Xantia s2 XUD TD Estate - Suspension harder after a pothole?

[ecohouse1]

Might be my imagination but on Friday I drove through a pothole. Thought I heard the sound of something falling off the car but might have been a rock flying up.

Anyway, I am sure the car felt harder at the back than before!! Like the I could feel every ridge on the road.

When I stopped I checked underneath, it all looked normal. Did some Citroebics and all OK, pushed down on the towbar and it feels the same - ie stiffer than the front when pushing down and its always felt like that! Checked the Tyre pressures, all OK as well.

I fitted Plieides spheres (all 6) in March 2012 and have done around 25k miles. I would have thought they would still have a year or two (c20k miles) in them yet?

I do live down a heavily rutted forest track so not sure if that has a bearing on it and the car spends a lot of time "loaded" up with 4 people on board plus weight in the boot.

Any suggestions or am I suffering from "autochondria"!!

[Old-Guy]

Even an estate should be much softer at the rear than at the front.

What does the ride height look like? The general rule of thumb is that (one a flat surface) there should be one finger's-width clearance between top of tyre and wheel-arch at the rear and three at the front.

I blew one rear sphere flying over a big hump (unladen) and the other was near flat, but the car had probably done about 70,000 (very gentle) miles on the original spheres. It's a well-known 'fact' that rear spheres, especially on estates, seem not to last as well as the fronts for some reason. It's a good idea to change the central so-called 'anti-sink' sphere at the same time as there's no real way to test it without removing it.

[ecohouse1]

I always thinks she sits a wee bit lower at the rear. The rear wheel is sitting, top of wheel level with top of wing - if car sat empty but just switched off. Fully laden the car seems to sit at normal height, although doubt I could get a finger width in.

The rear height corrector mechanicals are regularly soaked in spray grease and release oil, old engine all etc so no rust etc on them.

When I push at the back (car empty) it only moves down a few inches (whereas the front feels like pushing down on a row boat) and it is slowest to rise from a start. It does autocorrect with people getting in the back.

I remember 20 years ago having a GSA Pallas, and when you filled the car with 4 star, it used to sink with the increasing weight of petrol, then you would feel it push against the weight as it corrects for the sinking. Never had this happen on the Xant!

[Xaccers]

It could be the clamp on the rear anti roll bar as slipped slightly, so the back is down a bit while it thinks it's level.
Height needs to be checked with the engine running and left to settle for at least a couple of minutes.
When pushing down on the rear it should be very soft, but when driving empty it can feel firm like it's skipping over bumps.