Xantia ride quality/height

[duckmonkey]

Hello!

I bought a 1998 Xantia "Desire 2" 2.1TD (non-hydractive, I think - at least there is no sports/soft switch anywhere) from Ebay in March and on the whole I've been happy with it. However I've always had a nagging feeling that the ride isn't as good as it should be - though I have no frame of reference, having never driven another Xantia! I can feel most lumps and bumps in the road, and if I hit a grid for example it lurches quite a bit.

The spheres are all less than a year old, except the anti-sink.

I recently starting comparing the ride height on my car to other Xantias that I've seen about and I've now convinced myself than mine is too high when at normal height. Also there doesn't seem to be any difference between high and service-high, at least there is no noticable movement when switching between.

I've stuck some pictures in here, could anyone tell me if it looks right for each setting:

service low:

normal:

high:

service high:


I've had a look through the forums to see what else might be up so some other things that I thought might be relevant:

The STOP light goes out almost immediately after starting, and the car takes about 10-15 seconds to rise up.
It seems to sink and rise up when I do the "sit in boot" test.

Are there any forum reading Xantia owners anywhere near Derby who could take my car for a spin and tell me if I'm just being paranoid?

[MikeT]

It does look a little high on the second picture - is that supposed to be Normal height?

The third and fourth pictures look identical heights - are they supposed to be High and Highest settings?

What I noticed with my car is that I couldn't achieve "Normal" height when the front height corrector arm disconnected itself. If I was in Low and asked for Normal, the front would stay low. If I was in Highest and asked for Normal it would sink to High and go no lower. After sitting overnight over sinking a bit, the ride was closer to Normal.

[Stempy]

Looks a bit tall to me in the normal pic and I'm sure mine sinks lower than that in the low pic, high looks about right though. On mine there is no noticable difference between the two high settings either.

[deian]

I second those opinions too, it looks high to me too.

The front will look a bit higher than the back, but that is still a bit high.

Take a look at the height corrector adjustment. See relevant threads.

[Peter.N.]

A natural characteristic of hydropnumatic suspension is sensitivity to small sharp bumps, it really does its stuff at speed over undulating surfaces. The tyres, type and pressure are the main factors determining low speed ride, I run my XM at slightly lowen than recommended pressure and it makes quite a difference (not that I would advocate doing so). Low profile tyres will considerably worsen the low speed ride.

Even though you say your spheres are fairly new its still worth checking them. With the engine running, you should be able to bounce each corner about 4-6", much less than this or difference between either side would indicate a faulty sphere. You will normally get more movement on the rear.

[David W]

Your car is too high in the normal setting as most folks above say. It is a bit too high at the front and far too high at the rear. You should be able to see pretty well all of the tyre at the rear but not all that fresh air above it!

When you have the height correct then double check the spheres are OK by doing the bounce test as others have said. A Xantia with good spheres should feel like a normal car with weak springs and worn dampers... it really should get some easy free movement up and down.

Tyre make can create big differences on town manholes and pot holes... wonder what you have on?

David

[Peter.N.]

Sorry, didn't comment on the height, it certainly looks high, as David says, could be hitting the bump stops. You can do an approximate test by looking under the car, the drive shafts should be about parellel to the road at the front and the suspension arms at the rear.

[AndersDK]

2 good rules of thumb (normal height) :

1) the sills under the doors should be exactly parallel to level ground
2) front driveaxles and rear swingarms to be exactly parallel to level ground

Quite easy to check using a lenght of straight tubing during the work under the car. As said above : the tyre size & type influences a lot on the drive - but also visually on the height impressions.

[Mandrake]

I recently starting comparing the ride height on my car to other Xantias that I've seen about and I've now convinced myself than mine is too high when at normal height. Also there doesn't seem to be any difference between high and service-high, at least there is no noticable movement when switching between.

I've stuck some pictures in here, could anyone tell me if it looks right for each setting:

The second picture - normal height - is definately wrong, but only at the back. I think some people are getting tricked by the different lighting of the second picture compared to the rest which is making part of the wheel arch above the front wheel almost invisible, (black) making it seem like there is too much gap between the wheel and the guard.

When I boost the gamma of that photo so the wheel arch is visible the front height looks exactly right to me (by eye) but the back height is definately way too high, probably by about 40-50mm, which will definately cause poor ride at the rear. Rule of thumb for the rear is that the guard should be in line with the edge of the tyre.

Second picture gamma boosted:


The difference between the two highest settings is quite subtle.

Intermediate height (which you have labeled high) is most of the way up and just gently touching the limit stop snubbers - you should still be able to press it down a bit but it will be quite stiff. This is for fording flooded roads at very low speeds.

Maximum height (which you have labeled service high) just opens the height correctors fully and puts full pressure into the suspension - in this case it will be completely rigid and bounce on the tyres. (Never drive like this even at extremely slow speeds)

It's somewhat normal for there to be no change going in the direction of maximum down to intermediate height.

I would leave the front height alone for now (or perhaps measure it but don't fiddle with it) as it looks pretty well spot on to me, and it is very awkward to get at the adjustment.

Start by adjusting the rear height - you'll need ramps/pit/hoist to do it, and its a lot easier if you remove the spare wheel carrier. Follow the advice on the forum on how to go about adjusting it, (there are loads of threads describing it) and here are a couple of different diagrams of where to measure the height:

Simple less accurate one:


More accurate:

From: http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/simon/imag ... ia_height/

You'll notice a big difference in the ride and handling when you get that rear height sorted out!!

Regards,
Simon

[jjfoxy]

if there is the line on the bottom of the door (between 2 doors and car body ).the line should be below the upper of 4 Screw on the wheel .

[Hell Razor5543]

A rough rule of thumb is that, when the car is on level ground and is in the normal position (with the engine running), you can get three fingers between the front wheel and arch, and one finger between the rear wheel and arch. It is not unusual for there to be no apparent difference in height from high and service high.

What is the mileage of the car? Citroen recommend that the LHM is changed every 36,000 miles, and at 108,000 miles the system is flushed out using hydraflush.