Citroen XM Forum

The ARB mount bolts on top of the subframe to give the correct angle for the anti squat and anti dive suspension. Would have been nice though.

Onto other things...MOT time this afternoon...a clean sheet pass...

I spent this weekend tracing the knocking from the front suspension.
Having already fitted new wishbone bushes and ARB mounts, it seemed unlikely to be them, but sounding like an ARB issue, I investigated. The o/s driveshaft knocking due to the C ring in the CV joint having snapped, but after changing the drive-shaft, found the knock was still there.
Next trial was to disconnect the left end of the ARB, the knock was much reduced, but not gone.
It turned out to be the right drop link bottom joint was worn and both new wishbone, rear mounts were loose on the shaft. I was aware of this when fitting them so added a tack weld front and rear of the bush. The tack weld had broken and the wishbone was rattling in the bushing.

Fit replacement drop links and refit the compliance bushings with a steel shim inside, so the bushings had to be driven on, then added some welds at the front and rear of each bushing to really hold them in place. I had to be really careful to not overheat the rubber.

Finally a quiet car, but all due to inferior after-market parts. Unfortunately drop links nor track control bushings are available from citroen.
Be careful what you buy.

Good fix.

I think that's very sound advice about aftermarket parts. It might be an interesting idea to make a list of trusted parts suppliers, or even suppliers to avoid.
I have been looking at parts for the future engine fix and I'm not entirely sure which suppliers to trust.

Autodoc i've found very good for engine parts during the V6 rebuild Russ.

I had the same issue with getting the wishbone P bush for the Xantia, they would just drop over the wishbone and fall off again, they should be a press fit as you know, I sent back 4 of them from 4 different sellers before I paid 3 times the price and got one with the correct press fit clearance.

D

Dean wrote:Autodoc i've found very good for engine parts during the V6 rebuild Russ.

D

Thanks Dean... I found Motor Doctor.. maybe the same place, seems to stock loads of things too. But most of the brands I haven't heard of.

http://www.autodoc.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

awful customer ratings online but they had bits nobody else did, they didnt show items they didnt have, quality was great, very well packaged and fast delivery, i thought they were excellent.

D

Thanks for the link. I did find it last night and had a look. It all seems very good. Interesting knowing your experience was a good one.

After fitting the wishbone bushes and new tyres, I decided to have a four wheel alignment performed, to get a picture of the setup and any issues.

What do you think I did yesterday?

shimming out suspension components Will?

D

I knew I coud count on you, Dean.
I'm not bothered about the apparent front camber being a bit high as A. it's even and B. it's probably just the front was a bit low when being checked pushing the track control arms out a bit.

This car had a definite drift to the left and as you can see the rear left camber is high and the toe-in is higher than the right, so the thrust angle is not centrered (2 minutes). The rear hub is mounted into a machined socket in the trailing arm, accessible once the brake disk and caliper are removed.
The cardboard is the template, the can side is the doner metal for the shim and is about 0.1mm thick. I made a shim about 1/5 round set at 10.30 position. and now have a car that drives straight and follows the road camber instead of always drifting left.