Citroen XM Forum

Everybody's favourite Citroen topic!

seen as i may possibly be the owner of a 2.1 manual estate soon, what kind of sphere set up suits this car?
Is the handling different to the saloon?
I had 'comforts' on my last XM 2.0i 16v auto Hatchback, i thought it was a bit wallowy, but i would be interested if maybe there was a way to make the centre spheres nice and soft and the corners the normal spec spheres for the handling when it switches into sport.

I guess getting the car to factory spec is the best thing, i just thought there might be a way through extra soft centre spheres to get a CX ride until the ECU cuts them out as handling demands and you get the cornering. Or is that what a good factory XM feels like?

On mine, although the spheres were changed recently before i bought it, - 'comforts' all round, and it was wallowy in cornering, the front definitely felt alot firmer than a BX or CX to push down and on speed bumps.

And another thought....
Maybe on comforts more of the strut travel is dealt with by the corners, not allowing the centre sphere to do it's job properly when in soft mode? .. and i have heard 'comforts' were originally supplied to cure faulty suspension.

My favourite is standard spheres to spec, and the hydractive valves permanently in soft mode.

My old G plate Si had BX corner spheres, and regular centres. It was super soft, but the damping was crap. It would hit the bump stops too soon.

The best riding XM I ever had in standard tune belongs to Ciaran now, it had a reconditioned pressure regulator which I think makes a huge difference.

Definitely the system pressure makes a difference to ride quality.
Rather than different centre spheres maybe drilling the hydraulic stiffness regulator block would make a difference. iirc the centre spheres don't have a damper at all, but rely on the hydraulic block ones.

the centre spheres don't have a damper at all, but rely on the hydraulic block ones.

Spot on