Xantia doorlock hard to operate with key?

[isisalar]

Hi guys
This must be a fairly common problem, it's certainly happened to my Xantias as the milage creeps up. Usually stabbing the key well in and a bit of jiggling will work but it gets more difficult as time goes on. Plus gas, silicone grease, WD 40 all help a little bit but I think I have hit on the answer and I hope this might help anyone having this problem.
When I got my present car it came with two fully working plip keys one of which was unused, after a particularly frustrating locking attempt last week I thought I'd try the unused key. Perfect operation in every way. Close examination showed that the old key was about 1 mm shorter than the new one, the tip obviously has worn away with use. I've taken a picture of the new key, on the right, overlaying the old key. The difference in length can be seen by the gap between the old key and the new case, bottom right.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jd4te6j7i56xd ... .40.45.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So it would seem it's not the lock wearing but the key. I would imagine getting a new key cut from the original number is the solution, how hard or expensive this is I've no idea.
I did enquire about getting a replacement plipper key from Citroen some years ago and it was some laughable amount, hopefully things are now a bit more sensible what with e bay etc.
Cheers
Paul

[VertVega]

Very good point about the wear of the key.

Here is the picture you sent the link to us where it is clearly seen the smoothed edges.
It is not difficult to say which one of them has been used mostly .