Citroen XM Forum

Im a tad controversial on the series 2 front.....I prefer the nose and dash design of the series 1....on the xantias though I prefer the series 1.5 ones

Can someone photoshop this so the wheel trims are the same size as the c6 alloys? 18's....

any good Vince?

Cars are ideally designed a whole. Every part tends to influence how every other part is perceived. These large wheels are upsetting the balance and proportions. I "read" the car as if is has no tyres. Aesthetic theory (sorry) has it that we perceive objects as a whole, then as parts and then as a whole before settling down to group the whole object as a single entity. That´s how I view a car anyway. These large wheels disturb the car in a way I find hard to express. Often designers can´t verbally express these things...they just nudge the lines until it looks right or at least doesn´t look wrong. Changing the wheel size is a good experiment though.

I totally agree, the size is wrong for the proportions of the car. But I would say, the original wheel designs could possibly get away with an inch or possibly two bigger and not look too big.
Again the XM was designed in a time when large wheels were yet to 'catch on' so 15 were normal and the car was designed almost around them. Like a jigsaw, all the parts sort of have to visually fit together.

When the XM was new, 15" wheels were considered large.

russ92xmsed wrote:

any good Vince?

Awesome Russ...that looks the business IMO

But what does it look like after a journy across europe?



I love those original wheel caps byt the way. I have a car with those as well



Fredrik

A very apposite thread. Coming home from my concert last night (dressed in black tie) my car (the Black XM V6) hit a pothole which blew the tyre. As it was pouring with rain, and I was only a mile from home, I did what any halfwit who remembers too much Citroen history would do and decided to emulate Charles de Gaulle's bodyguards who drove on in his DS when the OAS sprayed his car with bullets that took out the tyres. It also meant not getting cold, wet, dirty and run-over on a dark road. So tyre is trashed and the alloy wheel is a bit knocked around.

I don't particularly like the Monte Carlos on the Exclusive anyway and as I want to do a little bit of a restyle on the XM (new silver trims, some light tints) I wondered if a nice black set of Superleggeras or similar would look good? I suspect 17 would be the top size. Other ideas welcome!

Looking at XM wheels (thanks Russ - that Christmas card is perfect!) and Citroen CX wheels (as well as many other Citroens) most seem to be quite full dish designs, which I like. What do the collective think of these Ronal Aeros? Here's what they look like on a Merc, anyone clever enough to do a quick photoshop onto a black XM saloon a la Russ?



(with Russ's lovely card below for comparison)