Xantia / XM caliper rattle springs for 288 mm disks

[xantia_v6]

Some Xantia owners will be aware of the optional calliper rattle spring kits (P/N 444971) for the larger engined cars with 288 mm front brakes.

They fit cars with the 288 mm Bosch front brake calipers:

Xantia V6 (all)
Xantia HDI 110 (all)
Xantia Activa TCT (after RP 8001)
XM V6 (from 1997)
XM 2.5 TD (after RP 7476)

These were never fitted at the factory, but were later available for fitment by dealers where customers complained of rattling on rough road surfaces.
You can read more about them here

I have been looking for a set of these for a few years, and not found any.

As I have 2 cars that need them, I am considering making some or having a small batch manufactured, do any owners of cars with these brakes have interest in buying a set?

I do not yet have a price, but do not expect it to exceed the Citroen list price, which was around £50 for a set of 2 (enough for one car).

[Stickyfinger]

Calipers rattle ?

[white exec]

No, but brake pads can chatter. Our RAV4 rear pads are rather good at this, despite good springs. Only completely quiet with a fresh dose of Cu grease.

Our 2.5 XM (pre- the later Bosch calipers) has 283mm ventilated discs, and calipers which incorporate pad-steadying springs - and decently silent.

[xantia_v6]

Calipers rattle ?

About half of the Xantia V6s I have own had callipers that rattled to some extent, some worse than others. On the XM (with manual transmission), you really notice it it you pull away in too high a gear, the rattling you hear comes mostly from the callipers. It must have been a real issue for Citroen to make a repair kit.

Its not the brake pads rattling in the calliper, but the whole calliper rattling on the slides

[white exec]

It's not the brake pads rattling in the calliper, but the whole calliper rattling on the slides...

That's dreadful.
Does some really heavy grease on the slides help at all?

Have noticed, on more than one car, that if the slide rods are cleaned up and not greased, there is noticeable slop of the caliper on the rod. Heavily greased, it isn't apparent.

[Stickyfinger]

I would have thought the rubber and the grease in the slider pins would have stopped that. Hey ho, at least I will know why if I hear it. Every day is a school day.

[gercol]

Some Xantia owners will be aware of the optional calliper rattle spring kits (P/N 444971) for the larger engined cars with 288 mm front brakes.

They fit cars with the 288 mm Bosch front brake calipers:

Xantia V6 (all)
Xantia HDI 110 (all)
Xantia Activa TCT (after RP 8001)
XM V6 (from 1997)
XM 2.5 TD (after RP 7476)

These were never fitted at the factory, but were later available for fitment by dealers where customers complained of rattling on rough road surfaces.
You can read more about them here

I have been looking for a set of these for a few years, and not found any.

As I have 2 cars that need them, I am considering making some or having a small batch manufactured, do any owners of cars with these brakes have interest in buying a set?

I do not yet have a price, but do not expect it to exceed the Citroen list price, which was around £50 for a set of 2 (enough for one car).

Hi! interesting, i'm in Italy and here too not possible to find, so will be nice if you created by yourself!
Did you tried?
let me know I'm interested

ciao

[thorter]

I have found that enough grease in the slide pins stops rattle. It seems to last 2 or 3 years, then needs to be re-done.

F

[xantia_v6]

Hi! interesting, i'm in Italy and here too not possible to find, so will be nice if you created by yourself!
Did you tried?
let me know I'm interested

Yes I did make a pair using hand tools, and for material I used stainless steel from a plastering(?) trowel.
I made a template using dimensions taken from photos above (and perhaps other photos on the forum), scaling them from the known spacing of the calliper mounting holes and the dimensions of the ABS ring.

I think I took some photos, I will try to find them. Unfortunately, my template and the notes with dimensions are inaccessible for the next 6 months.

The ones I made look to be functional, but due to the method of manufacture, some of the angles and bends are slightly wrong. I have not yet fitted them to a car, but have tried them for fit on a spare calliper.

[gercol]

Ah! ok
so at the moment could be I will try the solution proposed by thorter, put grease in the slide pins

thank to all!

[Zelandeth]

I'll keep that in mind in future... that's the sort of noise that will drive me balmy given long enough.

Still need to sort the chatter from the rear wheels yet (eventually traced to the wheel centre caps!)...but if I hear one from the front I know where to look now.

...aside from the creaky struts and quite possibly some drop links that are past their best. Will be asking my tester to take a particularly good look in that area as I'm sure there's a bit of a clinical coming from somewhere.

Van has the worst brake pad "lash" I've seen in a while, the loud *clack* when you first apply the brakes when moving backwards and again forwards really unnerved me for the first few days...will see if new pads help that.