Help lowering a 98 Citroen xantia??

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Timmo »

quite often especially in the BX at normal height the driveshafts are angled down, its not something i have checked on the Xantia, most cras driveshafts are angled downwards in normal operating height,
After All, I am the Cornish one!

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Citroenmad »

Timmo wrote:Come on guys, your all being sa bit harsh here,
the guy wants to lower his car a bit, thats fine, its His car and he can do what ever he wants to with it! wether in our opinions its a good idea is of very little relevance, every one uses a car in a different way, lots of people lower their cars in a biot to look cool, reduce the considerable arch gap between tyres and arch lips, etc. ive been there and done it on my old 309gti, 62mm drop up front and torsoin bar 2 clicks (splines) to match, strut brace up front and towbar on the back (used to tow a lot of boats with it) which had a very similar effect, the car was Stiff as old boots and handled Amazingly, zero body roll compared to stock, like if you will an activa driving the same road as a std TD! corners are where a lot of speed is lost, i also did on on my old mini too, quite a bit of that was more down to it being Fubar'd but incomparison to my previous vanilla mini it was like night and day!
That is all fine, im not against it but there is a limit to how low a car can be lowered before it becomes more of a hazard than an 'improvement'. Indeed My C5 is lowered below the standard height level, as it looks silly with such big arch gaps. However it is only lower so it looks more like a conventional car with equal gaps around the wheels, so without a bigger gap at the top. Im talking half an inch under normal :lol:

A few mates are quite into VWs, which are very popular with lowering. I know people who have notched their chassis as once 'slammed' the drive shafts would rub the chassis legs. Others who have worn away brake cables on the road ... People who have had their cars airbags deploy as a big bump has set them off - something I did not think possible until then. A friends had a VW GTi which had something like £800 worth of coilover suspension fitted and was at a sensible height. Down a very demanding road my Activa would not only keep up, but lose the VW should I be in front. The suspension on the VW could cope fine with the corners, if it was a racing track, as it is roads are very bumpy and bumps are bad fro grip! The Citroen system can be so good that they do put most normal cars to shame, despite spending huge amounts of money 'improving' them! :lol:

So lowering it so its subtle by all means, but too much is too much.
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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by handyman »

I wonder why PSA, amongst other car manufacturers, have whole rafts of designers and engineers and spend shed loads of money refining their products and obtaining some form of manufacturing compromise when somebody who may or may not be clueless about automotive engineering can start hacking about with their car in an effort to 'improve' it, all for the want of 'style'?

This is why we get an army of politicos and pen pushers in the EU writing documents about type approval in an effort to stop these 'enhancements' and 'modifications'. All it does is make it more difficult for others who are intent on design improvement to undertake modifications. If you don't know what you are doing leave it alone.

I wonder if it is really some symptoms of a psychological problem manifesting itself due to a lack of an adequately sized member? :roll:

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Deanxm »

I wonder if it is really some symptoms of a psychological problem manifesting itself due to a lack of an adequately sized member? :roll:

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by handyman »

Yes Dean, we've all suffered it at some point, and some more than others. #-o [-X :ass: :pp: :dunno:

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by andmcit »

Stands to reason too that members of the opposite 5ex will go weak at the knees when a
car passes by bobbling uncomfortably as it drags it's arse on the road with a young lad driving it...
Last edited by andmcit on 16 Sep 2012, 23:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by andmcit »

Crazy censor filter - I can type arse but members of the opposite sex is altered automatically.
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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Timmo »

Does that mean Essex, susseX, scunthorpe etc. Are all out of bounds??
After All, I am the Cornish one!

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by handyman »

Tim, it depends on where you come from, as we dont want any of that cross county fraternization do we? [-X [-X Look at what happened in Norfolk, and in Kent, where they water down the beer. 8-[ :-D :-D :-D

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Post by addo »

Lowered car? I'd wager on waiting a long time for a dropped slipper to come your way...
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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Spaces »

the car was Stiff as old boots and handled Amazingly, zero body roll compared to stock, like if you will an activa driving the same road as a std TD!
Aye, but cars with steel springs are so completely compromised to begin - ie they have to prevent the car from scraping the ground when fully laden, not make the car ride too high when unladen, be hard enough to still work as springing when laden but not so hard they cause the car to hop from bump to bump when not.

So you can improve a steel-sprung car by matching it more closely to the conditions in which it's most often used - remembering it will be quite unsuited to the opposite. So with just one or two people, a car with conventional cart springs can be lowered a little which can improve the handling.

Doing the same with a car which doesn't suffer the same conflicts of interest is futile - if you want a car which handles more keenly then stiffen the springing (smaller spheres, lower pressure) and increase the damping.

Hydractive Xantias on standard setups are almost impossible to exploit to their max on public roads (at speed), the stiff setting is very very firm. You will find the PSA's suspension layout lacking a long while before the suspension itself yields. The BX 16v had very firm suspension, to the extent it was seriously uncomfortable at legal speeds. Most fitted 8v spheres. But the difference between that and a lowered car is that it will handle well all the way to its limits. Going round a few suburban roundabouts with lowered suspension which feels to 'hold the road' doesn't imply the car will handle well at all.

A car which handles well will usually have low polar mass (most of its weight within the wheelbase and as concentrated as possible to the mid-point), a low centre of mass, wide track, strongly-located and stiff suspension components, a distinct lack of rubber interfering with the suspension, suspension which can articulate without corrupting its important geometries and low unsprung weight. If it has the benefit of rising-rate springs, near-zero mass (so no interia) of the springing medium and an minimum of compromises you will be getting close. Stiff anti-roll bars are a menace - unless you are racing round a dry, smooth track. Their influence needs to be kept to a minimum.

There is good reason McLaren has ditched the antiroll bar from their latest sporting motor car and used a system with hydraulic accumulators, designed by a guy who was inspired by his old Citroën on the way to work. Just a shame Citroën themselves were so effectively castrated by a very ordinary car maker in the prime of their engineering life!
Last edited by Spaces on 19 Sep 2012, 02:33, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Northern_Mike »

Timmo wrote:Does that mean Essex, susseX, scunthorpe etc. Are all out of bounds??
They should be!
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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by triumphtoledo »

Regardless of opinions, if you lower your car, you should declaire it to your insurance company.

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Deanxm »

not with a xantia as your not changing any components.

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Re: Help lowering a 98 Citroën xantia??

Post by Timmo »

As you should for Any 'modification' to original factory spec, that includes different Size Tyres! Knew of someone on BX16v forum in the earlier days who had his insurance payout refused as he had 185/60/14 instead of the 195/60/14 it rolled out with!
Having driven Hard on both, you can't tell the 10mm difference in width at all! If anything a little Less baloony!
After All, I am the Cornish one!

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