Boots looked good. Both pistons were difficult to retract at first but after they went in a little they went the rest of the way fairly easy. I'm not sure how difficult they should be to push in so it was hard to guage. I used channel locks and didn't have a lot of trouble ... opened the bleed valve and lots of fluid came out as i pushed them in.

I'll try the kicking. That sounds like fun.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

The purpose of the kick is to knock the pads away from the rotor. If that reduces the drag considerably, you probably don't have a problem. New pads are a bit rough until they break in, anyway. So, normal contact between the pad and rotor will be a bit more evident until the pads break in more completely.

Tango - you might be right but I have never experienced his problem and have been changing the pads since '84. Will be interested to see the final resolution; interesting problem.

Did you have to force the pads into the caliper..........or did they slip right in?

Did you happen to clean the caliper with a wire brush where the backing plates ride?

They slipped right in. The only thing I noticed was that I kind of had to smoosh the metal clips on the edge of the pads down to get the caliper to close all the way .. it didn't really want to go down all the way, even though it had clearance at the piston.

I did clean the areas of the caliper where the back and sides of the pads touch with a wire brush and brushed the excess dust off with a shop rag. I didn't use brake cleaner or anything and they didn't look shiny clean when done, but I got a lot of dust off.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Also, FWIW, all four pads that came out were evenly worn.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Any body ever go to the trouble of breaking in new brake gear?

'Like 5 runs from 30MPH to 2MPH
'Then 5 runs from 60MPH to 10Mph

You don't want to let them completely STOP rolling during this process.
You're just trying to "Bed" the pads into the new rotors.

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'84 300SD sold
124.128