Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[white exec]

At least new pads and discs shouldn't, in theory, cost a fortune. Mitsi OE parts are notoriously expensive, however. Perhaps a good reason to shop around, including Citroen and Peugeot - and PSA's Mister Auto. Hope the electric version won't make the search difficult.

[bobins]

You can get some measurements of what the pads and discs are supposed to be from here:
http://apec-ecat.elcome.co.uk/Search/PAD1856/
http://apec-ecat.elcome.co.uk/Search/DSK2972/
https://www.trwaftermarket.com/en/catal ... t/GDB1940/

[Mandrake]

At least new pads and discs shouldn't, in theory, cost a fortune. Mitsi OE parts are notoriously expensive, however. Perhaps a good reason to shop around, including Citroen and Peugeot - and PSA's Mister Auto. Hope the electric version won't make the search difficult.

Check a couple of pages back and Richard found a set of disc and pads for £52 on ebay, so yes, pretty reasonably priced. Even the slide pins (dealer only) are reasonably priced from what I remember.

I think this is a case of I might as well do it right and put the new parts in and be assured that any remaining noise/vibration will be gone and that the brakes will give lots of trouble free miles.

The car drove very nicely again on the way home tonight - helping to convince me that most (if not all) of the symptoms including vibration were indeed brake related all along.

[white exec]

Why do all these costly things always crop up just before Christmas??

[Mandrake]

Why do all these costly things always crop up just before Christmas??

Exactly why I did a quick bodge to tidy things up - I won't be replacing the discs/pads before Christmas. Depending on how well the bodge lasts I'll be doing them sometime between February and June. I have new drop links to fit as well so might as well do it all at once.

PS - no listings for parts on the Ion on mister auto I'm afraid...it doesn't believe the car even exists...

[white exec]

PS - no listings for parts on the Ion on mister auto I'm afraid...it doesn't believe the car even exists...

Why am I not surprised?
How many Ions, i-MiEVs and C-Zeros on UK roads these days?
Only suggested Mister Auto, as I have started to use them here in Spain. Good choice of essentials, including OE-standard stuff like Valeo and Purflux.

BTW (I know you talked about this recently) what do you pay per kWh for normal daytime power at home, and for the same peak/offpeak on whatever Economy7/NightTariff is called these days?

[Mandrake]

PS - no listings for parts on the Ion on mister auto I'm afraid...it doesn't believe the car even exists...

Why am I not surprised?
How many Ions, i-MiEVs and C-Zeros on UK roads these days?
Only suggested Mister Auto, as I have started to use them here in Spain. Good choice of essentials, including OE-standard stuff like Valeo and Purflux.

According to howmanyleft.co.uk there are 257 i-Miev's, 421 Ions, and 230 Citroen C-Zero's currently on the road in the UK - so not a lot!

Yes I've used Mister Auto a lot for the Xantia and found them very good, so they were one of the first places I looked for Ion parts - alas not listed at all.

BTW (I know you talked about this recently) what do you pay per kWh for normal daytime power at home, and for the same peak/offpeak on whatever Economy7/NightTariff is called these days?

I'm just on a single rate tariff - 12.3p/kWh. At that rate my Ion costs about 3p/mile in the summer and about 4p/mile in the winter to charge.

Not the cheapest around but reasonably priced. With Economy 7 you can find off peak/night time rates as low as 6 or 7p/kWh but usually with more expensive gas and day time electricity which doesn't make it worth it for me because gas is our major cost in the winter.

[Mandrake]

Received a VOSA safety recall notification for the Ion a couple of days ago!

It's for a potential fault with the passenger airbag:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls ... =Blank&tx=

Also affects the C-Zero:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls ... =Blank&tx=

I've got the car booked in in a couple of weeks to get it done, and it's the first time I've ever been involved in a recall like this...

Interestingly, the VOSA website appears to have screwed up the VIN number range, which rather suspiciously appears to be backwards, but even if you look at it around the other way my car's VIN is nowhere near the stated range, yet I still got a letter from Peugeot telling them to book the car in to have the recall done, as did several other owners on SpeakEV whose cars are ostensibly outside the VIN ranges specified as well.

Are PSA just being really cautious or have VOSA screwed up the listing I wonder ?

[Skull]

Mandrake Shame the re-call wasn't for vibrating brakes

[Mandrake]

Mandrake Shame the re-call wasn't for vibrating brakes

Haha, yes.

Looks like my brake bodge isn't holding out so well as the scraping (presumably the pad touching the rusty lip) is back as is vibration when braking hard. I've also noticed a significant drop in my range in the last few days that I can't correlate to weather or heater use, but can correlate with the noises from the front right caliper so I think there is intermittently a small amount of binding or drag on the front right caliper when the brake isn't pressed...and it wouldn't take much drag to kill the range!

