Sphere Pressures for GTI

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MULLEY
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Sphere Pressures for GTI

Post by MULLEY »

Hoping someone can help answer this query, Ian had a look at my car today & because the sphere pressures seemed to vary from the front to the rear & from left to right i.e. when pushing down opposite sides seemed to be either softer or firmer than each other, Ian thought that perhaps the wrong one's had been fitted, especially as the front is quite soft on both sides compared to his tzd which has the Gti spheres fitted on the front.

I checked my paperwork & it says that 55bar one's are on the front & 40 bar one's are on the rear. However when we looked on the internet to check, there was mention of the ABS Gti having 55 fronts & 30 rears?

What are the correct pressures for a 1990 ABS equipped Gti?

Anyone got any ideas as to why the front is soft as mush, although once Ian had worked his magic on the front struts, it did seem to be a bit firmer. The ride he commented on was lovely and smooth front & rear as we took Haggerty for quick spin.
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Post by jeremy »

Was the car on absolutely level ground when the push down test was performed?

These cars have no valve between the struts across an axle - and so if the car was parked on a transverse slope and the anti-roll bar were removed they would sit at an angle - rather like a pendulum.

This means that if the car is standing on anything other than level ground the anti-roll bar is under load, and will assist with compression on one side and resist on the other. Turn the car round and the opposite should happen.

JonkW prepared a table of sphere specs for the BX which is on this site:

http://www.bxclub.co.uk/BXspheretab.pdf
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Ian_Fearn
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Post by Ian_Fearn »

The car was on level ground.

The ride quality is excellent, far softer than my TZD which is on GTi/TZD spheres that are less than 9 months old.

I drove the car today and it did feel rather wallowy hence i thought the spheres might be off a 16/19 (non GTi). According to the spheres receipt the bar pressures are correct but the internal dimensions are necessarily correct for the GTi.

Generally though the car handles as well as any BX 19 or 16 would handle. The struts are pretty sticky but i reckon a few more strut lubes will sort it to a point where new struts can be put off for some time yet.

The car sits on old Michelin tyres which arent helping matters either.

Good to meet you today... :D
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Post by jeremy »

There is more sphere info in the workshop manual -

http://www.rwbsmith.plus.com/citroen2/Struts/struts.pdf

at about page 10 - I think this may be a 87 or 88 edition of the manual and later cars may have stiffer suspension.

There are also sphere specs on the parts diagrams - 2 for download on the CitroenY site - I think its Item 2 and the last item under BX. The first item is the last edition (blue) of Haynes - petrol only - but in english.

http://citroeny.cz/servis/servis.htm
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Post by BX Bandit »

It's not only pressures Mulley its volume and centre bore diameter that also affect ride/damping. The pressures for both GTi/TD and 1.6/1.9/D are 55. But, the GTi/TZD are 400cc which makes them a stiffer ride. AFAIK, volume is not stamped on the sphere but get a 400cc and a 500cc side by side and the difference is obvious. Also consider that comparing two different cars is not necessarily a fair comparison, even if both cars have the same spec spheres. What you do not know without test equipment is the residual pressure within the sphere and this can make an enormous difference to the softness of the ride. A fair test would be to perform a measurement of suspension sink/dive under a given load (i.e. sit on bumper) and then swap spheres between cars and repeat the test. Personally, if you are not happy with the ride, spend £100 on a new set of spheres and have peace of mind for 50Kmiles.

Higher the pressure, larger the volume and larger diameter of central bore gives softest option :lol: :roll:
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MULLEY
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1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
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1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
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Post by MULLEY »

The spheres are under warranty so can be sorted, only issue is getting to manchester in a sorn & uninsured car.

It was good meeting you today Ian, cheers for your help.

I will give westroen a bell to see if they can come up with a solution to the issue. Will have a look at the articles raised, so thanks for those.
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Post by jeremy »

How far has this car travelled since the LHM was changed? New LHM does make them feel strange - personally I like it - but they can be much softer and better riding - which disappears after a week or so of normal driving - so we're talking of 3 - 500 miles for it to settle down.
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MULLEY
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Location: Derbyshire
My Cars: 1999 Xsara LX 2.0HDI (90) Hatch - Fern
2002 C5 2.0 HDI (110) Estate - Jasmine - SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - SORN
1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired - SORN
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
x 8

Post by MULLEY »

Not exactly sure, but at least 1k as everything was done in June this year.
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MULLEY
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My Cars: 1999 Xsara LX 2.0HDI (90) Hatch - Fern
2002 C5 2.0 HDI (110) Estate - Jasmine - SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - SORN
1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired - SORN
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
x 8

Post by MULLEY »

I have already posted this but thought it appropriate to add to the original thread in the 1st place.

I swapped the front spheres from my TZD onto the Gti, the 1st thing i noticed that the one's fitted to the Gti are visibly smaller (i think the wrong one's were fitted). Took the Gti out for a spin & voila, the handling was sorted, still comfy but no longer dipping & diving anymore, bleedin hell, why did they fit the wrong one's, they are supposed to be the experts. So have had to live with crap handling for no reason at all...

I will take all the spheres off the car soonish & take em back to westroen to check the pressures & to get the incorrect one's replaced.

The accumulator according to Ian sounded flat & i am unsure if the rears need replacing or not, but they did appear to have different pressures at each corner when pushing down, so they may need replacing.....

Its all happening..... Will update this thread once i have been in touch with Westroen for an explanation.....
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