Rear Suspenders Bump Stop now NFP

[Stickyfinger]

So I ordered 2x 70H 85 ones, will they fit in the socket and what are they like to cut down to height ?

16
5166 55
02
REAR SUSPENSION REBOUND BLOCK
DIAM 70 H 85
- W/O ACTIVE ANTI-ROLL 5166 53

NFP
5166 53
02
DIAM 65 H 79
- WITH ACTIVE ANTI-ROLL

Getting slightly peeved with Citroen ATM

[wurlycorner]

Getting slightly peeved with Citroen ATM

Only slightly?

How long do you reckon untill you reach the full on disgusted with them, that I am?


As a footnote to that... I was in my Honda dealer yesterday, ordering some bits for my 1990 prelude (which tbh, I was amazed to find were not only all still available, but 2 of the 4 were in Swindon, the third was in belgium and it was only one of them that needed to come from the philippines!) but anyway...
I always find the parts guys there helpful and friendly and in chatting to them this time, they were telling me they have another customer that comes in regularly for all kinds of oem parts for his NSX. They told me how disappointed they were that Honda didn't still sell everything for it and that they thought Honda didn't seem to support older models very well, because one of the things he'd wanted in his list this week (a bottom rad hose) was no longer available. (I told them they should try owning a Citroen and gave them some of my recent examples of being disappointed on much, much newer cars!)
Anyway, the parts manager said he had been so disappointed at the rad hose showing as discontinued, that he'd contacted Honda UK and has got them to contact Honda Japan to see if they can source one or find an alternative What a star

[Stickyfinger]

My C5 was the ONLY true Citroen on the forecourt, every other car was a Highly coloured Playmobile or a Golf.

....I do not think Citroen have ever been very supportive of their customer base have they ?
They have plainly throughout their history never valued an enthusiastic second hand market and failed to grasp the importance the influence this has on New sales........(lol, or maybe they have !)

[wurlycorner]

TBH, when I was running CX's as my daily (last time that was the case was 10 years ago) I never had any problem getting parts and the dealer was helpful and knowledgeable. Ok, that was ten years ago, but the very newest CX then was 14 years old and its first successor (XM) had also been and gone and they were onto the one after that (C5/C6), whereas now parts are not available for the C5 s1, of which the newest one is only 8 years old!
So, IME, they have seriously gone down hill in the pretty recent past.

As for how it affects sales, I can only speak for myself here, but when relatives have been looking for a new car (and some of whom have had a DSx as their preferred choice and would have very happily pursued it) I've told them not to and to go elsewhere instead - based on my recent experience of their dealers, parts supply and even things like the quality of the interior trim.

The durability of the trim in my C5 is absolutely fine (in fact brilliant) but my experience looking at current models in scrap yards and as owned by work colleagues, taxi's etc. is that most of the plastic bits seem to have a really crap thin coloured coating that wears and peels off in the high contact areas within just a couple of years, leaving the interior looking bloody awful, which is just plain unacceptable.

It's not where I want to be, but I'm afraid I've gone from an avid supporter to an active dissuader of anyone buying a new Citroen now
Anyway, rant over

[Stickyfinger]

Cannot help but agree.....

[Northern_Mike]

How many Activas were sold in total just out of interest?

Apart from the Xantia, all the Citroens I've had have had pretty poor quality interiors - that's a GSA, a Visa, a BX, many Xantias, a couple of XMs and C5s. The C4 is not great quality (the gearknob is particularly nasty). I think it's always been that way!

The TT despite being 150k and 14 years old hadn't got a mark, rattle or fault inside and everything worked.



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[CitroJim]

How many Activas were sold in total just out of interest?

Something like 900 Mike...

Are the bump-stops for the cooking varieties of Xantia still available?

If not it's something we'll have to look at fabricating...

[Northern_Mike]

How many Activas were sold in total just out of interest?

Something like 900 Mike...

Does that include the other models over the channel, not just the UK ones Jim? If so, I'm not wholly surprised that parts are becoming NFP. It's a fair old commitment for a manufacturer to keep parts for a very low volume non-prestige car when it's unlikely to sell many, if any of them. I wonder how many Activa bump stops Citroen dealers have been asked for this year, in the whole of the UK?

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[CitroJim]

That was just the UK ones Mike...

Sorry, got the wrong end of the stick there...

