It goes wonky round corners

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 31 May 2016, 14:42

If the rear suspension is similar to the Xantia (which I think it is but I'm not 100% sure) there are four round rubber bushes much like engine mountings that mount the rear suspension chassis to the body. They are deliberately designed to deform more easily in certain directions, this lets the rear suspension chassis twist under cornering and provides passive rear wheel steering.

If this is not working properly it can make the car twitchy under moderate to hard cornering. They don't often fail but when they do they can really upset the handling of the car when you push it around corners. When working properly they make the rear wheels turn slightly in the same direction as the front wheels under cornering load, thus providing some negative feedback to sudden steering input, making the car more stable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steering# ... l_steering

swiveleyedgit · Post by **swiveleyedgit** » 31 May 2016, 17:30

Ah yes, Citroen Service says 2 round bushes at the front of the crossmember and 2 square ones at the back, something else to look at. Hopefully I'll be able to check all these bits out tomorrow, the weather here is terrible today.

swiveleyedgit · Post by **swiveleyedgit** » 11 Jun 2016, 18:14

Well I finally got round to having a look at the car today, the nearside bottom ball joint is knackered. It was newly fitted about six months ago so I'm assuming the quality wasn't up to much!
I'll replace it Monday and see if the wonkiness has disappeared.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 11 Jun 2016, 21:40

Could be a faulty tyre.

Peter

swiveleyedgit · Post by **swiveleyedgit** » 16 Jun 2016, 04:25

The wonkiness has gone, twas the ball joint. I've replaced the offside one as well, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the other one but I thought I may as well do it while all the tools were out.
I'm going to check the drop links and bushes today as there's something rattling over the bumps still, these were only changed a few months ago as well. I was wondering if there was anything on the steering column that wears as the noise seems to be coming more from beneath my feet?

Post by **elma** » 16 Jun 2016, 05:38

Like an elf with a little hammer under the car right where your feet are? If so that's a droplinks for sure, they get manufactured worse every year. I've had cheap ones give up in as little as 35 miles.

swiveleyedgit · Post by **swiveleyedgit** » 16 Jun 2016, 08:58

Yes, that's a good description. I'll have a look this morning, is there any point in getting replacements from the main dealer if they need changing? There seems to be a variation in quality with these from third party suppliers.

swiveleyedgit · Post by **swiveleyedgit** » 16 Jun 2016, 13:56

Got a pair of Delphi drop links from my local factor, 10 quid each, no noise at all now!
Only got to get the tracking done again now as it moved when I replaced the ball joints

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 16 Jun 2016, 14:00

Changing the drop links won't change the wheel alignment.

Either you're not measuring it accurately or the lower arm bushes are soft causing the measurement to change when the car moves and the lower arm settles in a slightly different place...

swiveleyedgit · Post by **swiveleyedgit** » 16 Jun 2016, 19:52

No Simon, the tracking changed when I replaced the bottom ball joints. I had it tracked when the new tyres were fitted and to be fair they made a good job of it, but unbeknown to me at the time (this was about 6 or 7 weeks ago) the ball joints were worn and now I've replaced them the tracking is slightly out.

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 16 Jun 2016, 21:04

Do the tracking yourself!
You only need something like an adjustable clothes prop which will fit between the inner rims, and half an hour or less.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 16 Jun 2016, 21:08

A length of threaded rod slid into a metal tube gives a pretty accurate adjustment, I have used this for many years.

Peter

Post by **elma** » 16 Jun 2016, 21:08

Please explain...

Post by **Peter.N.** » 16 Jun 2016, 21:25

I would put a picture on but I don't know how to do it

What I use is about 3' of threaded rod about 1/2" in diameter with two adjustable nuts fitted, this is slid into a length of suitably sized tubing so that the length can be adjusted by the nuts, I use two nuts so the rod can be fitted the other way round for a car with a different track width.

Adjust the length so that it just touches the inside edge of the tyres at the front of the wheel level with the bottom of the wheel, move it to the rear of the wheel in the same position and it will be a looser fit or there will actually be a gap, that is if the wheels are towing in, if its tighter or the gap is smaller they are towing out.

The tow in - out measurement will be found in the workshop manual or possibly on line but most cars have the wheels almost parallel, is usually about 1/16" to 1/8th" but that is at the wheel rim so on the tyre it will be a little less but it isn't that critical on most cars, I find that a tight fit one end and a loose one the other works fine and set like this I have never had a problem with uneven tyre wear.

Peter

Post by **elma** » 16 Jun 2016, 21:28

Thanks Peter, I'll show you the pictures thing another time when I'm not dozing off.

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It goes wonky round corners

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