Xantia Rear Brakes

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 09 Feb 2005, 01:09

No they can't be swapped, the pipe and nipple would be upside down if bolted to the wrong side, it wouldn't matter for the pipe but it would for the nipple, if that was at the bottom it would be impossible to bleed the caliper.
Dave

john alexander · Post by **john alexander** » 09 Feb 2005, 02:57

Dave hi, I dont mean turning the caliper up side down.I mean the mating face of the o/side becomes the outside of the n/side& vice versa, perhaps jon knows if there is a n/s and o/s caliper listing. Regards John

jonathan_dyane · Post by **jonathan_dyane** » 09 Feb 2005, 14:13

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by john alexander</i>

If the caliper is badly corroded can they be swapped side for side,or is the drilling for the pipe and nipple different. Regards John.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Prob'ly, you can on the CX. All you need to do is swap the nipple and pipe around...

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 09 Feb 2005, 16:13

John you were way ahead of me there, I'm with you now, looks like you are right going by the online shop, not like Citroen to do us such favours by making them fit either side.
Dave

jack.dempsey · Post by **jack.dempsey** » 09 Feb 2005, 18:18

I like this idea - I did both my rear calipers last evening and indeed did consider that they were ambidextrous (so to speak). My corroded surfaces took quite a while to clean up - and I had some metal ridging around the contact (corroded) area. Now if I could have simply taken them off and replaced then on the other side - well I could have left the grotty corrosion on the caliper as it would only be exposed to atmospheric muck, and would have only had to clean up the mating surface on the backplate (which was relatively easy anyway. Doh!

np · Post by np » 09 Feb 2005, 23:13

Just out of interest,the Caravan Club[:I] had an artical on rear caliper corrosion a couple of years ago.They were told about it when they took their Xantia for a service.Apparently,its caused by lack of use,as the rear brakes dont do alot.If you do a lot of towing,carrying heavy loads or a car full of people,then the rear brakes provide more braking effort,hence no corrosion.Thats what the garage reckon.I`ve never had any probs,& i check them every service.But we use our caravan every few months,so maybe thats why.
???[:)]

Post by **RichardW** » 10 Feb 2005, 00:17

Whilst lack of use might affect ehe surface of the disc and pistons etc, it certainly won't make any difference to the caliper / arm joint - that corrosion is down to galvanitic action, and almost certainly worse in the north where more salt is used. (could argue I suppose tht if you use the breaks more, more heat will be generated, which will help to prevent the caliper corrosion - but on mine the calipers were so far across they were rubbing on the disc, but the brakes were 'working' fine - even wear across the disc, with no rusty bands).

RichG · Post by **RichG** » 10 Feb 2005, 19:48

The job started as bleeding the brakes and checking the disk thicknesses. Ended up as removing the rear calipers, cleaning off the corrosion, and fitting new rear brake pads.
As the corrosion appears to be caused by galvanitic corrosion causing 'corrosion jacking' (metalurgical term[:)])would it be possible to use a piece of thin plastic, or similar material as a gasket' between the brake caliper and the mouting plate? I have used Dave's Blue Hylomar trick as I had some from many years ago in my motorbike days. However I would like a permanant solutuion. I am also interested in the idea of swaping the calipers side-to-side but only if I can stop the corrosion for good.
NP - I also tow a caravan, not as frequently as you, and this is the second time that I have had to do this job.
Richard

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 10 Feb 2005, 20:26

I used a waterproof high temperature grease on the rear calipers of both of my cars and it permanantly seems to have cured the problem.

Dohnut · Post by **Dohnut** » 03 Apr 2005, 17:26

Hi all,
Can I just clear up a few queries, I have to do the same job on a 96 Xantia, corrosion has snapped the top bolt on at least one of the rear callipers don't know about the other yet but they are both pushed over and touching the disc.
Firstly, can the job be done without taking the brake pipe and bleed nipple off, ie: just pull the calliper to one side or down a bit. Bearing in mind that I have to drill out at least one stud, or does the bleed nipple foul the back plate.
Secondly, drilling the stud out can be a bit of a problem, will try an easyout first also wd40 and heat. Then its down to drilling out as large as possible without drilling the thread and chipping away with a centre punch. If that don't work drill out all the way but am worried that I might be off centre, when it comes to bolt the calliper back in place, any ideas on this.
Next question, if its got to be a bolt how long and presumably it has to be high tensile.
Lastly, how long has it taken you guys who have done this to complete the job. I know thats almost an impossible question to answer, but as my last boss used to say, "the impossible we can do, miracles take a bit longer"
The reason for all the questions is time is very short I have to have the car back on the road the same day.

davek-uk · Post by **davek-uk** » 04 Apr 2005, 19:04

Dohnut, You don't have to dismantle the caliper at all. Keep the two halves together and replace the thin bolt that holds them together when you have removed the pads. I was able to losen the nearest pipe retainer and had plenty of movement to get the caliper out of the way of the work.
I had one hell of a job with my broken bolt. I tried easyouts, heat from a small gas gun and eventually had to drill it out. Poor drill bits lenghtened the job and eventually I was left with a hole and part threads which I re-cut. The thread wasn't good enough to hold a decent torque so I widened the hole and used anything I could find to replace the broken bolt - in my case a sawn off head bolt and a nut.
I've had no trouble in 16k miles and I really ought to recheck it. All in all it took me nearly a day and a half but that was with too much faff-ing about trying to save the thread and having p**s-poor drill bits.

RichG · Post by **RichG** » 05 Apr 2005, 00:16

Does anyone have a definitive answer as to whether the near and off-side rear calipers on a Xantia can be swapped by reversing the pipe and bleed nipples?
Richard

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 05 Apr 2005, 04:45

GSF lists only one rear caliper for the Xantia hatch....
N65678 BRAKE CALIPER-REAR XANTIA ALL HATCHBACKS