Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[Mandrake]

Sorry you've got me confused there Jim. What are extra spacers needed for ?

How it originally was with the bolt seems absolutely fine. The ABS sensor pushes right down onto the hub, the heatshield goes directly on top of the sensor then the bolt with washer on top of that. Or did I miss something ? The ABS sensor itself already has a built in metal spacer/tube for the heat shield to bolt down onto.

[CitroJim]

Ahh right, that's fine then Simon, you have what I'll call the 'easy' arrangement where the heatshield and top of the ABS sensor boss are on the same level... Both are clamped under the bolt head.

Some versions have the heatshield spaced about half an inch above the sensor boss and the bolt that holds the sensor is a double ended affair with the hexagon acting as a spacer. A 10mm nut then secures the tab of the heatshield...

[Mandrake]

So, Wednesday last week I contacted six different tyre shops in my area whom I have not already tried to try to find someone to balance my centreless wheels. I used the "contact me" form on their websites or email address provided on the basis that I could fire off a quick email to multiple parties very quickly asking if they are able to balance centreless wheels. (It's hard to find the time to do lots of phoning around during the day at work) They were a mixture of private indy establishments and franchised chains.

Two replied the following day saying that they were unable to balance centreless wheels. One suggested another garage to try who I also emailed. As of today the other 5 have not replied at all, and apparently don't want my business. So the vibrating wheels saga continues...

I'm almost at the point where I'm considering some S1 Activa rims with centre holes as I just cannot find anyone that will even attempt the job, let alone do it properly. I guess I'm going to have to find the time to phone the non-responders, but its very likely that they didn't reply because they can't do it, and they can't be bothered to reply to the email because of that.

[xantia_v6]

I have considered (but not taken it further) getting centre holes drilled in my wheels, to take the plastic trim as used on other PSA alloys. I presume that a wheel reconditioning outfit, who are able to turn the outside of a rim in a lathe should be able to make a hole in the centre...

[superloopy]

ATS can do them i believe.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

[Mandrake]

ATS can do them i believe.

And they were one of the non-respondents who couldn't even be bothered replying to a contact us email through their website!

I will try phoning them though. I'm getting desperate to find someone to get these balanced, it's dragged on far too long now. Good thing I don't do much motorway driving in a regular week.

[Mandrake]

I have considered (but not taken it further) getting centre holes drilled in my wheels, to take the plastic trim as used on other PSA alloys. I presume that a wheel reconditioning outfit, who are able to turn the outside of a rim in a lathe should be able to make a hole in the centre...

My concerns with that are that if the hole was not perfectly centred it would make it forever difficult to get the balance right. Also I'm not sure that insurance companies would be keen on the centres being drilled out of an OEM rim ? Structural weakness concerns ?

Just because other models of Xantia alloys have centre holes doesn't mean that this particular design would be considered structurally sound (and type approved) after such a modification, since the different wheel styles have different amounts of "meat" in them due to the different designs.

[RichardW]

Lighty posted in this thread: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=41256 That he's got the kit. A long trip, true, but at least you know he can do it, and would do it right!!

[RichardW]

Or, it's a bit drastic, but go armed yourself: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Centreless-Wh ... ODrziIQgng

[Mandrake]

Or, it's a bit drastic, but go armed yourself: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Centreless-Wh ... ODrziIQgng

Now you're just teasing Richard.

A trip way down to Derbyshire with unbalanced wheels is a bit out of the question too. A bit more googling and I found a listing for a company in Paisley that claim to balance centreless wheels so I've dropped them an email:

http://paisley.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/r ... 76946.html

"and we are also one of the few centres to be able to balance centre less road wheels."

Lets see if they reply! If I find somewhere that can do it and get it right the first try (instead of after 3-4 attempts) I'll be singing their praises from the rooftops...

[CitroJim]

Get a set of S1 Activa Alloys Simon.. They look centreless but are not. S2 Activa alloys are centreless mind...

[Mandrake]

No chance to attempt the job last weekend due to other distractions vying for my time, but I'm hoping this will solve my ABS sensor problem as soon as I can get the chance to look at it.



The drill came with the tap set and is an HSS grade 5mm bit - my normal set of drill bits are a bit crap to be honest and I'm surprised I was able to drill through the bolt at all with them, so I thought it would be wise to get the matching HSS bit that comes with the tap.

One slight problem is that the initial hole I tried to drill through the bolt was 3mm and ended up a bit offset - so I now have the problem of trying to drill out an offset 3mm hole to 5mm and get it perfectly centred so that I don't drill into the original threads of the hub...

The colette chuck is quite neat - the brake disc would get completely in the way of a normal tap handle but as well as extending the height this one has a ratchet and a sliding handle so will clear it easily and I should be able to use it with taps in other very confined spaces if I need to in the future. Quite handy for a few quid!

[CitroJim]

The colette chuck is quite neat - the brake disc would get completely in the way of a normal tap handle but as well as extending the height this one has a ratchet and a sliding handle so will clear it easily and I should be able to use it with taps in other very confined spaces if I need to in the future. Quite handy for a few quid!

It is a very neat little solution Simon and one I could make very good use of... I may well treat myself to one as I often find a conventional tap wrench gets in the way...

[Hell Razor5543]

Useful piece of kit. I would not (yet, anyway) use one, but do you have a link to it, so people who would want one know where to get it from?

[Mandrake]

This is the one I ordered, an Exact 30406:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

The collet chuck can take M3 to M10 taps (square shank) and its overall length is 85mm.

There is another model that is slightly bigger and more expensive, the Exact 30407 which is 100mm long and does M5 to M12 taps:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exact-30407-Ho ... iy&ie=UTF8

There are lots of companies making almost identical looking, generic ratchet collect chuck tools for taps, some get bad reviews, some better reviews, I can't recall exactly why I chose this one over all the others when I was browsing!