Terrible RHD Xantia brakes

DoubleChevron

Real cars have hydraulics
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Hi Guys,

since I first got the Xantia last year and complained about the cr@ppy brakes on the andyspares forum I have known exactly what was wrong.

You see gentle stops are good, full blown crash stops are good however in every other way the brakes are worst than sh!tfull. They are the worst brakes I've ever tried to use. Gimme 2cv or Traction drum brakes anyday. At least I can regulate them with any sort of control. In the xantia this is how moderate braking. Push gently ... a little harder ... a little harder ... SHIT STOP YOU B@STARD followed by a full on crash stop.

What Citroen in there infinate wizdom have done is fit a spring between the brake pedal. Yes I can't believe anyone would be stupid. You see they wanted the brakes to "feel" spongy and soft like all other cars (yes after 50years of brilliant high pressure brakes the are vastly supperior to everyone elses braking system they do insane things like this).

You can simply pull the plastic spring unit out with your fingers:

springunit1.jpg


If I squeeze it this is what your doing when you try and apply the cars brakes:

springcomp.GIF


Fortunatly the fix really does take only 5minutes:

pull the plastic ring back:

springunit2.jpg


The bit circled in yellow is the gap in the plastic split washer, now simply pull both halves this plastic off:

springunit3.jpg


I went out and looked in my bucket of nuts 'n' bolts and found this metal tube. I think it's from a CX or DS somewhere, but I can't remember. All I needed to do was grind it off about 0.5mm.

Spring1.jpg



Then is was a simple matter of re-assembling it.

The brakes in the Xantia are now brilliant. How much improved they are can NOT be described in words. They would be on par with early DS brakes for lightness and responsiveness. So if your not happy with your Xantias brake, the fix is extremely simple. The brakes are now absolutely bloody brilliant

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Last edited:
DoubleChevron said:
Hi Guys,

since I first got the Xantia last year and complained about the cr@ppy brakes on the andyspares forum I have known exactly what was wrong.

seeya,
Shane L.

Shane

Good photos. You're exactly right. There were threads on this about 2 1/2 years ago - maybe Andyspares, maybe Aussiefrogs. I removed the spring, replaced with a 1/2" nut with the edges ground off, and, voila, brilliant brakes on the Xantia.

The CX seems a bit heavy in pressure in comparison. But the same "feel".

Cheers

JohnW
 
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