General Suspension, wheel bearings, wheels, electrics...

[Phil D]

Hi there. I've just joined as I've been having a few problems with my GP and have been pointed towards this site by a number of people.

In a nutshell my car is 4 1/2 years old and has the following problems:

- Both front suspension coils need replacing
- Rear wheel bearing needs replacing
- Untraceable electrical fault necessitating full wiring loom replacement
- All 4 alloys have corroded badly.

Is this normal?! and secondly does anyone know the best/quickest way to get a response from Fiat UK?

Cheers
Phil

 

[peter7889]

You brought a fiat it is normal

 

[Shauncorwyn]

- Both front suspension coils need replacing - Common to fail/break-
Rear wheel bearing needs replacing - Common to fail but worth checking tyres first-

- Untraceable electrical fault necessitating full wiring loom replacement - unusual - there have been some heater motor loom failures, but i cant remember any full loom faults.
- All 4 alloys have corroded badly. - Common to corrode- laquer known to peel off-

Welcome to the forum.

If your expecting fiat to cough up after 4.5 years - i would be amazed if they did.

 

[Phil D]

Cheers. The problems started a year ago, I'd had it off the road for a while and again recently. It's only done about 34k so I still think these problems are not acceptable for such a young (ish) car.

 

[Daver]

I hope your loom is ok, I had a quote from a Dealer 2-2.5K!
Thankfully we / Garage techs at work sorted me out, found water ingress and corrosion in large electrical connectors/plugs under battery tray.Cleaned out- sprayed loads electrical cleaner and ok now thank God!

Hope you can sort yours same.

 

[GymJunkie]

Im having my wheel bearing replaced tomorrow on 29k

 

[RD55 DUN]

I have replaced both my rear wheel bearings before 30,000. One went at about 15,000. Water ingress seems to be the problem with them.

One of my springs snapped on Sunday!

Ive been lucky with my alloys, there is very little lacquer peel on them, only where the previous owner has kerbed them is there any signs of peel.

 

[Phil D]

Cheers guys.

So not that unusual then! Funny thing is even with both coils snapped the ride is exaclty the same!

Should have also said heater has packed up.

New garage having a look today, hoping electric gremlins have gone away.

 

[Magic Johnson]

Lol! Remember on the wife's C2, it was sitting outside the house, we heard an almighty 'BANG', thought someone had hit it but no, both the springs had snapped.

Hated that car.

 

[Phil D]

Lol! Remember on the wife's C2, it was sitting outside the house, we heard an almighty 'BANG', thought someone had hit it but no, both the springs had snapped.

Hated that car.

So using the hugely representative sample of 1 we can safely say that it's true what they say about Italian and French cars!

 

[Magic Johnson]

Exactamundo!

 

[JTD_Liam]

Hi there. I've just joined as I've been having a few problems with my GP and have been pointed towards this site by a number of people.

In a nutshell my car is 4 1/2 years old and has the following problems:

- Both front suspension coils need replacing
- Rear wheel bearing needs replacing
- Untraceable electrical fault necessitating full wiring loom replacement
- All 4 alloys have corroded badly.

Is this normal?! and secondly does anyone know the best/quickest way to get a response from Fiat UK?

Cheers
Phil

As mentioned, 3 of the 4 faults are fairly well documented on the Grande Punto. The wiring loom fault not common (yet), though a couple seem to have cropped up recently.

When i had a problem with suspension springs snapping on my Stilo, with one going into the front tyre (at 6 years/60k miles), i emailed [email protected] describing how long i'd had the car, what had happened with the springs & what i'd paid to get it repaired (just under £300). Within 48 hours i'd had an email from the Customer Relations Manager offering me £300 worth of Fiat vouchers to put towards servicing, parts or a new/used Fiat or Alfa.

I'd already had the car repaired so couldn't put the vouchers towards that, but i used them to help pay for the service & cambelt that was done a couple of months later.

I didn't buy the car new, but i have owned several Fiats, which i explained in the email, and i think this helped. It would probably also help if in your case you'd owned the Punto from new and/or had it serviced by a Fiat Dealer, but try emailing that address anyway. As i found out to my suprise, a firm but polite email can work wonders.

Liam.