RE XANTIA FRONT SUSP STRUT.

sorry no advice but ... WOW! that's a proper failure - what bad luck!

all the best getting back on the road

Pre.97 WILL fail around 100.000kmts. But what fails is not the strut but the mounting....

If yours are original and your car has around 100.000 replace them now.

Ash ( snipped-for-privacy@blueyonder.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

VERY common on XMs, and they're a very similar design to Xants.

The problem is that the rubber of the strut top - which acts as a bush absorbing suspension movement - is bonded to steel - which rusts.

So my 96 model with 155000 miles on the clock is about twice past the failure point? How come this is the first instance of this that I've heard of if it is a common problem?

I've heard

Dealer serviced ?

Maybe your roads are not as bas as ours (I live in south america) But I am a member of the local Citroen Clubs and we've all been warned to replace the upper mountings and have personally witnessed 2 failures in the last two years...

If you look closely you can see the only this holding the struts is rubber, and that it flexes quite a bit raising and lowering the car...

Malc ( snipped-for-privacy@lightindigooverthere.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Because it's a condition, not a mileage thing.

Here in the UK, it's the steel plate that rots out. In South America, as the PP says he is, it's more likely to be fatigue due to poor roads.

No not for years. No rust either, one thing I thought Citroen had got right.