Citroen XM Forum

Thats nothing ian..

seek out my 2.1 sed resto blog.. the tops on her were worse and the rubber had torn.the sphere was resting on the underside of the firewall lip just above it..

Aye, it was actually reassuring to be able to get the thing off and thoroughly inspect it. The rubber is pretty knackered, but the metal is (at the moment) solid. Still, it's a priority to get sorted in the New Year. The nearside one also has rusty metal bursting through the rubber.

The top rubber on the XM strut head is there for appearance.
Its only function is cosmetic.
Poor production methods and quality are the cause of the rubber peeling.
Remove the rubber remains, check the metal for condition then treat with rust converter and hammerite.
Once the rusting is stopped they can usually give a few extra years service.

John

That sounds good. I'll pray for decent weather and a chance to give them a proper clean up. At the moment, the only sunny day forecast is Christmas Day...

By the way, was there anything plugging the roof rack holes from the factory? I can't believe they really left them open like that. Or maybe I can...

I think they have plastic caps on the inside end, but these break off if over-length screws have been used the fasten the roof bars.

On my old Grey XM, it had sticky clear plastic tape covering the holes Ian. I sealed the trim in place with bathroom sealant in the end. Bit of naff fix, but it did the job. I must check them on the mandarin XM.

Lifting the seal revealed what looked like insulation tape that someone had probably used to try and block them off. I'll see how my trusty aluminium tape does.

Don't be worried about the strut top rubber lifting off, it's only a covering. The metal looks OK in the photo.

Good-oh. Incidentally, have folk had them begin to fail, or holes develop or is there just one day a bang and a bent bonnet? I see CitroenXm got fair warning but has anyone else?

Keep an eye on the gap between the sphere waist and the scuttle edge just above it. Gap is normally about 1cm, with the suspension set to normal height. (It will be slightly less if height is set to maximum, as strut is under extra pressure.)

As the rubber deteriorates, this gap will lessen, and is an early warning sign of trouble. Strut tops in good condition do not fail suddenly, but only after deterioration or damage has taken its toll. Strain on the mounts multiplies if the car is driven with deflated spheres.