306maxi said:

Fiat suspension parts are extremely poor though.....

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babbo_umbro said:

Not really convinced. I've had too many Fiats to list over 40-odd years and have had very few suspension problems. The only actual replacements I've had to fit through failure were rear struts on a Ritmo Abarth 130TC - carried out under warranty near Turin about 30 years ago; and a near side ball joint on Mrs b-u's Panda MJ after (I seem to remember) about 20,000 miles - not good and I suspect the diesel engine was a partial cause, though that's an explanation rather than an excuse. Otherwise the only replacements have been by choice - Spax and then Koni struts/dampers on an Uno turbo ie, and Konis on a Mirafiori Sport. Our son's had to replace the rear dampers on a Seicento but that's eleven years old so not too bad.

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babbo_umbro said:

Vredestein Sportrac 3s continue to be excellent - just back from two months in Italy. Great in the wet - Italian roads can be very slippery when the first rain for weeks falls on them - Vreds were very reassuring, also drove back in torrential rain almost all the way, lots of standing water and they were great in those conditions - definitely better than the original Goodyears. Also quieter with sharper turn in. Done 4000 miles on them and they appear to be wearing very well.

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306maxi said:

Well I suspect that previous Fiat's were better. My 131 was still original aside from Bilstein's. But take a look in the Bravo forum and they're having a lot of issues with droplinks (shared part with the 500) and a few 500 people have had issues with top mounts, balljoints and dampers.

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babbo_umbro said:

I suspect that sharing components - which Marchionne is very keen on - can be taken too far - having the same suspension parts on a Bravo and a 500 - which can only weigh two thirds of a Bravo - either means that the 500 bit is over-specified/engineered - which I think we'd all agree is unlikely - or it's marginal at best for the Bravo. (Way back I had a 500C Topolino - it had the same brakes as the current 1100 and they were great, one of the reasons why Coopers took the Topo suspension and used it for their Formula 500 racing cars.)

On the other hand, there's been a spate of tyre failures, sidewall damage, and wheel damage, which are generally agreed to be due to the poor state of the roads, so I think it's reasonable to assume that - if there's an increase in suspension problems - this is is just as likely to be caused by the same thing.

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Dan Friel said:

Yes, a vote from me also.

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