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Suspension Sphere - Availability and VFM |
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C6Dave
 
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    Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
Shaun how many miles has your car covered now? | ||
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gmerry
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 Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Hi all, it seems that 4 years is "about" the optimum life for the front spheres: maybe a little longer for the rears as the rear diaphragms are under less stress and the is less driving force for pressure loss. My car was built 2007 and front spheres were replaced in 2012 following failures- I guess standing around for nearly a year did not do the diaphragms any favours. I suspect mileage is nearly irrelevant as to life, its just down to age. Regards G |
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Hattershaun
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 Member No: #320
Location: Bedfordshire, UK |
C6Dave wrote ... Shaun how many miles has your car covered now? 65000 miles My car was built in Nov 2005, so is 7 years old. |
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dsharples
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  Member No: #119
Location: Woodbridge |
Shaun's experience is very similar to mine in terms of how the car felt. Mine became excessively firm under braking, and had a strange and sickening "nose bounce motion" when cresting road undulations like those on the UK M25 northern ring section. This is very difficult to explain/demonstrate to a mechanic that sees/drives 10s of cars per day. My C6 is 5 (6 since build) years old and now has 64,000 miles (58k at time of reporting). I feel quite strongly that we need to make Citroen UK aware of these issues, such that other C6 owners can be properly directed as to the required repair/replacement when they experience the same effect. Mine should also have been covered under my Citroen Extended Warranty (not sure if the C6 had a 5yr/60k mile suspension warranty as well?) - but as the dealer said "no fault found" , "we have experienced no failures of the long life spheres on any Citroen under the warranty period" and "all C6's behave like this" - which Citroen UK just underwrote, I was left to resolve the problem myself and at my own expense. |
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BruceB
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  Member No: #234
Location: Hampshire |
dsharples wrote ... I was left to resolve the problem myself and at my own expense. I've just got my car back from a body-shop, where it went to have a couple of dents and scrapes healed. The guv'nor advised me that the track-rods need replacing and that there is a suspension leak: "I assume it's from one of the spheres". The car was MoT'd 5 weeks ago, just before I bought it. Although the leak could conceivably be fresh, should the track-rods have been an 'advisory'? I always had a 'making good' budget in mind (though not *quite* as high as Smihaialex), but could somebody give me a rough thumb-in-the-air estimate of what these jobs are likely to cost in parts and labour (Citroen specialist, not a dealership)? |
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C6Dave
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Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
So far G age has varied from 4-7 years but mileage is roughly 58-65,000 which is interesting as Citroen will cover 'broken' front springs up to 6 years/80,000 miles on the C4 range and C4 Picasso - Suspension 'airbags' up to 4 years / 93,000 miles (Partial) Maybe there is a case for an approach to Citroen UK on failed suspension spheres given the mileages quoted above on the C6? |
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gmerry
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Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Hi Dave, my car was 3 months outside 3 year warranty when the front suspension spheres gave indications of problems. Looking back at it the problems started immediately after the service by the Citroen dealer (a few weeks inside the 3 year warranty). Was this just coincidence? Mileage was about 32,000 when the front spheres failed. I still think that a car sitting still for a long period of time will put a "crease" type stress raiser into the diaphragm, compared to one that is used most every day. Looking into the future, I'll change the last two original spheres early next year (these are the two rear corners) and then will probably replace the fronts again in 3 years, if I still have the car. My main problem at the beginning was just lack of familiarity: this excellent forum I think gives owners the reassurance that they are not the only ones to have these problems and also some practical advice on how to get things fixed. Regards G |
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C6Dave
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Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
I don't disagree G bearing in mind a lot of C6's built in 2006/2007 were stood around a long time before finally being registered for use. We have seen tyre wall related problems in cars of similar age as well. In the 'good old days' (did they really exist) if a car was of the road for a long period it was good practice to jack it up and let it sit on blocks to let the suspension 'hang' with no load. Now I would suspect that never happened with unsold C6's. |
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mog1842
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  Member No: #268
Location: Stamford Lincolnshire |
My 2.2 has just had its MOT. It didn't hang around long before sale, built in October 2006, sold in December. Anyway, it has now covered 54,000 miles. BL Autos of Welwyn Garden City, who maybe are as knowledgeable as anyone about C6s... they own one and service quite a few...did the service. Front spheres, the originals, still have the correct pressure. The nearside rear was down to 27 bar, the offside one being 50 bar. Both spheres were changed, at a reasonable £95 plus vat for the two. Result? The rocking motion which had become quite apparent has gone, and the car now rides as you would expect/hope...beautifully. |
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gmerry
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Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
50 bar for a rear sphere? What is the spec for the 2.2s On the V6s the spec is 40 bar for all rear spheres. Regards G |
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ricdic
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  Member No: #1675
Location: Australia |
I see there are a number of suppliers of after market spheres for the C6. Does anyone have enough experience which the different brands to recommend which is the best? |
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Tjensen
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 Member No: #954
Location: Bergen |
I bought the IFHS. Never heard of any difference (besides price), Also used them on XM and CX, | ||
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ul9601
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Member No: #1975
Location: Auckland |
gmerry wrote ... ...The plastic shell floats around in the sphere causing the rattle I noticed. I wonder if the rattle feature is a deliberate part of the design to aide detection of a flat sphere?... I know this post is years old and I think I read a post on the forum saying that rattling sphere does not necessarily indicate spheres losing pressure (unfortunately I can't find that post  )All 7 of the old spheres (I'm assuming they are genuine, I'll double check tomorrow morning) had varying degree of something moving inside when I shook - it felt more of something heavy thudding about with limited movement as opposed to rattle. Cheers Sam Go the Lions!  |
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