[ritz830]

Hydropneumatic suspension - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Have you seen those cars in You-tube which can raise its body from its tires?. Heard that this is the best suspension around. I dont think any cars running in India is fitted with these suspension. Citroen found this and has it as a trademark in all of its cars. The suspension is 5 times better than any suspension around.

I also heard that in abroad they fit their cars which hydro pneumatic suspension as after market products. Is it also available in India?

[ritz830]

YouTube - Citroën GS Advert

YouTube - Citroen GS commercial 3

Have a look at these videos

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by ritz830

... I dont think any cars running in India is fitted with these suspension....

Ritz,

Off the top of my head - look at the Mercs with "ABC", and also the Cayenne etc have the ability to raise & lower themselves. (There is a nice comparison picture posted by indra_slk in the "Imports in Goa" thread)

cya
R

PS - Also do a search for mercedes pre-scan technology.

[ritz830]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Ritz,

Off the top of my head - look at the Mercs with "ABC", and also the Cayenne etc have the ability to raise & lower themselves. (There is a nice comparison picture posted by indra_slk in the "Imports in Goa" thread)

cya
R

PS - Also do a search for mercedes pre-scan technology.

Thanks man for sharing the info.

Also, I have some good news. Citroen gonna bring C1, C2, C3 supermini cars to Inida. These will be very affordable
The Hindu Business Line : Citroen in talks with local players for India entry

[ritz830]

Hi guys

Just went to Chevy showroom. The Chevrolet Captiva has the Hydropneumatic suspension in the rear.

Considering this, Captiva should offer the best comfort in riding. i.e the flying carpet feel.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by ritz830

The Chevrolet Captiva has the Hydropneumatic suspension in the rear.

Considering this, Captiva should offer the best comfort in riding. i.e the flying carpet feel.

why do i have a feeling that this thread was started for highlighting that info in the first place?

[BurningHeart]

Originally Posted by ritz830

The suspension is 5 times better than any suspension around.

Education please! How do you compare suspensions and arrive at a number like that?

BH.

[RedMM340]

Hydropneumatic, self leveling, active suspensions, etc. are just a big service headache. Nor do they really work as well as conventional shocks.

These suspensions are really cool and can do interesting things, but once they are a few years old, they cause a lot of headaches and can be a very expensive repair item.

Especially in the context of Indian roads, which call for very severe usage of shock absorbers, hydropnematic suspensions are just a bad idea in my opinion.

Not only that, the frequent overloading done in India will just accelerate the wear on these fancy suspensions. A good dual rate coil spring or leaf spring along with a good quality heavy duty shock absorber will work best.

Regards,

[ritz830]

Originally Posted by BurningHeart

Education please! How do you compare suspensions and arrive at a number like that?

BH.

It was written in wikipedia. I went on reading about citroen cars and their technology and got to know about this.

@greenhorn. what are you saying? the technology isnt worth? I think most cars running in india are poorly equipped in suspension. Thats the sole reason I brought this thread. Try to understand and appreciate technology.

About the servicing and upkeeping cost. I really have no idea. Atleast I am happy that captiva got this.

[Cyrus43]

The Old Merc W 123 Station Wagon had this in the back. They had a self levelling system too. So basically, no matter how much you load them up, the car doesnt sag at all!!

[ritz830]

Originally Posted by Cyrus43

The Old Merc W 123 Station Wagon had this in the back. They had a self levelling system too. So basically, no matter how much you load them up, the car doesnt sag at all!!

Yes, Good point. Given that, even if 4 heavy people sit on the back, the suspension wont be crushed. Hence, we can enjoy the same good suspension irrespective of load.

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by ritz830

Yes, Good point. Given that, even if 4 heavy people sit on the back, the suspension wont be crushed. Hence, we can enjoy the same good suspension irrespective of load.

Please understand what a load leveling suspension does. It only increases the rear height.

It does not change the spring rate or damping rate. This means that under heavy load, it will not perform any better than a regular suspension.

Generally speaking, most of the self leveling suspension use the rear shock absorbers to work as secondary springs or hard stops. These leveling rear shocks combine both leveling and damping into one unit that does not work as well as conventional gas pressure shock.

Technically the correct way to deal with higher loads is a variable spring rate, not by using a shock absorber that does both damping and spring duties, thereby not being particularly good at either functions.

[Astleviz]

I think the captiva has a multi link self levelling suspension and not exactly a hydro pneumatic suspension which came on the citreons. Unlike the hydropneumatic suspension on Citreons, the captiva suspension does not change the spring or damping rate, as mentioned by RedMM340.

Here is a detailed explanation of the hydropneumatic suspension system
Car Bibles : The Car Suspension Bible page 2 of 2

[ritz830]

Well, I wonder why HN suspension is not implemented in low end cars. Citroen base model costs below 5 lakhsRupees equivalent in France.

I would love that almost 0 Roll ride. i.e We will only feel the vertical disturbances, all horizontal shaking and disturbances are neutralized.

[headers]

@ritz830: Maybe you should look at BOSS suspension systems too

BTW, that first video is funny man, imagine a car running on 3 wheels: ROFL