Citroen XM Forum

I think the tyre is starting to bulge and the bulge has worn through. I had this happen on a Bx I bought years ago. It had a plug in same area.

I agree. But that tyre was off the car only 2 weeks ago and I never noticed anything wrong. I check tyres every week for pressure and keep a sharp eye out for irregularities but you cannot avoid everything apparently. But you should notice a bulge while driving. Had that once on a CX. It was a very small bulge that wasn't very obvious to see and the steering was wobbly but only at very very low speeds . Caught that in time, no blow outs

This afternoon I decided to muster some courage to get underneath this XM..



Not for the fun of it, but to start tackling the rust issues on the subframe.
This car never had an engine under tray I think, but interestingly, you can see water that has come from somewhere exactly where the rust is. And I only drove for about 1 mile today to pick up the ramps.



After having the cover plate removed which is not easy (I left the sides as you can see for now) I was surprised to find solid steel. I am not sure now what to do now, still cut that part out and replace it but I don't think it is necessary. It's still hard steel even though it might not show on this pic. Welding a new coverplate on top of it doesn't seem to have much sense as well since water will find it's way in between

Hey! cool ramps Jaap. Nice getting the car high up like that...Very useful indeed!!!

Well good news on the subframe I guess.

Looking good Jaap They're an excellent set of ramps! Home-made I guess as a welding practice-piece?

Looking forward to the next instalment of this project

Ramps are easy. Home made yeah but I rarely use them. They're very heavy and hold a big tractor..
But I still don't know what to do on the XM And the water ingress that causes the rust, rather than the non existent cover plate...
It is a petty, my last not-yet-welded-on Citroen that needs this kind of treatment now..

Well I spent yesterday afternoon welding one side of the subframe and I'm pleased to say all went well for a change.

Only now I found out a damaged rubber gaiter at the end of the trackrod on the steering thing. I hope that won't be too hard to replace

Still have to do the other side of the subframe but I'm confident that will go work out now as well.

It seems I'm spending too much time on the XM though...

Well done Jaap. All good work...keeps them going!

Depends which side of the steering rack the gaiter is on Jaap. The driver's side is easier but the other one is made hard by the steering ram. It has to come off and then you need a stretchy gaiter to go over the ram mounting peg..

Good work on the welding. Nice

Thing is with the XM the age they are now you'll always find jobs to do on them...

Good work on the subframe. A job I've been putting off for months on my car.
Did you just use underseal on the cleaned metal??