XM 'comfort' Spheres

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jul 2005, 03:34

Has anyone used these spheres from GSF, if so, how much improvment do they give? Mine feels very hard over small bumps, I've changed the front ones recently and fitted new tyres. The 'Comfort' type were not available at the time. The rear spheres were on the car when I bought it but there is still a good four or five inches of movment in the suspension.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 02 Jul 2005, 03:58

Hi Peter -
I had the same experience with my CX. Replaced front spheres and never quite got back the flying carpet. For testing I had a go with the old spheres - but they were definately worse. New spheres traced in catalogues to be correct type and bore. Approx 1 year later I had to replace the fluid blocks in the lower control arm because of steering wander. That also helped on the suspension feeling.
AFAIK the comfort spheres offered for the various models are the standard spheres - but with a larger center bore. This gives a softer low speed damping - or if you like - a bit more "float".
The rear spheres were replaced after 10years. You can not really test them. Must load the rear of car to see if bouncing range then diminishes. Mine was soft as ever - until loaded.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 02 Jul 2005, 04:08

I had the experience of having spheres that were supposedly of the "comfort" variety fitted to a car I bought at an Insurance Auction.
I had heard about this car before I bought it, so for testing purposes, I fitted these front spheres to my BX 16V.
Under heavy braking approaching a corner, it 'fishtailed' and was quite unstable due to having too much travel in the front suspension.
I recently drove a BX that had just had new spheres fitted and commented on the harsh ride in comparison to other BXs I've ridden in of similar model.
I changed the LHM, lubed the struts and thoroughly bled the hydraulic system and now it gets the smooth feeling back.
Moral of the story is, it can be more than just comfort spheres needed to return the good Cit ride.
Alan S

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jul 2005, 04:12

Thanks for that Anders, the XM never has had the ride or stability that CX had, I suppose it corners better but I am not really interested in that, I want comfort. I suspect that the rear outer spheres are not doing very much and that all the movement is coming from the centre one which I have replaced. I will wait and see if anyone has tried them.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jul 2005, 04:14

I am learning by the minute! Thanks alans.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 02 Jul 2005, 05:19

I mentioned this BX episode as there seems to be a common misconception that these comfort spheres are the cure for a harsh riding Citroen and at times they can actually make things worse by changing the entire character of the car..
My Xantia VSX was a rough rider, but it turned out that the accumulator, hydractive and anti sink spheres were all stuffed and replacing them with the standard ones made one hell of a difference.
Alan S

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 02 Jul 2005, 05:29

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by alans

I mentioned this BX episode as there seems to be a common misconception that these comfort spheres are the cure for a harsh riding Citroen and at times they can actually make things worse by changing the entire character of the car..
My Xantia VSX was a rough rider, but it turned out that the accumulator, hydractive and anti sink spheres were all stuffed and replacing them with the standard ones made one hell of a difference.
Alan S
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Would you say that the VSX with all the spheres working properly rides as well as an SX ? Or is it still a little bit firmer ?
Regards,
Simon

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 02 Jul 2005, 10:13

Haven't ridden in an SX but from reports I've heard, the VSX is by far a better ride than the SX.
Alan S

Post by **Peter.N.** » 03 Jul 2005, 18:51

Thanks for all your observations folks, but no one has actually answered the question "do they improve the ride comfort" assuming I am driving on a straight road with no wind and not another car within 100 yards?

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 03 Jul 2005, 19:26

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Peter.N.

Thanks for all your observations folks, but no one has actually answered the question "do they improve the ride comfort" assuming I am driving on a straight road with no wind and not another car within 100 yards?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Not as easy as it seems. If there are other problems causing the ride to be rough, then no it won't make a scrap of difference.
If everything is behaving as it should, then it allows the suspension to travel further and offers less resistence.
Now it gets to personal choice. A lot of people with that type of ride refer to it as "wallowy or floaty" and don't like it.
Personally, I have always maintained that if Mr Citroen felt that these were necessary to give the car a good ride, then they would be factory fitted. In most cases, I feel suspension problems aren't being addressed by the owners but instead are trying to be hidden. Personally, if I felt my Citroen needed this to make it ride right, I'd be wondering what was wrong with it, but that's my personal opinion only.
Alan S

Post by **Peter.N.** » 03 Jul 2005, 23:15

I think they are catering to the popular trend of hard suspension so that you can corner at 100mph. Look at the DS, fantastic ride but it would still go round corners although maybe not as elegantly as modern cars. I dont think that there is anything wrong with my suspension as it rides perfectly well at speed and is about the same as my previous XMs but as we have to drive over about 1/4 mile of forest track to reach the road I would like something a little more soothing, like my Morris Oxford estate with cross ply tyres.

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 04 Jul 2005, 00:59

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I have always maintained that if Mr Citroen felt that these were necessary to give the car a good ride, then they would be factory fitted<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I believe that they were offered as an option on new vehicles, but not widely publicised. Probably not taken up very often, as it would mean waiting for a special order from the factory.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 04 Jul 2005, 03:35

Interesting!