Terrible Xantia brakes

goldfinche · Post by **goldfinche** » 01 Feb 2005, 16:12

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.

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 10 Feb 2005, 00:29

just done this mod to my xantia and what a difference and only took me about 1/2 hour and that includes looking for a suitable piece of metal to fit inside.

Keithh · Post by **Keithh** » 10 Feb 2005, 14:36

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

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 10 Feb 2005, 16:42

No, you just lift up the brake pedal and look to see if the plastic cylinder shown at the top of this thread is attached to the back of the pedal iron. If it is, it just pulls off. Then follow the instructions above.
//NiSk

p20 · Post by **p20** » 19 Feb 2005, 01:43

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.......

DoubleChevron · Post by **DoubleChevron** » 19 Feb 2005, 03:53

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by p20

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">
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.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 19 Feb 2005, 16:28

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

peter1138 · Post by **peter1138** » 05 May 2005, 17:29

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...

JohnCKL · Post by **JohnCKL** » 05 May 2005, 21:08

Easy to take out but very difficult to put back in. I took out one from a breakers, easily but have to use a lot of force to put it back in. If you have difficulty taking it out, then perhaps need to think twice.

daktari · Post by **daktari** » 06 May 2005, 00:46

How glad am i to have stumbled over this thread. Took a few minutes and has totally transformed the braking. Well done chaps.

daktari · Post by **daktari** » 06 May 2005, 00:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by peter1138

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">
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. [:)]

daktari · Post by **daktari** » 06 May 2005, 01:00

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Pat

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">
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.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 06 May 2005, 01:16

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

FrenchLeave · Post by **FrenchLeave** » 06 May 2005, 03:27

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.)

FrenchLeave · Post by **FrenchLeave** » 06 May 2005, 03:32

Sorry, Citronut; I've only just read your thread and realise I repeated what you had already said about the reason for the design.