So if it is indeed affecting my range I think I'm going to have to fit the new discs, pads and slide pins sooner rather than later... probably in January! Grr...

[CitroJim]

Ask Santa for the bits you need to refurbish the brakes Simon

I know just how a tiny bit of brake drag can affect performance from my experiences with disc brakes on bikes... I had one that dragged just a little and the difference after I'd sorted it was immense...

I don't like disc brakes on bikes; I much prefer the traditional rim brakes...

[Mandrake]

Was in Lidl yesterday and of course they had items of interest in the bargain isle.

Picked up a new car phone mount as the old one is worn out and likes to fall down, also picked up two electric heated car seat covers.

I've never really had an opinion on electric seats/covers before - my first Xantia V6 had them (and is the only car I've owned that had electric seat heaters) but never really needed them as the heater in the Xantia is really good. Not so the heater in the Ion - not only does it consume gobs of power (5kW on full blast) which cripples the range for a car with only a 16kWh battery, it's also not actually that hot once outside temperatures are below 0 degrees.

At -7 recently I had it turned right up to get a luke warm cabin with the air blowing out being warm but certainly not the roasting hot air you get from an ICE heater. The reason being the heater matrix only runs at about 60 degrees at most, compared to 90 degrees for the heater matrix in an ICE, so when the incoming air is frigid it can't get it as hot...

A lot of EV owners rave about electric seats allowing them to minimise use of the main heater. I also find the seats in the Ion quite hard and uncomfortable - previously I had a seat cover and a memory foam cushion on the drivers seat but I was still getting lower back ache. These covers in Lidl actually looked really padded and well shaped like they might be quite comfortable - especially in the butt area where the Ion seats are uncomfortably hard.

So I figured I'd take a punt on them as a padded seat cover to make the seat more comfy and any heating effect they might have would be a bonus! I bought one at first but went back for a second after trying it.

Turns out they fit the small, narrow Ion seats rather well, and look better than the old seat covers I had:

They are actually really well padded and comfy, and transform the comfort of the seats for me. They also work amazingly well as heaters. They're about 30 watts each, and you start to notice some warmth within about 2 minutes and after about 5 minutes they're really warm even through layers of clothes. And boy does it really make a difference! In 5 degree weather yesterday I was driving around with the main heater turned off completely and the seat cover was all I needed. I had warm clothes on too of course, but with your core warmed up your hands don't seem to feel cold, and cold hands is often the first thing that makes me turn the main heater on.

The power use of both seat covers on together is about 60 watts (5 amps at 12 volts) and this is 1/100th of the cabin heater on full blast which is almost 6000 watts. (Or about 3000 watts maintaining the temp once up to temperature) So the power use is so infinitesimal compared to the main cabin heater that I can basically leave them on all the time when driving the car with impunity and no impact on range. And even if I do still need some heater, I can reduce it considerably.

To power them both at the same time and also my phone I picked up a double plug + USB unit from Halfords and mounted it in a convenient little spot:

Ended up quite nice and tidy. There have been two times now since I've had this car where I've had to turn the heater off for the last 10 miles in below zero temperatures to make it home due to unexpected detours pushing me beyond the heater-on range of the car, and I've arrived home like an icicle - very unpleasant.

I think in the same situation with these electric seat covers turned on it would have been a much better experience! From what I've seen so far, heated seats or seat covers is a must for any short range EV - it's not a luxury at all, as it is so much more efficient at keeping you warm for minimal power use than blowing hot air through the entire cabin...

[Skull]

Going to checkout my local Lidl to see if they are on offer .....

[Mandrake]

Forgot to say, the seat covers were £12.99 each, and the smart phone window mount was £6.99 and is really sturdy and better than my more expensive one I've had for a few years whose suction cup has now seen better days...

The halfords double plug plus USB was this one, for a tenner, rated at 8 amps:

http://www.halfords.com/technology/mobi ... y-analyser

Another thing has occurred to me with heated seats in the Ion - most EV's let you run the heater while you're stopped DC rapid charging but the Ion does not... which means stopping to charge on the go in cold weather is not a very pleasant experience as if you're staying with the car you're sitting there in the cold...

But I've realised these seat covers will warm up as long as the key is at least in ACC - which you can do while you're rapid charging. So I now have warm seats while I'm stopped rapid charging in cold weather. Bonus!!

[CitroJim]

They do look good Simon Made for the job and pleased they give satisfaction...