Sphere Replacement (not the usual question)

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Sphere Replacement (not the usual question)

Post by user_3150 »

Hi everyone, Replaced all the sphere's about 20'000 miles ago with Amtex jobbies. Anyway the front is getting bouncy again. Should I just replace the two front one's or should I do the lot. I have seen Westroen sphere's on e-bay £150 for a full set that are "up to" genuine Citroen spec. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CITROEN-XANTIA-ES ... dZViewItem
Does this look good or should I just change the 2 in Question. If I got a full set could I just store the other's until they go as well. (what is the shelf life?) HMMM quite a lot of question's in the end. Any help as always most appreciated.
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Post by 406 V6 »

You could service only the front ones, has apparently there is no need to get rid of still good rear ones.
Those 20.000 miles were hwo long ago?
If i'm not mistaken, shelf life is around 2 years. You could always build yourself a sphere pressure tester to see how they are going along, and if needed regass the. By the time,as they weren't serviced, the membrane would be new, so regassing would be very safe as for what concerns sphere life.
Cheers!
(ps: i'm in one of my complicated days [:(])
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Post by Mandrake »

Replacing only the front or only the back as needed is fine. They wear out at a different rate anyway as they are at different pressures, carry different loads, and in the case of original Citroen spheres - the front ones are multimembrane "long life" spheres that can outlast the rear ones.
What is important is to always replace left and right spheres together as a matched pair so as to keep the car balanced sideways. Having a front left soft and a front right hard (for example) will upset the handling, and can cause things like diagonal pitching of the body on undulations...
Likewise, it would be unwise to use a left and right sphere from different sources - due to different amounts of time sitting on the shelf etc they may have significantly different pressure.
Mixing different brands of spheres for left and right may cause them to loose pressure at a different rate so one side may end up hard before the other even if they start out the same.
On a Hydractive 2 model although you don't necessarily need to replace the centre sphere together with the corner spheres (they too seem to wear out at different rates, probably due to their different pressures) you should at least be checking they're working ok, and whether its the corner or centre spheres that actually need replacing. If in doubt and you don't have access to a pressure tester or some other way of verifying it, replace the 3 together.
Regards,
Simon
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Post by jonnydrumm1967 »

I would just replace the front ones as the gas discharges over time,not so much mileage and they have more work to do. As a general guide replace the fronts every two to three years,the rears every four to five. My own 1997 Xantia last had them on the front in 2001 and its getting time for replacement....[:(]
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Post by user_3150 »

Francisco, 20'000 was about a year ago. I don't know if this is about right for Amtex sphere's life but it would seem about right. Thank's for the other replies I will just change the front's for now.
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Post by uhn113x »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Alec</i>

Hi everyone, Replaced all the spheres about 20,000 miles ago with Amtex jobbies. Anyway the front is getting bouncy again. Should I just replace the two front ones or should I do the lot. I have seen Westroen spheres on e-bay £150 for a full set that are "up to" genuine Citroen spec. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CITROEN-XANTIA-ES ... dZViewItem
Does this look good or should I just change the 2 in question. If I got a full set could I just store the others until they go as well. (what is the shelf life?) HMMM quite a lot of questions in the end. Any help as always most appreciated.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hi Alec
Although everyone is talking about swapping the spheres, I wonder what you mean by "bouncy"? I would have said that a hard sphere was quite the opposite of bouncy. Are they hard? I tend to do 3 years for front and accumulator and 5 years for rears - IMHO mileage does not matter at all.
Think they are all still about £20 each.
PS - Hope you don't mind me taking out the errant apostrophes - I sell them to all the fruit and veg stallholders on Dewsbury market! [;)][:D]
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Post by Mandrake »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by uhn113x</i>
Although everyone is talking about swapping the spheres, I wonder what you mean by "bouncy"? I would have said that a hard sphere was quite the opposite of bouncy. Are they hard? I tend to do 3 years for front and accumulator and 5 years for rears - IMHO mileage does not matter at all.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
What most people refer to as "bouncy" is indeed due to the suspension being very hard. (Or completely rigid, in the case of punctured spheres)
The reason it gives a bouncy ride is that when you hit a bump something has to give, and if its not the suspension its the tyres, which have some springyness, but very little in the way of damping hence the rapid oscillation and bouncing.
Many people don't realise that not only is the damping on a properly working suspension there to damp body oscillations, its also there to damp any tendency of the tyres themselves to bounce, and when the suspension can't move at all, that ability to control tyre bounce is lost. (Which is a potentially rather dangerous handling condition)
The opposite problem of suspension that is too soft and underdamped is floatiness or wallowing which are generally much slower oscillations.
Regards,
Simon
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Post by jeremy »

Are Westroen spheres new or recon - admittedly gassed to Citroen spec?
Have you compared the prices with GSF ones which are new?
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Post by easterroad »

It appears from the website they are reconditioned.
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Post by JohnT »

I would pass the business to GSF the sponsor for this site. They are new, priced well, and service is first rate. I am not however casting doubt on the Westroen service.
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Post by RichardW »

Westroen do indeed recon spheres, but they guarantee them for 3 years (IIRC) and fit them for £25 a pop - which is pretty close to the price GSF do them at, and saves you getting your hands dirty if you're not inclined to DIY, and are near Manchester. The bloke is friendly and knows what he's talking about!
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Post by user_3150 »

Hi I mean "Bouncy" as in a standard sprung car with worn shock absorbers. When I first got the car the front would bottom out on large dips in the road or going over small humped back bridges which was fixed when I changed the sphere's.
I am looking at genuine Citroen spheres from GSF as would rather use them but they only stock 1 type for the front which are for the saloons, part Number if you want a look N45332A. Would these be O.K on my estate. What would be the worst that could happen with them on as looking on GSF sphere comparison the estate and saloons are diffrent.
Westroen do recon spheres to Citroen spec and fit for free if you can get to them.
Everyone is saying 3 year's for fronts why did mine only last 1 year is it because they are copies.
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Post by oilyspanner »

I only use the new spheres from GSF nowadays after a recon acc sphere ruptured on me last year, they are cheap enough and we help to fund things like this forum.
Stewart
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