Terrible Xantia brakes
Moderator: RichardW
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Hello yes got a -91 BX diesel and the brakes were always very soft and varied in feel, the pedal had a spring loaded piston in it but this did not contain a metal spring but a plug of Rubber, it had softened and the metal cap that retained it (the rubber) could tip sideways and jam up.It varied the brake feel and pedal travel wonderously!! The pedal was oridginal and had not been got at. Definately worth a check.
Cheers.
Geoff.
Cheers.
Geoff.
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I previously had a BX which as everyone else has confirmed had the best brakes I've ever had on any car. In fact they were so controllable I managed to avoid a motorway pile up in the snow steering/braking between various other spinning cars without ABS![:0]
I now have my second Xantia, a 2.0i auto, is the brake assembly the same on all Xantias? I fancy doing the mod so is the spring assembly near the pivot of the pedal and does that involve removing any panels in the footwell?
Cheers
Keith
I now have my second Xantia, a 2.0i auto, is the brake assembly the same on all Xantias? I fancy doing the mod so is the spring assembly near the pivot of the pedal and does that involve removing any panels in the footwell?
Cheers
Keith
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by p20</i>
Sat in my mate(davethewheel)'s car, which he's upgraded as decribed above. It was only in a car park to get the 'feel' of the pedal. Can't say i'm in any hurry to change my Xantia brake pedal. Strange enough, he's now decided to try and get his abs working.......
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep,
bloody brilliant aren't they [:D]
You haven't drive a CX/BX/GS/DS/SM before if you had trouble with the brakes. Once your used to the way the *should* be, you will never go back. You see the brake pedals in these cars should NOT move. All your doing is opening a valve, NOT supplying the pressure to stop the car (like all other cars on the road). You more pressure you apply the faster the car stops, it has nothing to do with movement of the pedal.
Like a said, the brakes in my Xantia are now absolutely bloody ... Infact just like they should be.
Note: Remember I said above the brakes feel just like early DS brakes, the CX/BX/GS brakes actually take slightly more pressure to bring into action. These really are just like the softest early DS brakes (ie: really, really good).
seeya,
Shane L.
Sat in my mate(davethewheel)'s car, which he's upgraded as decribed above. It was only in a car park to get the 'feel' of the pedal. Can't say i'm in any hurry to change my Xantia brake pedal. Strange enough, he's now decided to try and get his abs working.......
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep,
bloody brilliant aren't they [:D]
You haven't drive a CX/BX/GS/DS/SM before if you had trouble with the brakes. Once your used to the way the *should* be, you will never go back. You see the brake pedals in these cars should NOT move. All your doing is opening a valve, NOT supplying the pressure to stop the car (like all other cars on the road). You more pressure you apply the faster the car stops, it has nothing to do with movement of the pedal.
Like a said, the brakes in my Xantia are now absolutely bloody ... Infact just like they should be.
Note: Remember I said above the brakes feel just like early DS brakes, the CX/BX/GS brakes actually take slightly more pressure to bring into action. These really are just like the softest early DS brakes (ie: really, really good).
seeya,
Shane L.
I tried to remove the plastic thingy this morning but couldn´t. I tried pulling, not much joy as space is limited. Does it just pull off or is a screw in fixing?
I d really appreciate a detailed explanation ,if poss , by someone who's done it and am I right in thinking you put the metal tube back in the plastic case then refit it?
Thanks a lot PAT
I d really appreciate a detailed explanation ,if poss , by someone who's done it and am I right in thinking you put the metal tube back in the plastic case then refit it?
Thanks a lot PAT
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by peter1138</i>
I couldn't get it out either. Didn't want to pull too hard (more than finger strenght) as I don't want to break my brakes...
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You need to give it a fair old wiggle. I puled mine from side to side just enough to get it moving then it came straight out with very little effort. [:)]
I couldn't get it out either. Didn't want to pull too hard (more than finger strenght) as I don't want to break my brakes...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
You need to give it a fair old wiggle. I puled mine from side to side just enough to get it moving then it came straight out with very little effort. [:)]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat</i>
I tried to remove the plastic thingy this morning but couldn´t. I tried pulling, not much joy as space is limited. Does it just pull off or is a screw in fixing?
I d really appreciate a detailed explanation ,if poss , by someone who's done it and am I right in thinking you put the metal tube back in the plastic case then refit it?
Thanks a lot PAT
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I did the brake pedal mod this afternoon. Firstly, you need to lift the pedal as high as it will go. Then grasp the cylinder firmly and give it a good wiggle from side to side. It is a tight fit so a little effort was needed initially. Once it starts moving just pull it straight out and down.
Once you`ve got it free you will need to slide the retainig collar (Widest part)down the tube just enough to remove the two halves of the split collet. You can then seperate the two halves of the assembly. Next comes the easy bit. Remove the spring and simply replace with a piece of tubing the same length.
Reassemble the tube and replace the split collet. Move the retaining collar back to its original position.
When i replaced the tube back into the car, i found it was easiest to put the end that goes onto the switch in position first then slide the pedal end up the underside of the pedal until it meets the hole. Then just pop it in and depress the pedal firmly to seat it. Take car for test drive and be amazed. Took 5 minutes.
Hope this helps.
I tried to remove the plastic thingy this morning but couldn´t. I tried pulling, not much joy as space is limited. Does it just pull off or is a screw in fixing?
I d really appreciate a detailed explanation ,if poss , by someone who's done it and am I right in thinking you put the metal tube back in the plastic case then refit it?
Thanks a lot PAT
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I did the brake pedal mod this afternoon. Firstly, you need to lift the pedal as high as it will go. Then grasp the cylinder firmly and give it a good wiggle from side to side. It is a tight fit so a little effort was needed initially. Once it starts moving just pull it straight out and down.
Once you`ve got it free you will need to slide the retainig collar (Widest part)down the tube just enough to remove the two halves of the split collet. You can then seperate the two halves of the assembly. Next comes the easy bit. Remove the spring and simply replace with a piece of tubing the same length.
Reassemble the tube and replace the split collet. Move the retaining collar back to its original position.
When i replaced the tube back into the car, i found it was easiest to put the end that goes onto the switch in position first then slide the pedal end up the underside of the pedal until it meets the hole. Then just pop it in and depress the pedal firmly to seat it. Take car for test drive and be amazed. Took 5 minutes.
Hope this helps.
i think citroen dssined this plundger thingy to help ford and vauxhall drivers to coap with driving cits,it is ment to give a more convensional feel,also the fellow poster that said his brake pedle was lower than the others may be pice of plundger is broken of ,i have seen this before regards malcolm
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DoubleChevron, I thought your description and illustrations (particularly the moving picture) were brilliant. I do, however take issue with your statement that instead of applying braking force to stop the car you are just compressing the @!*~ spring. As Newton said, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. Thanks to that action and reaction, the force you put in at one end must come out at the other. As XantiaV6 said, the same force on the pedal provides the same braking force. The only difference is the amount of pedal movement. I understand that Citroen introduced the spring to make brake feel more acceptable to non Citroen drivers. As Andre Citroen would have put it "Chacun a son gout". (Loose translation, whatever lights your particular fire.)
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