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C4 Picasso 5 seats : my suspensions ????	Please Register to enjoy additional Member Benefits

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eliflap

Tue Feb 03 2009, 03:53pm

i have done 50.000 km , 30.300 miles in 14 months

not happy of suspensions .

seems to be too soft , not eating hills and holes ...

my car : C4 Picasso 5 seats
1600 HDI diesed engine
18 inch alloy wheels

neilos United Kingdom

Tue Feb 03 2009, 04:49pm

Member No: #209

Joined: Apr 05 2007
Location: West London

Hi and welcome,

At a guess those big wheels and thin rubber will be a large part of your problem...they are 18''s and you will get a much harsher ride, banging and crashing over every bump and hole in the road. Dont forget the car weight nearly 2 tons. I upgraded from 16'' to 17'' and there was a noticeable difference in the ride. You must also remember its a family car and not designed to driven hard, like a coupe with hard springs and shocks.

Neil

eliflap

Wed Feb 04 2009, 03:41am

neilos ..ok i agree .... but :

i changed wheels 16 to 18 inch to have a better response on carving .

i do an highway not straight and with the 16 wheels seems to go outside of tha guard rails ...

here in italy lots of people are unhappy of suspensions ...

i hear a big noise every hole ...with 16 and 18 too

seems the hole is absorbed by spring and not from shock : this behaviour shake all veichle !!

i'm not a racer , i'm a family father driver..... i know there is 2 tons to ride ...

but the shaking every hole is a wrong project car...

Dave_Retired. United Kingdom

Wed Feb 04 2009, 05:06am

Member No: #1

Joined: Aug 07 2006
Location: Northumberland

It's very difficult to design a car for a worldwide market that will suit all road conditions

The C4 suspension does tend to be unforgiving on 'pot holes' and rough road surfaces plus the lower profile tyres you have fitted will compound the issue as there is less tyre wall to flex and absorb the shocks

You might be able to improve the ride with 'progressive' springs and better quality shock absorbers but that will cost you more money

eliflap

Wed Feb 04 2009, 10:08am

ok i am planning to do

but i still searching for a aftermarket solution

blistein, koni , monroe... NOT found a C4 picasso model...

no one produces a shock !!!

only found VMAXX suspensions ( from UK or Holland , not remember ) but with a lowering of 30 or 40mm of car

i don't want a lower car ... as i wrote i'm using it home-work in speed limit ..and not to race ...

my problems , and other custumer here is in the highway bridges : the junctions make a little bunny hoop at the rear ...

for a moment , the rear jump !!

so i search the web for a solution or a product ...

i put on my 18 inch wheels to start solving the problem

Dave_Retired. United Kingdom

Wed Feb 04 2009, 11:42am

Member No: #1

Joined: Aug 07 2006
Location: Northumberland

Just because you lower the suspension a little doesn't turn the car into a 'racing' machine or mean you have to drive it like that

It's just that the springs are higher quality and much more progressive and improve the handling

Search the site on Eibach' for links for more info

eliflap

Thu Feb 05 2009, 03:06am

yes but changing the shocks and springs , here in Italy there is a warranty avoid

renel

Tue Aug 04 2009, 09:02am

Member No: #2689

Joined: Mar 06 2008
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Hi I agree with eliflap.."this behaviour shake all vehichle ". The car is 1499kg acc. to operators manual...not 2tons!!
I have a 7-seater Grand Pic. and it maybe even worse. In my opinion the problem is first of all, the rear springs are too soft, it is easy to bottom the suspension over a small lump.

Secondly I believe that the "antiroll bar" which is the built-in compoundaxle that is very stiff to control the big cars roll and "overtake" the shock absorbers when hitting a hole, giveing the the feel of "shaking the vehicle". Maybe a different shock will have better control of the rear??

lambros

Wed Aug 05 2009, 05:54am

At last!!!!!! I've been wondering, for the past year, why nobody posted anything about the dreadful rear suspension. The entire car shakes, the tail goes like a snake and the noise is simply unbelievable. Now, and I'm simply making a hypothesis, I bet that my Swiss (renel) and Italian (eliflap) friends have the same suspension with my car (Greek). I see that all british drivers don't think that the suspension is that bad. Which leads me to the conclusion that the models imported to GB have a different suspension.
P.S No pneumatic suspension available in Greece.

Kevin Regan

Wed Aug 05 2009, 10:20am

Hi, I have a C4P Exclusive, so I have the pneumatic suspension. British roads get much criticism for being bad, but sounds as if you guys have even worse roads, so we should stop complaining!!
I have found that increasing the tyre pressure to mid range gave an improved ride. Have any of you tried that to see if any improvement without going to the expense of uprating the suspension?

lambros

Thu Aug 06 2009, 06:29am

Kevin, what do you mean by mid range? How many bars??

lambros

Thu Aug 06 2009, 06:31am

And one more thing. I too have the Exclusve. In fact I have the 2 litre petrol engine (143HP).But I couldn't have the pneumatic suspension. Not even as an extra !!!!!!!

avensis8

Sat Feb 27 2010, 10:07am

Hi. We have had our C4GP EGS 1.6HDi VTR+ for 3 weeks have only covered 300 miles nice ride on decent roads, but the worst ride I've ever had on some B roads & country lanes, crashes & bangs as if falling to bits even on small pot holes. Have had several sports coupes but none as bad as C4GP on these type of roads, very disappointed as last Citroen I had 15years ago was a bx19 16valve,

Lovely ride for a high performance machine.

Jimux

Sun Feb 28 2010, 04:56am

Member No: #8137

Joined: Mar 08 2009
Location: Kent, UK

This is partly down to the trend towards bigger wheels and lower profile tyres at higher pressure. Virtually all modern cars suffer and I also have fond memories of past Citroen suspension - a 1015cc GS Estate. You do have choices when you come to replace the tyres. There are specific types that maximise ride comfort, but at the cost of slightly higher fuel consumption.
I would caution against lowering suspension on technical grounds. It alters the angle of the drive shafts and increases wear. The best option would be a hard rubber shim between the suspension mount and body to reduce transmitted vibration.


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