[Stickyfinger]

Other marks have a "heritage" systems for old parts......others are as bad, but we suffer from the word "Citroen" in the UK (low volume low spare count)

The standard oilers are still OK

Beggars the question....WHY the connection size/height difference for the Activa, its not like it is an active part of the suspension system.

[Northern_Mike]

Other marks have a "heritage" systems for old parts......others are as bad, but we suffer from the word "Citroen" in the UK (low volume low spare count)

Yes. I've had cause to order parts for ancient Mercs and VWs before, and never had an issue. Likewise some American tat.

Of course, part of the issue is that a lot of Citroen parts are bespoke to that particular vehicle. Not like asking for a Ford part which invariably fits nearly all the range, going back years and years! I was amazed to find the DRK's rear swinging arm bush is a front suspension bush from a 1978 Cortina. Still made, by more than one supplier and readily available for about £8.



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[CitroJim]

Beggars the question....WHY the connection size/height difference for the Activa, its not like it is an active part of the suspension system.

Gawd knows. There's quite a bit that's Activa-specific (such as spheres) but more often than not the standard stuff is near enough to be OK and not really noticeable in use. I run Xantia Estate rear spheres for instance and they're fine.

[Stickyfinger]

It is the Estate ones I ordered.....we shall see how the .5cm increase effects the fit and see how well they cut down in height.

(Jim.....no idea how the hell you get the bush out of the ram when it is on the car........given up, have to wait for pipe seals now....grrrrr bad day)

[wurlycorner]

How many Activas were sold in total just out of interest?

Something like 900 Mike...

Does that include the other models over the channel, not just the UK ones Jim? If so, I'm not wholly surprised that parts are becoming NFP.

I don't think the conversation was talking about Activa only bits going NFP? Certainly my comments were about Citroen parts in general (general Xantia and C5 bits)!

It's not as if the parts don't exist - they do, it's that they're chucking them in the bin very quickly. How long you keep them depends on your customer service ethic and the way you account for stock (and Xantia's were actually manufactured in Iran until just 5 years ago!)
When you consider costs in the round, the cost of storing them isn't great (particularly when you have loads of factory space you're already covering the overheads for, stood around empty...) versus the cost of disposing of them. At worst, if your'e going to ruthlessly cutting off parts supply because your financial model says it does save you money, you could at least try offering them at a discount to owners clubs - selling them for peanuts will still be more cost neutral than the cost of binning them.

[wurlycorner]

Of course, part of the issue is that a lot of Citroen parts are bespoke to that particular vehicle. Not like asking for a Ford part which invariably fits nearly all the range, going back years and years! I was amazed to find the DRK's rear swinging arm bush is a front suspension bush from a 1978 Cortina. Still made, by more than one supplier and readily available for about £8.

Yeah, that does also say quite a lot about Fords R&D progress though

Normally I'd agree with you about Citroen parts being for bespoke vehicles, but particularly from the Xantia on, there's a lot of stuff that is shared with Pugs as well and C5 stuff is common as common can be? (on hydractive, all the same spheres, all the same suspension with only one difference being an additional front/rear electro valve/sphere on the 3+ spec?)

By way of one comparison, I've got 4 Preludes spanning only 7 years (89 - 95). There are 2 completely different models (3rd gen and 4th gen) and within each of those, a pre- and post-'facelift' version. The lack of commonality between them is quite mind boggling tbh - things under the skin that you'd never even imagine would be different, are.
Trim stuff for the 3rd gens is difficult to get hold of, but Honda still stock plenty of other stuff for it. I've bought loads and loads of random bits for the 4th gens and the only thing they've gone out of stock for that I've wanted so far, is the weather skin for the front doors (the plastic skin that covers the inner door skin behind the trim panel). Initially they had stock (for my first car) but come the second car they only had one side left (which I bought and depleted their last stock holding in japan)

I also have 1985 Nissan Sunny (I know, I know... ) the master cylinder has gone and all the brake fluid ingested via the servo. I went into the Nissan dealer a few weeks ago to check availability and... yep, new servo still available (both types that it could have been fitted with) new master cylinder available (again, 2 types) and master cylinder seal kit


Anyway, more than enough ranting from me I think I sound like a right miserable old git with an a massive chip on his shoulder I'm not (I just hate crap customer service). There will always be good and bad suppliers. I expect Honda and Nissan are at one extreme end (although reading other posts on here, perhaps there plenty others) it's just unfortunate that Citroen seem to be very much at the other extreme end.