C5 Wot do I do with it?

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cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

Hi Chris

Funny you should suggest that it was / is a car that I was looking at only the other night, didn't know that they had air suspension though. 6 Grand is a little above what I want to pay but if they were a little closer I would certainly be inclined to have a closer look.

Rear tyres? not realy sure because I inherited them when I purchased the car but I estimate 12 -15K ish. Both tyres have just been changed the ones that came of were well worn on the outer 25% of the tyre while the inner 25% looked close to new tread depth.

cachaciero
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Post by Citroenmad »

The C4 GP are going to make even better buys in the future when prices drop lower, though they do seem to be holding them reasonably well.

That is quite poor mileage from rear tyres, our C5s dont wear them anywhere near that fast. Something like softer rubber compound in the tyres can cause faster wear, but that is excessive for rear tyres.
Chris
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cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

Citroenmad wrote:The C4 GP are going to make even better buys in the future when prices drop lower, though they do seem to be holding them reasonably well.

That is quite poor mileage from rear tyres, our C5s dont wear them anywhere near that fast. Something like softer rubber compound in the tyres can cause faster wear, but that is excessive for rear tyres.
Well one of the rear tyres was Federal which are not noted as being a soft compound.

But yes wear is heavy I have seen a few complaints from owners of early C5 estates complaining about this and claiming similar figures.

As is well know Citroen had a lot of problems with the rear suspension on early C5's my belief is that there was either a manufacturing or design problem with the subframe which really required it to be changed some were some wern't Citroen of course would have tried very hard to convince customers that there was not a lot wrong. Owners of C5II dont seem to have any problems but then the subframe changed around about the introduction of the C5 II it's possible that some Mk 1's also got the modified frame have never bothered to track down the exact date when the new part was introduced but it should be easy to do the RPO numbers are on the parts breakdown.

Same for front suspension the lower arm bushes were changed about the same time an I reckon that the changes probably reduced the compliance somewhat which may have had the effect of tightening up the steering a bit.

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
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Post by Citroenmad »

cachaciero wrote:
Same for front suspension the lower arm bushes were changed about the same time an I reckon that the changes probably reduced the compliance somewhat which may have had the effect of tightening up the steering a bit.

cachaciero
Ah, that does explain things, I wondered if something had been changed along the C5s lifeline, as the later cars do feel differently to drive.

How did you come by that information?
Chris
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cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

Principally by going through the expanded parts lists for both Mk1 and Mk2 cars and noting the difference in Part numbers and then trawling through the Info files on the citroen service site which in some cases explains what the changes are, the front suspension one actually shows the dimensional differences in the rear bush and arm both of which change however have found nothing on the rear subframe differences.

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
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1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
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centurus2400
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Post by centurus2400 »

My very early C5 Estate (August 2001) had the problem with excessive wear on the inside of the rear tyres, nearly bald after 15.000 miles :shock:

A polite letter to Citroen, and a couple of weeks later the car went back to the dealers for two days while the whole rear subframe was changed under warranty. It's been fine ever since.
cachaciero
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Post by cachaciero »

Interesting that yours wore on the inners. i seem to re-call reading somewhere that faced with complaints the dealers had a set of measurements which they had to carry out depending on the results Citroen would either fit a new subframe or argue that there wasn't a problem.
Problem for me is that according to citroen mine had all the "required work " done to it post delivery With over 100K on the clock it would be difficult to argue the case that Citroen didn't do all that they should have done even though I am sure that they didn't :-)

cachaciero
2006 Toyota Prius T Spirit
2001 2.2 C5 Exclusive SE
1996 XM 2.1 TD Auto VSX
1995 XM 2.1 TD Auto SX died @ 140K
1987 CX 2.5 Gti Turbo II dead
1984 Ford Scorpio
1981 CX 2.4 Pallas Auto
Renault 21
1220 GS Club
Rover P6 2000TC
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