Wanted BX Bits :-(

[Dave_Q]

* Commiserations about the car and incident*

 

 

*Brief, hopefully not too condescending words about not driving like a knob*

 

 

*Sign off with joke - will buff out/taxed worse/etc*

[jonathan_dyane]

I think it was model dependent but the bumper itself was the same. I think.

 

Should the front panel be beyond straightening I spotted:

 

http://www.autopanels-castleford.co.uk/webpages/Citroen/citroen%20bx.htm

 

I think it should pull out though.

[Cavcraft]

Ooh, nasty, commiserations.

 

Did it have Tigar feet?

[beko1987]

Ouch

[bub2006]

Im so sorry to pass the curse onto will. His life was going so swimmingly before he fetched my saxo

[vulgalour]

Maybe it's not you, maybe it was the Saxo.  How was your life doing before the Saxo?

[forddeliveryboy]

At least he didn't spin a 2cv because vegoil was leaking over the rear wheels, like someone I know did. Hmm.

[bub2006]

Maybe it's not you, maybe it was the Saxo. How was your life doing before the Saxo?

Not too bad. Only put vectra on a wall and lllost aa ccclutch inanother saxo

[rml2345]

Ouch! Glad you're alright Will but the BX looks a bit sore. Will that pull out alright? Plus points for persevering with it rather than looking up 205s on eBay instead but I'd suggest ditching the WingleWangleSpanglyHoops if you get it back on the road as crap tyres can make an iffy situation pretty painful. 

[ruffgeezer]

Pm sent, you bumnugget.

[catsinthewelder]

Ouch!

 

Hopefully it will pull out OK though.

 

I came quite close to doing the same to the blue one and left some lengthy skid marks due to spotting a Nissan S-Cargo at the side of the road but not the car waiting to turn right.

[Lacquer Peel]

I was driving too quickly in my Xantia 1.9D on a greasy single track road when I came across a RAV4 coming the other way. I panicked, the brakes locked up and it went straight into a ditch, over shooting the passing place. HP CITROËN DEATH TRAPS.
The brakes do lock up keenly, they need ABS IMO.

[jonathan_dyane]

I have to say 165/70 14 always seemed on the small size to me and I remember managing to lock up mine several times scaring myself silly. I replaced them with 185/60 14 tyres off a 306 I broke which was a great improvement. That said Citroen power brakes do need a level of conditioning so that you don't overbrake.

[twosmoke300]

Or just don't drive like a numpty ! 😄

[oldcars]

Opps, glad your ok. Impressive skid from linglongwanlistomilbigslideyo tyres.

[Supernaut]

Note to self - never get in a car with Will.

 

That really sucks though, was a nice BX.

[gdhaydock]

A bit late to the party with my pictures as I'm  just back from spending the last 5 days living in a field in North Yorkshire with no internet access. A conversation over beer with Joe & Will led to me offering to pull it back with the disco. Using a borrowed home made tow pole, a couple of ratchet straps and shackles, we dragged it 20 miles along single track roads full of bank holiday tourist mongs.

 

No real issues with the recovery, just had to stop a couple of times to "reconfigure" the setup. I think Joe got the rough end of the deal having to steer the BX while I dragged it. Anyway its home safely without further incident ready for some "tinkering"

 

Here's the pics ....

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Hope it lives again. Looks as though the offside front wing/door gap has closed up at the base of the a pillar, although hard to see?

[robinmasters]

 

[John F]

Just after the above incident, Will & Joe turned up in our field in the MX-5 with a lot of alcohol and a container full of what Will described as "fire-breather's fluid".

 

He passed it to our mate Brad to taste. Apparently it was 'a bit like paraffin but not as bad'.

 

Brad: "Where did you get it?"

 

Will: "Oh, I found it."

 

Brad: [sound of retching]

 

It definitely was fire-breather's fluid though, as we discovered when Joe spat an entire mouthful into our camp fire & lit up Malhamdale so you could see it from space.

[KruJoe]

...before rubbing away the bits of singed, crumbled eyebrows. Live and learn, eh?

 

 

Thanks for all your help Zippy, great pictures too. The Disco auto was brill for being towed behind... well smooth when driven by a pro.

Before I forget, please check the knobs ont' Disco's roof bars, I can't remember tightening them after adjustments were made for the roof box.

 

Other than Will's luck* it has been a top weekend. Thank you Autoshite.

[forddeliveryboy]

I have to say 165/70 14 always seemed on the small size to me and I remember managing to lock up mine several times scaring myself silly. I replaced them with 185/60 14 tyres off a 306 I broke which was a great improvement. That said Citroen power brakes do need a level of conditioning so that you don't overbrake.

