Classic Jalopy

The Citroen DS is known for the quality of its ride. The books use epithets such as ‘Magic carpet ride’. There is a bit of puffery in that statement, but the sentiment is right – the ride is normally very good. Recently my DS has become the worst riding car that I own. Something was clearly wrong.

The biggest impact on ride quality is the state of the suspension spheres. There are four suspension spheres, one for each wheel. In addition to the suspension spheres, a D will have at least one accumulator sphere. These store pressure for various reasons, […]

Central to the Citroen DS hydraulic system is a set of ‘spheres’ that hold hydraulic pressure. The spheres have an internal diaphragm so they can contain gas on one side and hydraulic fluid on the other. One is used for each wheel to provide the suspension, as the gas forms the ‘spring’ and the amount of fluid in the sphere controls the ride height. One is used as a place to hold a buffer of system pressure, called the accumulator, and one some cars, and additional sphere provides additional brake pressure (like another accumulator, but just for the brakes).

There […]