Poor xantia comfort and ride

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 30 Sep 2011, 12:40

I've had all 6 spheres changed within the last 2months and the ride is probably worse in all honesty

It's very harsh over small bumps and over small speed bumps it's terrible.

I have the correct tyre pressures,the correct amount of Lhm,the correct spheres,the correct heights ...

The rear height is slow to rise when selected manually but even slower to fall,the front rises and falls perfectly but on the road isn't as i would imagine it should be.The rear on my silver car sinks down about 6inches when i push down but on this car the rear is firmer and will only sink down about 3 inches

I gave the rear height corrector a good douse of WD40 to try and free it up and i've greased up the front struts and i've done plenty of Citrobics but still no differance

Im going to fill it with hydraflush and see if this makes any differance..but if not is there anything else that could be causing this?

addo · Post by **addo** » 30 Sep 2011, 12:45

Have you pressure tested the spheres and observed the correct damper marks on their internal end?

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 30 Sep 2011, 12:47

addo wrote:Have you pressure tested the spheres and observed the correct damper marks on their internal end?

I haven't tested the pressures but they can't be that bad if there new..

The internal end being the bore hole?

addo · Post by **addo** » 30 Sep 2011, 13:00

I urge you to be mistrustful.

The sphere's business end usually has a two digit number etched into it and this should match the originals, plus the orifice diameter ought be matched against the specs.

Could your pump be struggling?

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 30 Sep 2011, 13:10

I'm starting to worry now !! I have the same problem but all my spheres were purchased from Plaides so I sort of assumed they must be correct !

This is really bugging me now but I discarded the original spheres so I can't check !

It does feel like a damping issue though, like the car has had greatly stiffened suspension fitted. Thing is though, on large pitch, even high amplitude large pitch undulations it's fine !

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 30 Sep 2011, 13:23

How could i check the pump to see if it's working correctly ?

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 30 Sep 2011, 18:53

One reason I try to avoid non-Citroen spheres is due to quality. Back when my dad has a Citroen specialist business he did used to fit aftermarket spheres. One went in such a way that the sphere actually exploaded. The company who made it was contacted as it was obviously unfit for purpose, the owner of the car didn't want to persue it though. From then on he only supplied and fitted Citroen spheres.

That is a bad case however a few (different brand spheres to the above) also lost all pressure when the car regained pressure after fitting the spheres. Im not saying that is what has happened but certainly getting the sphere pressures checked and making sure it does have the correct spheres for your model is a good starting point.

If your car is riding a bit low or high then it will be harder than it should be anyway.

Is the LHM fresh and very green?

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 01 Oct 2011, 11:20

I meant when manually adjusting the height from inside the car to high and low it can be slow at the rear to adjust heights,the lever is hard to move into the high position ,it takes two hands two pull it all the way up compared to my silver car it will move up with ease..Is there anything i could do to try and free it up ?

I have no way of testing the pressures of the spheres unfortunately

All the Lhm is fresh but i'm going to put hydraflush in it and clean out the Lhm tank and filters and go from there...

I hate to compare everything to my silver car,but it just seems thats what i'd expect a Xantia to drive and feel like..whereas the green one certainly doesn't so far

It's very dissapointing

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 01 Oct 2011, 12:00

The ride height lever will need all the pivots lubricating with spray grease.
The most likely pivot to be causing trouble will be the rear one, it gets all the spry and debris off the road ! If you look at the underside of the car you will see the linkage rod attached to the lever inside the car that operates the height correctors, look at the rear one the rod will easily be seen attached to it. Give it a good dousing in spray grease, together with the height corrector external moving parts.
The front one is quite well shielded and less likely to be stiff.

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 01 Oct 2011, 14:13

Cheers i'll give that a try

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 01 Oct 2011, 14:47

It does sound daft

I bought them and fitted them ..the correct way round

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 01 Oct 2011, 15:14

What make sphere's have been fitted to the car and what model/markings are on them? I ask as its quite common to be supplied with incorrect sphere's, about 50% of the Xantias I've come across have had the wrong ones fitted, in one instance it was an accumulator to a rear strut

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 01 Oct 2011, 15:59

DickieG wrote:What make sphere's have been fitted to the car and what model/markings are on them? I ask as its quite common to be supplied with incorrect sphere's, about 50% of the Xantias I've come across have had the wrong ones fitted, in one instance it was an accumulator to a rear strut

I'm not 100% sure,it's lashing rain here now ..

I got my spheres at aep direct,which says they are i.h.f.s spheres ? ..the fronts are 55psi and the rears are 30 i think , but on there website theres ones that are 70 psi i think i'm goin to go with those for the front and try and put the fronts on the back

I really crave that magic carpet ride

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 01 Oct 2011, 17:23

Before you go for much too high pressure spheres, you need to get your caqr riding right on the standard spheres. However those spheres might not be great and could by why its not riding well.

20bar increase is huge, too much pressure and it will ride awfully.

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 01 Oct 2011, 17:56

XantiaDaveEire wrote:I meant when manually adjusting the height from inside the car to high and low it can be slow at the rear to adjust heights,the lever is hard to move into the high position ,it takes two hands two pull it all the way up compared to my silver car it will move up with ease..Is there anything i could do to try and free it up ?

You've answered your own question - at least in part. You need to sort out the rear height adjuster mechanism so that the lever moves as easily as in your other car. Personally, I wouldn't start investigating spheres until you've dismantled and thoroughly cleaned up the mechanism.

Final thought: did you thoroughly bleed the brakes when you changed the spheres (you need to pump about ½L through each rear caliper as the rear brakes get their pressure from the rear suspension, to clear out all the old LHM.