406 Rear Suspension

[stevieb]

Hehe, no problem. Cheers.

My local tyre place does 4-wheel tracking, so as soon as I get the new one fitted I'll head off down there. I might have to show their lads how to adjust the rear tracking on this one though. They have a lot of contract work, fleets cars and the like, but it seems not much is PSA based, so when I arrive with a Pug they tend to look at it with interest - like a new toy to play with...

Nice bunch of lads. Always a pleasure to deal with. And let's face it, it's rare in this day and age.

[Quinny]

Funny that,because the Garlic eating Frenchman re-aligned all my 4 wheels when I had the droplinks done last year.

I remember posting on a site what had happened,Honest John if I remember correctly,and I got a few people saying that the 4 wheels shouldn't have needed doing,but in fairness,I'm pleased he did,because in nearly 6k,I have had no tyre wear to notice.

I also seem to recall Steve,that the droplinks should really be done in pairs,and I do remember the guy who originally diagnosed my droplinks telling me,in his best English,that they should last about 100,000kms.(About 64k miles.)

Ken.

[PowerLee]

Honest John & the wonderful people on there who aint got a clue what they are talking about, I love that forum, They are so up there on arse on there it makes me wont to throw up.

[Reggie]

Yes, I was one of them. I haven't had my 406 re-tracked and it seems fine.

Reggie

[Quinny]

Honest John & the wonderful people on there who aint got a clue what they are talking about, I love that forum, They are so up there on arse on there it makes me wont to throw up.

And they don't like truckdrivers forming an opinion as well.

I,and members from TruckNet UK,have posted on there,to give them our side to certain items relating to our industry,only for the thread to get locked when they find they're losing the argument.

Ken.[/code]

[PowerLee]

I got my posts deleted basically because some idiot bought a second hand Focus Ghia & expected to find it equipped with ABS as standard & it wasn't, So he started moaning about it AFTER he bought it!

How on earth he could of missed the lack of an ABS warning light, The ABS unit not being under the bonnet & the ABS not cutting in on the test drive still puzzles me to this day.

[stevieb]

I got my posts deleted basically because some idiot bought a second hand Focus Ghia & expected to find it equipped with ABS as standard & it wasn't, So he started moaning about it AFTER he bought it!

How on earth he could of missed the lack of an ABS warning light, The ABS unit not being under the bonnet & the ABS not cutting in on the test drive still puzzles me to this day.

A quick shufty at the Parkers website usually confirms the standard spec of any given model too...

Just goes to show the world is full of buffoons. Unfortunately it is they who seem to be in charge of the rest of us.

[fastandfurryous]

Just goes to show the world is full of buffoons. Unfortunately it is they who seem to be in charge of the rest of us.

Isn't that just the sickening truth!

[stevieb]

I haven't changed the offside one yet, and had it all tracked, but there's a definite change to the tracking on the car.

I need to turn the steering more one way than the other when gently correcting on the motorway.

So in my case, it's definitely worth me having it all done right. The thought of 40,000 miles a year with bad tracking fills me with dread at the cost of all those sets of tyres...

[stevieb]

Well, was it worth changing them all and having it tracked?

Ooooh yes!!!

Replacement of the offside one was hampered by the adjuster bolt being seized inside the bush inner tube, and no amount of brute force would budge it. So £3.15 and a new bolt later, I cut it out with the grinder - a differnet kind of brute force .

With the new bolt I had no guide marks to even give me an idea of alignment, so my trip straight to the tyre centre was a very noisy one. I guess the trick for anybody with a loud rear is to get it tracked. Because with the whole car re-tracked it suddenly became as silent as the grave. Absolute heaven again. No bomps, no bangs, and a lot less road noise.

My motorway miles today were unbelievably quiet. Well worth doing the job.

Oh yes, the handling. Ooooh yes!!! It handles like the 405 did - like it's on rails I'm a happy bunny again.

By the way - cheers for all the help chaps. Nice to know there are still some people out there willing to offer assistance. It's all good stuff.

[PowerLee]

stevieb you say this 406 handles like your 405 did.

Either you had a knackerd 405 suspension wise or you have found something with the 406s suspension set up Peugeot couldnt even with years of trying.

The 406 in standard set up will NEVER match a 405 for handling, Ive owned 405s & a 406 & the 406 was a step backwards for handling in my opinion.

I managed to lose 30mph cornering speed alone on one corner on the way to work just by driving a 406, I even had the suspension & wheel alingment checked 3 times, Once by a Peugeot main dealer & twice by tyre places that did tracking etc & it was always spot on.

The 406 had a better ride then the 405 but the handling was a real let down for me.

I hear the 407 is back to the Peugeots of old handling wise but ive yet to try one

[stevieb]

Well I tested mine on two tight roundabouts near home tonight - they were quiet I might add - and it took both at a similar speed to the 405 without fuss - no understeer, and no feeling that the rear might step out at any time.

The 405 would easily outclass many a sportscar on similar roundabouts and twisty stuff - all through my time with it. This 406 definitely feels a heavier car - and these roundabouts are slightly uneven - so maybe it's the heavier feel that gave me more confidence to push it more than I ever dared in the 405.

In addition this one seems much more stable at high speed cornering. I won't quote speeds, but this will take tight motorway bends and slip roads without a murmur, where I had to back off with the 405 due to it feeling like it would come right round on me.

Maybe it's at this point I should make it clear my 405 was an estate, and I believe one with the "stronger" rear suspension (the rear always sat quite high, even when loaded), so maybe I'm not making a fair comparison. But I know this thing handles like a tram now, and is already embarrassing more expensive vehicles so I'm not complaining .

However, time will tell whether I'm paying the price in tyre wear...

[PowerLee]

The simple fact I found is I never managed to spin any 405 when cornering no matter how hard I tried, But I managed to spin a 406 around on a corner with no effort that a 405 would just breeze around.

[stevieb]

The simple fact I found is I never managed to spin any 405 when cornering no matter how hard I tried, But I managed to spin a 406 around on a corner with no effort that a 405 would just breeze around.

Hehe, I spun the 405 on two occasions. Both wet, admittedly. (Last one was a full 270° on a cambered roundabout - I blamed the fact I had the hardly-used spare on the near-side rear).

It's probably more down to individual driving styles and the tyres fitted at the time than anything else then.

I just know this one handles like a Pug. Go into a corner far too fast (and watching the XR/GTi/SRi brigade either back off or start to squirm as they try to keep up), and as long as your revs are high, just plant your right boot on the accelerator and let the power pull you round. My old 309 did it, both 405's did, and now this one. The only difference is I have more power than before

[PowerLee]

I could always get the rear wheel high in the air cornering a 405

A 406 just used to wag its tail & make the cd changer skip as i caught it, Every day on the way to work, same corner, SKIP.

I padded the cd changer with some thin bubble wrap to fix that issue