C5 Steering Chatter

[jimleshed]

Thats interesting, my car (51 plate 78k) does this too. just chatters as you run over bumpy roads. No play, and passed last MOT without any problems. Next MOT in 4 months will see if they see anything.
Might try the molegrip trick mentioned above!

[Citroenmad]

Ive not had time to look at doing it yet, though as i rarely drive that C5 its not bothering me personally too much! Though i will have a go at crimping the colum together in a week or so when i plan to sepnd a day doing a service and catching up on a few things that that C5 needs.

Ill report how i get on.

[corsehf]

Hi,
I have noticed my 2001 2.2hdi Estate now has this rattle/play in the steering column but only on rough pot-holed roads - which is most of them in the UK!
The Steering Wheel itself does not move but you can feel the movement through the Steering Wheel quite clearly.
Is it just the collapsible section of the steering column that is at fault and does someone have a breakdown of this area??

[cachaciero]

Im surprised no one else has had this with their C5

My C5 has a little bit of free play but not yet a clunk.

It's very difficult to see exactly where the wear is but I think it's the U/J clamp down by your feet. I've tried tightening the bolt but it doesn't seem to want to go any tighter. It's not a huge problem at the moment so I've left it.

That was a common problem on earlier C5's and should have been fixed under warranty. The problem is that the clamp is / was made of steel which is too hard to allow sufficient compression of the clamp hence your problem.

cachaciero

[aneesh84]

i had the same issue in my C5 2005 facelift. hammered a nail through the joint that had the play and tightened it with a clamp. seems to hold well.

[myglaren]

This was a bit of a zombie. I had completely forgotten about it.

I had the problem with mine but only at 65~75 mph.
Wheel balancing could never fix it, nor could expensive tyres.
I bought a set of Sailun Atrezzo tyres (cheap, or rather, inexpensive) and without them being balanced at all - the tyre fitter couldn't balance Citroen wheels, the chatter/shudder was gone, never to return, always had Sailun tyres after that, never needed balancing.

[aneesh84]

This was a bit of a zombie. I had completely forgotten about it.

I had the problem with mine but only at 65~75 mph.
Wheel balancing could never fix it, nor could expensive tyres.
I bought a set of Sailun Atrezzo tyres (cheap, or rather, inexpensive) and without them being balanced at all - the tyre fitter couldn't balance Citroen wheels, the chatter/shudder was gone, never to return, always had Sailun tyres after that, never needed balancing.

Incredible!!!! wheel balancing has always been a pain. there is always that slight vibration left and i tried so many garages. finally gave up and living with the slight vibration! but this issue was with the steering having a play near the universal joint. it was amplifying the mild vibtation and making the steering wheel shake a lot at speed.

[white exec]

When properly done balancing fails to completely get rid of wheel vibration, make sure you take a good look at how circular the tyre is. Even an oval/twisted/flatted tyre can be balanced out, but when put on the road, it will vibrate the car.

When I have new tyres fitted, I always take a look under the balancing machine cowl, to check that there is no "run out" visible at the tread.

For Citroen/Peugeot "centreless" alloy wheels, it is essential that the centreless adaptor is itself run through a balance procedure on the machine, and the machine re-calibrated (zero'd) to take it into account BEFORE the wheel/tyre is put on. The 'universal' adaptors themselves (complicated things for 3-, 4- and 5- hole wheels of different diameters) are INHERENTLY OUT OF BALANCE, and cannot just be thrown on and used. The centreless wheels are almost unique to Cit/Pug.

[GiveMeABreak]

Although this thread is 11 years old.....

Agree - C5 wheels need an adapter to balance them properly - when you find somebody who gets it right - stick with them!

[Paul-R]

I had a pet tyre suppliers near me who had the adaptors for the centreless wheels and he used to groan whenever I came in for tyres as he had to dig his spare balancing machine out from under a load of crap. The last time I went in (for another car) he told me that they'd got rid of that machine. Fortunately I'd already moved on from the Mk1 C5 to my X7 as well.

[GiveMeABreak]

That's about it...

[white exec]

Same experience when with Davie (back in 2017) when we were trying to get two new front tyres on the XM balanced in/around Inverness. One dealer had actually replaced his balancing machine with a new one, but simply said his centreless adaptor didn't fit it! That was alright, then.