I have a Citroen ZX Avantage 1.4, 1992(J); in many ways it is an excellent car - very well-balanced, nice to drive, and very light for its size.
The problem is the brakes; the calipers at the front are prone to locking under heavy braking, and one of them gives rise to extraordinary creaking sounds when the brake pedal is depressed and when the car is stationary. There is also judder when braking
How can one optimise the performance of these brakes (and fix the creaks!) Currently, the car is dangerous if you try to brake from high speed on a motorway (although it passes the MoT test OK - which isn't saying much).
Citroens used to have magnificant brakes - I've had a couple of BX in the past; but if I cannot fix this, it's the end of the road for this motor, I'm afraid
Richard Ford
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Richard,
Brakes on your ZX should be good.......good in a conventional way as opposed to the devastating BX brakes!
Not long ago I sorted this problem on a 1992 1.4 ZX with exactly the same creaking. Seizing calipers were found, one was terrible and I replaced that. The other freed off and I left it on the customers instructions. Having said that I far prefer replacing them in pairs.
Cost about £60 a side from Andyspares if you can fit them yourself.
David W
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I've just found this old thread and also seen that the HJ CarByCar write-up on the ZX says:
"'J' reg ZXs could suffer front brake calliper problems cured by fitting later callipers (this will have been done to most of them)".
I had similar problems on my 1997 P reg ZX 1.4i so I thought it might be useful to share them here in case there's a more general caliper problem that doesn't just affect early models.
When I bought my ZX at 5.5y/33k, the brakes were poor. Long travel, a bit spongy, not very effective even when applied quite hard. There was also a creaking from the offside front caliper. A local general garage blamed the rear auto-adjusters and said the creaking was probably nothing to worry about, just due to the caliper being near the end of its travel due to pads only having 2-3000 miles left. Their work reduced the travel but the brakes remained a bit spongy and ineffective.
2 months/1500m later I went back to the same garage and requested a brake fluid change, new front pads and a thorough check and overhaul of the brakes. They said they checked and freed up the calipers. Brakes improved but still not all that good: not exactly spongy but not positive and not that effective. Creak reduced but gradually came back over time. Handbrake remained poor.
21 months/18000m later the front brake pad wear warning light came on and shortly afterwards I had a complete brake failure, luckily just after I'd left the M4. Pedal all the way to the floor with no braking whatsoever. Managed to get to safety on engine braking and the feeble handbrake. Seems to have been fluid fade: offside front wheel (only) was baking - yes, the side with the creaking caliper that was "nothing to worry about". Brakes worked again once everything had cooled down.
Needless to say I went to a different garage this time, a Citroen-accredited independent recommended by a friend. I asked them to check out the whole braking system. Offside front had got so hot that the insulation on the pad wear sensor wire melted and the disc went blue. They said the caliper was distorted but I'm not clear whether this was a cause or effect of the overheating. Also rear shoes were disintegrating and rear cylinders showing their age. I went with their recommendation of replacing calipers, discs, pads, shoes & cylinders both sides. expensive but, for the first time since owning the car, I have good brakes (foot & hand) that I can feel confident in.
Sorry for rambling, but I'm writing this in the hope that it might save someone else from a potentially lethal fault.
Dave
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