Xantia strut tops

Unread post by **Dommo** » 09 Jun 2010, 20:19

Hi folks.

I was just wondering if anyone had any pictures of worn/rusty/broken strut tops, so I know what to look out for when viewing Xantias?

My dad is looking out for a 1.9TD VSX and we viewed one today where the strut top looked rusty when looking up from the wheel arch. There was also a strange noise from the front offside, and we don't know what was causing it so I was wondering if it were the strut tops?

Cheers.

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 09 Jun 2010, 20:43

Surface rust is not to serious, give them a good poke with a screwdriver if it feels solid it will probably be OK. I squirt oil over mine about once a year, it soaks into the crevices and underneath, stops the rust dead, never had one fail on seven XMs.

Peter

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 09 Jun 2010, 21:11

You'll know pretty quickly if the strut mounting bracket is ok by putting
the car on high and having a close look from inside the wheelarch paying
particular attention to what is actually behind the rubberised lower covering
to the crown where it is mounted onto the inner wing. The upside surface
can hide rust beneath the thin rubber covering too so a good prod to see
if it's crunchy will show up most problems. That's if it's failing due to rust;
the main donut ring of rubber inside the crown can split from a pair of
circumfrential cut outs and effectively shear the connection between the
rubber cone buffer and the metal collar mounting ring.

Check out here for pictures and pretty much all that's been said about
this problem;

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=19386

Andrew

Unread post by **citroenxm** » 10 Jun 2010, 10:04

Its under the wheel arch that tells the most - you'll clearly see the rubber getting pushed away from the metal on bad tops..

Ill get some pics of my XM SED tops, they are pretty bad!

PAul