 

Driving HP Cit brakes requires less learning than Sony PlayStation. But brains struggle when that Citroën word is mentioned. And given the same pressure and weight of car, narrower tyres have as much rubber on the road as wide ones. If loose gravel or snow, wide ones do brake better once locked up, of course. Otherwise little or no difference.

 

I was driving too quickly in my Xantia 1.9D on a greasy single track road when I came across a RAV4 coming the other way. I panicked, the brakes locked up and it went straight into a ditch, over shooting the passing place. HP CITROËN DEATH TRAPS.

The brakes do lock up keenly, they need ABS IMO.

 

If you look at the pics, you can see how the brakes were released then reapplied. Given a little readjustment of the mind from the uncontrollable braking most cars have, Citroën HP brakes are way more controllable than any others, simply because you don't have to flex your joints through many inches of unnecessary movement. But yes, a little education is re-qwired. And ABS is almost always good, especially with multiple deforming rubber bushes in the suspension.

 

When Citroëns used Citroën design, you could bring the front tyres to 10% retardation and leave them there howling gently - outbraking any German wundermachine with Antiblockiersystem. 

 

As a riposte to the below, he's far safer than most his age, becoz experience.

 

Note to self - never get in a car with Will.

[gdhaydock]

Before I forget, please check the knobs ont' Disco's roof bars, I can't remember tightening them after adjustments were made for the roof box.

 

 

 

Oops yes, the rear bar is not actually attached to the roof, no harm done though as the box itself was strapped to the built in rails rather than the bars

[M'coli]

Glad the roofbox has finally got to its destination!

[jonathan_dyane]

... given the same pressure and weight of car, narrower tyres have as much rubber on the road as wide ones. If loose gravel or snow, wide ones do brake better once locked up, of course. Otherwise little or no difference

 

It's rather more complicated than that; while it is true the size of the contact patch would be the same the shape of the contact patch would be quite different and this too has a relationship to grip.

 

The BX standard fit tyre was the Michelin MXL which was discontinued in the mid 90s. This is a shame because it suited the car very well. Much like with the humble 2cv which was great on the standard fit 125 Michelin's but appalling on 125 Firestones or similar but reasonable if stepped up to 135 15 'alternative' tyres my experience is that the BX is similar; 185 60 14 tyres grip much better wet or dry and if I had another BX that is the tyre size I would run.

[dollywobbler]

Cadence braking is an essential skill with one of these. It's the only way I saved myself from disaster on the mountain road near here when I'd lost concentration and went into a blind bend too quickly. The van driver coming the other way actually applauded. Couldn't tell if it was mockery or if he'd braced for an impact that didn't quite happen (by millimetres!). 

 

In my first BX, I once did a four-wheel lock-up emergency stop after someone pulled out in front of me. Stalled the engine at 30mph...

 

Tyres really are everything too. The shit Goodyears on my old 306 DTurbo got binned after a scary moment trying to stop in the wet. I've shat myself up many times over the years. S'pose there's an element of luck that I've never had a head-on smash...

[messerschmitt owner]

 

He came across a fairly robust Volvo off-roader thing that ended up with nowt worse than a cracked number plate FFS.

I did that with a BX, but the 360 volvo was a write off.

[DodgyBastard]

I know where there's an almost complete bx way up north.

 

DSC_1511 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

I'm not sure if the parts are in a usable condition.

 

 

DSC_7052 by srblythe, on Flickr

[gdhaydock]

It looks a minter

[forddeliveryboy]

It's rather more complicated than that; while it is true the size of the contact patch would be the same the shape of the contact patch would be quite different and this too has a relationship to grip.

 

The BX standard fit tyre was the Michelin MXL which was discontinued in the mid 90s. This is a shame because it suited the car very well. Much like with the humble 2cv which was great on the standard fit 125 Michelin's but appalling on 125 Firestones or similar but reasonable if stepped up to 135 15 'alternative' tyres my experience is that the BX is similar; 185 60 14 tyres grip much better wet or dry and if I had another BX that is the tyre size I would run.

 

It's more complicated than 'narrower tyre, same size contact patch', of course. I try to KISS esp when going OT. 

 

I found 175/65/14s worked best on BXs, for roads round me. 

 

A wider, lower profile tyre always feels to brake better because there's a slightly sharper reaction with less flex in the tyre and they have marginally softer compounds (because less heat generated) so from cold will def stop quicker. But as road surfaces turn from motorway perfect to patched-up B-road, the taller narrower tyre performs better and better.