Citroen XM Forum

Believe me, if your the sort of person that try's to keep a car in the sort of condition that you have there will always be something that bothers you about it one way or another no matter how perfect it is!

A good cheap and effective way to make your non-painted bumpers look superb, is to rub a bit of vaseline on them with a cloth, it really makes them shine, and brings back the original colour. The other advantage over "back to black" and the likes is that it doesn't run off onto your paint when it rains or you wash the car. Depending on weather and how often you wash your car, you can get away with not re-applying for a few weeks.

Give it a shot you will be amazed.

The problem with mine isnt that the black has gone washed out or grey, its that the previous owner liked rubbing them against walls and other cars etc etc so they have lots of scratches and scuffs in them, ive heard of using shoe polish before but the vasaline sounds like a good idea.

D

Wow that looks like mine ^^^

Ian, your Xms looking superb, fantastic condition

I always black the Xms bumpers, make a big difference especially on the white one. The plastics on the silver Xm dont seemed to have dried out so they always look black Likewise i usually black the tyres too, looks better but also stops the sidewalls from drying out and cracking.

Hi Ian

Your XM looks great!

If u decide to do the boot lock, would u consider doing a mini-tutorial kind of thing? Mine is not sticking but turning around endlessly. I know why it's doing that -done my front locks already- but a little imaging from the rear hatch area wouldn't be bad at all. I'm a bit terrified with mine bec I'm thinking that if I leave it and the electric mechanism fails for whatever reason, I won't have a boot!!

cheers
George

Yes when I get round to doing my boot lock I'll certainly put up some pictures and what I've tried to do to hopefully fix it. Mine is sometimes locking sometimes not on the electrics. You have to operate the central locking several times then it goes. Might be poor electric connection or sticking mechanism somewhere. The vasaline sounds like a good idea to try also, will be off to the local pharmacy Monday, hope you only need a little or they might start giving me funny looks . Robert, I see you have the window spoilers, do they work well? Mine hasn't got AC so I often drive with windows partially open and it gets quite noisy. Thought about getting some a few times but always never followed it through.

Thanks for all the kind comments,

Ian

Ah, the white one is having issues with its boot lock at the moment, some times when i unlock the car its not unlocking the boot, so i have to lock and unlock it a few times before it works. I have had it apart before and noticed it was rubbing on the felt insulation, so i tried to tape it out of the way of the catch which did work for a while.

However someone at a recent CCC event mentioned the same problem, they found it had a broken spring inside the latch. Im not sure if this could be replaced or a replacement catch is needed but i think that might be the problem. Need to investigate.

Robert,
are the side mirrors on the grey S1 also vaselined?
cheers
G

Ian,

The wind deflectors do work well, they cut down the noise, and let enough air in and not blow the head off you. I bought them because I smoke in the car, and it prevents the ash from blowing back in. But they are worth the £30 you see them advertised for on e-bay. Just be careful when fitting they are fragile.

Jorgy,

The mirrors and scuttle panel aren't vaselined at all, I polished them with the Orignal Simoniz hard wax in the yellow tins. It has made a wonderful job of them.

Generally you won't use too much vaseline on them, its only a very fine film that is needed, you rub it in until there is very little on the bumper, you'll be able to judge it when you first try it.

Here is a picture of my Mum's Picasso, Dad's C5 and my own XM outside my new house.