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Suspension problem possibly

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Norman   
Wed Mar 02 2016, 08:29am
Joined: Feb 06 2011
Member No: #364
Location: Huddersfield and Torremolinos Spain
Hi all,
After a three month period of driving on the continent the retuning th the Uk the difference on the state of the roads was blindingly obvious the roads in the Uk Are atrocious and noticeable bumpier so I ordered a complete set of spheres from the sphere shop and had them fitted by Martin at Plaides and I expected to have the floating suspension that everyone says it should be but I am disappointed! So I asked Martin what he had found wrong with the original spheres and he said one of the front ones was flat and the rest were down by upto 50% . So what can the problem be its not bad on the motorway smooth but not floaty and on ordinary roads I can feel every bump and undulation so something is not right or am I being too picky the previous Xm was more floaty than the C6. Nothing appeares out of the ordinary on the lexia apart from the it says the electric handbrake is faulty but it works fine, and olso the steering wheel sensor but that was a common fault with the Xm so I ignore it. Also I wondered is there a difference between the different models 2.2 the 2.7 and the 3ltr regarding the types of suspension.

Norman.
Bishop   
Wed Mar 02 2016, 09:23am
Joined: Apr 16 2012
Member No: #868
Location: Harpenden
Hi Norman, I actually don't think that it is likely that there is anything wrong with your car. The C6 is definitely more prone to being caught out by poor roads than the XM or CX. I put it down to the extra weight of the car and also the greater un-sprung weight of the 18" wheels. If you drive a C6 alongside almost any other steel sprung car, you notice the difference and improvement in isolation from the road surface - everything is relative.
gmerry   
Wed Mar 02 2016, 09:47am
Joined: Dec 11 2009
Member No: #21
Location: Scotland
Hi Norman, good that you replaced the spheres. We "were told" that these spheres never failed eh!!.

Regarding your ride quality, a possible culprit would be any degradation of the rear rubber bush of the front wishbone. These things are under a huge stress but are made of quite thin sections to provide the necessary compliance. Have you replaced the front lower wishbones or bushes within the last couple of years?

Another area that might be to blame is the height sensors: the electronic damping relies on the displacement signal (and derived velocity) heavily in calculating the correct damping. If there is any stiction in the mechanical actuators (due to corrosion or lack of lubrication) or worse SLOP in the little ball joints, you will be introducing random glitches into the suspension control system. Of course the electronic suspension also switches in and out the comfort spheres: any input errors from the height sensors also will affect the operation here as well. Please note that the so called height sensors are really displacement sensors, need to have the required dynamic response which will only be possible if there are in good mechanical order.

Regards
G

Hattershaun   
Wed Mar 02 2016, 12:23pm
Joined: Dec 19 2010
Member No: #320
Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Did you get the correct spheres for a 2.2HDi C6?
They are different to the spheres fitted to all other models.

V6 engined C6 have variable damping, controlled by an AMVAR unit in the top of the suspension strut.
2.2 engined C6 have fixed damping, controlled by a damper valve fitted in the neck of the 4 spheres fitted to the outer corners of the car.

The wrong spheres would give you very odd suspension behaviour/sensation.
Norman   
Thu Mar 03 2016, 10:57am
Joined: Feb 06 2011
Member No: #364
Location: Huddersfield and Torremolinos Spain
I took the ones directly from the web site so they should be hopefully be correct, there is no noise or movement from the front and I can't check anything until we get back from sunny Spain,
MikkelCPH   
Wed Apr 13 2016, 08:21pm
Joined: Feb 24 2016
Member No: #2532
Location: Copenhagen
My 3.0 diesel from 2011 is not bad at all but somehow less "citroënean" than the suspension from good old days (DS, GSA and XM). I wonder if anyone knows about the possibility of replacing the new suspension with the one from the XM or if an adjustment of the electronics would be possible?
drummond   
Wed Apr 13 2016, 08:41pm
Joined: Sep 20 2010
Member No: #238
Location: Aldeburgh
I now have a Mazda CX (Yes!) 5, and the ride is appalling. And it's supposed to be good....The DS is in bits and will be OK for the ICCCCCR, methinks- you don't know how good the Citroen ride is until you've tried the rest!
arconell3   
Thu Apr 14 2016, 07:44am
Joined: Jun 28 2012
Member No: #922
Location: Kalkar
Hi Norman,

For optimal comfort always check and adjust the ride height (see technical documents: suspension height settings). Also, check tire pressure. Last but not least: check LDS fluid level (can only be checked properly after the system is depressurized-see technical documents section)

Regards, Robert
Website
Tjensen   
Thu Apr 14 2016, 10:56am
Joined: Jul 17 2012
Member No: #954
Location: Bergen
I think there are limits to the comfort due to the PSA standard chassis (limited suspesion travel) The DS (and also GS and CX) were design around a soft long-travel suspension and had extreme capabilities to flow over bumps of many kinds- XM not quite as good, but here we have a PSA standard chassis/platform. And C6: smoother than ever on ordinary roads due to sound proofing and very good suspension (a little DS-like feeling), but on larges bumps more Mercedes than DS and should be driven like an ordinary car (reducing speed in front of speed-pumps). But see the famous C6 vs BMW test of Top Gear: there are huge differences, and this test was about smoothing out and balancing roughness and smaller bumps.
Norman   
Thu Apr 28 2016, 08:56am
Joined: Feb 06 2011
Member No: #364
Location: Huddersfield and Torremolinos Spain
Hi all,
Had everything checked out and it's all ok, checked the tyre pressures with a new tyre gauge and found the tyre pressures were too high so dropped them all down to the correct pressures and now it glides ok i also found that if i put it into the highest setting which i have to to get out of the drive because of the steep angle (otherwise the front of the car hits the road) when it goes back to the normal height it floats nicely, so happy with for the moment.
 

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