CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 09 Mar 2013, 06:50

Unsurprised about the old tyres. 88 rated walls, too?

You need to say what model of BFG, otherwise the brand doesn't really matter.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Mar 2013, 07:00

addo wrote:Unsurprised about the old tyres. 88 rated walls, too?

Concrete I believe

G-Grips I would imagine...

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 09 Mar 2013, 09:17

Does the XM seriously not spec a 94 load rating, but a 91?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Mar 2013, 14:14

addo wrote:Does the XM seriously not spec a 94 load rating, but a 91?

Yes, must be 94. Be surprised if it wasn't...

Been a busy little bee this morning... Replaced the duff rad on the Xantia V6. A nice, easy job all things considered...

Dropped the front ride height on the XM - a very easy job...

Took the XM to my local garage for an exhaust looksee. Garage declares it quite fixable and it's going in on Tuesday to go under the knife (or welder)...

XM is currently at the tyre place having a set of tyres fitted...

Neighbour has just knocked on the door with a coil of Fiesta front spring in hand... He's just gone off to the factors to get one so guess what I'll be doing for the rest of the afternoon

Problem is he's stranded...

Good thing is that new front springs for a Fiesta are only £18 each,,,

Hell Razor5543 · Unread post by **Hell Razor5543** » 09 Mar 2013, 17:18

That would seem like a busy day. Isn't it time for a pot of Earl Grey?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Mar 2013, 19:27

Hell Razor5543 wrote:That would seem like a busy day. Isn't it time for a pot of Earl Grey?

It was a busy day James.. Ready now for an urn of the stuff!!!

Basically I rarely do anything for anyone else like this but there are exceptions and neighbours most certainly are...

What a bloody job though

but my neighbours are ever so good to me and helped me enormously when I was really ill back along so it was a kind of pay in kind. And besides he's giving my garden a makeover for free so it all works out... We all help each other in our little close... As neighbours should.. I feel very lucky to have such good ones and they in turn tolerate my car antics very well.. Many wouldn't I'm sure..

What a ****** of a job it turned out to be... Straightforward enough except for the top nut on the strut which was rusted solid because Ford stupidly don't protect it so water gathers there..

That bloody nut fought and fought but I won in the end

To get enough force on it I had to carefully grip the very top of the damper piston above the bump-stop with a pair of very meaty Footprints (like Stilsons) and a breaker bar on the nut...

The rest of the job was dead easy...

But the moral of this tale is if you are asked to replace a Fiesta spring run as fast as you can and consider emigrating...

Rather a satisfying day by and large

I feel quite content and rather tired in that good sort of way that comes from a productive day...The new tyres on the XM (BFG G-Grips) are excellent and they've transformed the car.. It rides better, handles better and is a lot quieter despite the blowing exhaust... The difference is like night and day...

Tyres maketh the car...

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 09 Mar 2013, 19:37

"I'll take a pair of front springs for a Fiesta, please."

- Sounds like a fair swap.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Mar 2013, 19:47

addo wrote:"I'll take a pair of front springs for a Fiesta, please."

- Sounds like a fair swap.

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 09 Mar 2013, 22:24

I hope you pointed out that it's unknown for Xantias to break springs.

Even if they're aerosols, I reckon you need to look after neighbours. If I caught one stealing from me, I might not help them out, but otherwise it's a good study in the art of détente; the mutual good outcomes exceed the drawbacks.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 09 Mar 2013, 23:06

That sounds like a very productive and not entirely cheap day Jim. Glad your XM is happy with its new boots, you can not beat a good set of tyres to transform a car

bxzx16v · Unread post by **bxzx16v** » 10 Mar 2013, 14:36

Sounds like your getting the Xm up to Jim standards

, you certainly can't beat a matching set of new tyres on a car .

Mark

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 10 Mar 2013, 16:03

bxzx16v wrote:Sounds like your getting the Xm up to Jim standards

It's getting there Mark, a way to go yet but it's coming along nicely...

Went to do some more on the RX-8 engine today and the drive was almost sublime... Every small thing is step in the right direction. I realise just how fussy I am about cars...

Here's a rare thing. Two ES9 V6 XMs together.... I apologise for the poor pictures, my phone camera is playing up badly...

Just in shot is an Activa and out of shot is another V6 - a Xantia V6...

And here’s something even rarer... A Wankel-engined XM

All clean, devoid of all ancillaries and ready for the journey to my workshop...

We had the sump off of it today and found rather a lot of sludge and flakes of copper. This leads us to the suspicion that the rotor housings are badly damaged... They’re the two bright alloy items making what looks like a double-layer sandwich in the the above picture. The surface the rotors and apex seals bear on is hard chrome plate on the light alloy -we suspect an apex seal has done a good job of gouging it and writing off the housings as a result...

This was a big problem on my last motorbike - a Suzuki GT550 triple. It had hard-chromed alloy cylinders and badly damaged and scored bores was a very common problem on them... Shame as it wrote off many and apart from that it was a joyous bike... A two-stroke triple so it was gloriously fast and turbine smooth... It also handled like any other 70s Jap as in not very well and the brakes were appalling in the wet. It had bright stainless steel discs with all the frictional properties of PTFE....

Hell Razor5543 · Unread post by **Hell Razor5543** » 11 Mar 2013, 19:29

Getting back to tyres, I have been told (by a Citroen parts guy who knows what he is talking about) that Kleber tyres are also made by Michelin.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 11 Mar 2013, 19:49

Hell Razor5543 wrote:Getting back to tyres, I have been told (by a Citroen parts guy who knows what he is talking about) that Kleber tyres are also made by Michelin.

They are indeed James

We had this discussion on Club-XM a day or so ago. Kleber used to be OE fitments on some Renaults in the 70s and I remember them as they had a rather pretty tread pattern. A lot of tyres had pretty treads in those days and they more than likely looked better than they performed

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 11 Mar 2013, 19:50

Hell Razor5543 wrote:Getting back to tyres, I have been told (by a Citroen parts guy who knows what he is talking about) that Kleber tyres are also made by Michelin.

Yes, they are not wrong.

Premium tyre brands often make other tyres, Matador and Vredestein are under Continentals wing, for example. That is not to say the premium branded tyres are not better as they are not identical tyres. For a cheaper tyre I really rate Matadors, I've had good experiences with those.

Its brands like Linglong, Hero and Triangle I worry about

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