads on each side.

They are in 2 pairs and one goes in what looks like the wrong side as the pads per side don't match but it looks like they should.

Not sure I am making much sense and I wish I had a picture. It might not be your problem but could be worth a try? A caliper pair of pads are actually the same as each other and one pad goes in backwards rather than one pad looking like the reverse of the other.

Good luck.

I'm tempted to file a bit off one side of the metal backplate. The part that fouls on the calliper isn't load bearing or retaining. My problem is I'm not at home at the moment, so only have access to basic tools.

OK, I got them in eventually. I did have to file a couple of mm off the backplate. But due to the asymmetrical nature of the pad, and the rotational forces involved in action, I think I'm ok. Hard to explain in words.

Basically it's crap design imho.

Hiram gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Mmm. Because Jean-Claude on the production line had to file a couple of mm off before he could fit the pads to every car that went past him...

Or when Zhang made then in Beijing he made them too big.