General 500C v Citroen 2CV

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General 500C v Citroen 2CV

Chopin

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My 500C Twinair has been fantastic over the past 3 years (OK couple of issues) but I love the character of the car. Recently I was driven around my locality in a friends 2CV and was amazed at the ride quality -. Speed bumps (of which we have hundreds) that would crash the 500 are taken like a yacht and the motor spins silently on the overrun like the twinair. My driving on the Island means i don't have to charge along motorways or take corners like Clarkson so my thoughts are whether I could emulate the 2CV suspension on the 500 which has everything else the 2CV has > (folding roof, 4 seats, 2 cyl motor, fun etc) - So the question is could I raise ride height and soften the ride? If so how?
 
The 2cv has a totally different set up where front and rear are linked. The front and rear springs are housed horizontally in the middle of the car and act against each other. Front wheel rising over a bump raises the rear of the car before it gets to the bump. That's why it soaks up bumps so well.

Remember the 2cv has about 20% the power of a 500 and the handling characteristics are manageable If you were to make the change to a 500 it would probably be dangerous.

I think the answer to your question is no but I love the idea!
 
The simplest way to soften the ride is to fit smaller wheels with bigger(sidewall) tyres?
:yeahthat:

One of the first things I did when I got my Lounge was to buy a set of pop wheels & tyres. The ride is noticeably, though not massively, better on 14" wheels than the 15" OEM multispokes.

Folks who've gone up to 16" wheels report the ride is significantly harder, though still acceptable.

I'd also expect early models at least would be able to run the 155/80 R13 tyres & wheels used on the Panda 169 (IIRC later models have larger front discs, so these may not fit). That said, I doubt it would improve the ride further, though it might squeeze another couple of mpg out of it.

I've done it the other way round, at tyre change time on the Panda*. On 14" 500 pop wheels and tyres, I wasn't able to detect any noticeable difference in the Panda's ride, though I didn't drive it far enough to call it a real comparison.

*I always take wheels to the tyre centre off the car at tyre change time, as a precaution against what I've come to call "Kwik-f*t Sill Syndrome." The 500 was off the road, so I just borrowed its wheels
 
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My 2013 500C TA Lounge runs the 16" low profile tyres while my wife's 500C Pop had the 14" and the ride was noticeably smoother and quieter on the Pop. Neither car was particularly comfortable over speed bumps but the Pop handled the entrance to our driveway, over the gutter, with far more aplomb.
 
Hadn't considered increasing side wall size but have emailed a suspension Co in UK for comment - might just get a 2CV :-D
 
You might lower the tyre pressure to the lowest acceptable value.
On a Ducato, that makes a lot of difference to the ride quality and there are tons of discussions on that topic. Similarly, bigger rims with lower profile tyres seem to allow even lower pressure and further increase the ride quality.
Replacing the rear springs with air suspension bellows is probably not a problem technically, but I doubt there is a road legal solution. And you don‘t need a compressor on board, they can be filled „offline“.
Anything will still be far from the special ride quality of a 2CV, though.

On the other hand, it might be an interesting option to put a TA engine into a 2CV:D
 
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