BX Ride Height Make it Sporty

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gjb02
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BX Ride Height Make it Sporty

Post by gjb02 »

As most BX owners would appreciate the ride is beautiful, but at the cost of image, the BX sit up on it's struts like an off-roader. To give the car a slightly sportier look or to improve fuel economy on long motorway drives, you could try adjusting the nominal ride height position. This is simply a case of creating another ride height gate between NORMAL and LOW, if you move the selector out of the gate and ease it down about 2cms from the normal gate the cars ride height will fall about 25-35mm this may not seem much, but from outside the car, the change will be apparent immediately. The amount you move the adjuster will vary slightly, its best to take a measurement to a wheel arch, before and after to get the exact position you require.Once decided on the position(WARNING Don't be tempted to go too low, you risk bottoming out your struts!!25-40mm will be a good save margain),its a case of removing the trim around the selector/handbrake, and cutting a new gate into the metal, use the profile of the other gates to ensure a safe docking of the selector rod is achieved. Some will scoff, others may like the idea, I did this to my last BX GTI, and it ran perfectly well with no suspension problems at all!! I mentioned better fuel economy. Well this is because, with the vehicle closer to the ground the amount of air passing under the vehicle is reduced, this air mixes with the air that passes over the top of the car causing turbulence and drag (this is best illustrated in the rain, the turbulence is what puts the road spray up on you rear window), increasing the amount of power you require to go forwards, therefore less air under the vehicle reduces the drag very slightly, improving your fuel economy as a result.(Have you ever wondered why Touring cars are so low to the ground and have those massive splitters on their front and rear bumpers, it's to reduce the undertow of air current that increases the drag. And improve handling!) You will no doubt believe these comments to be the ramblings of a mad man, or are they!! Happy Motoring
Gareth
Edited by - gjb02 on 21 Jul 2002 12:51:35
NiSk
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Post by NiSk »

I don't want sound like a wet sock, but altering the ride height of a Citroën also alters the angle of the drive shaft. These are designed to run in a straight line at normal ride height, so another ride height will cause angular wear of both inner and outer CV-joints. I know it doen't sound like much, but a friend who ran his XM at "intermediate high" to make it look like an off-roader, wore out his LH inner CV joint in 6 months!
//NiSk
gjb02
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Post by gjb02 »

Nisk, You are of course quite right to state that the driveshafts are meant to run at around horizontal level, the inter setting though is significantly higher from norm, than the height adjusment I have suggested. This would as you have stated cause the inner driveshafts to run several degrees off there nominal, and cause premature wear as in the case of the XM. Bearing in mind that in general a cars ride height changes frequently through normal driving, due to bumps and braking, running the car a sensible amount lower would not adversely affect the wear on the inner joints, through small changes in the output angle of the shaft, a quick trig calculation will show there is very little angular change from normal, to the driveshaft at the slightly lower setting. People who lower their cars too low be warned, you may bottom out your struts, you will cause premature failure of your CV joints and to top it all off, speed bumps will suddendly appear much higher.
Gareth
AdamWilliams
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Post by AdamWilliams »

This is very interesting. I have a BX 14 and have always been slightly concerned that it runs higher than it should. My height lever is almost imposible to get into the highest possition and there is no difference between raised hight and service hight(i think it runs on service height when on the raised setting due to solid suspention) As the lever is incredably stiff and wont rattle loose, i deliberateley leave it half way between low and normal to acheive what I think is normal height. Could anyone tell me if the adjustment of the lever causes constantly variable heigh or does it go up and down in stages? Also, I cant find any data on exactly how hight the car should be at normal height. Once I have the system working as it should, I would love to modify the lever in the way described by gareth to achieve a fail safe low mode. I think the shperes are ok because the car does ride absolutely amazingly. You only notice it when stepping into a conventioally sprung vehicle and you think thank god ive got a Citroen![:)]
DLM
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Post by DLM »

Sounds like at least one pivot for the height connector rods is stuck or giving limited travel on this BX and needs lubrication ....but then you may find it doesn't stick in low position quite so firmly afterwards.
David
IAN.D
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Post by IAN.D »

Anybody tried this on a xantia?
I have thought about doing this to make the car a little bit more fun on twisty roads (Not so much bodyroll when pushing hard through corners)
Do you think it would work like on bx?
Ian.
mark_sp
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Post by mark_sp »

Just my personal view of course but:
So UK road surfaces are abysmal, you buy a car with the most comfortable ride quality in its class and then proceed to disable it ?
Sorry but I don't understand the logic.
Mark
alan s
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Post by alan s »

I gotta agree with you Mark.
The thing that I find about this is that Citroen have had years of R & D on these suspensions, have used forward thinking technology which is so advanced that most grease monkeys are either too scared to work on it or too lazy to try to learn about it and have won numerous rallies & races worldwide at their own leisure, only to have someone working in a garage with a bench & a vice & a couple of hundred quids worth of tools tell them how to do it better???? I don't think so.
EVERY car I've ever driven or raced with modified components be it suspension or anything else, has been a compromise and when it involves handling, I've seen it take up to two seasons to get it just right & even then it needs resetting from track to track.
Just when you think you've got it right, you find yourself unexpectedly sitting rubberside up or else shaking hands with the exhaust pipe. It is also a trap in that it tends to make drivers push the limite further than they did with the original system which if driven correctly is usually always more stable overall than a modified arrangement; of course, a car hitting the bump stops on one side halfway round a corner is s ensation not easily forgotten.[}:)][:p][:o)]
Apologies to those who so passionately feel they must fiddle with it. [:D]
Alan S [:D]
Homer
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Post by Homer »

It's not just the most comfortable, it also does a damn good job of keeping the tyres in contact with the road.
Many a time I have left a hot hatch behind when the road surface gets a little challenging.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Agreed guys. I know a fashion victim with a small hatchback fitted with wide rubberband tyres and lowered springs. I blew him off in a standard car due of course to better traction and now he thinks I'm Schuey.
I am sure it iss not due to zer accent, ja?
If there was a legit "sporty" setting, the GTI would have it as standard.
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