After the essay of a title... lol

Easiest bit first, have a really weird wheel vibration (through steering wheel etc and well whole car), had it after did a engine swap, then when fitted the 1242 the problem went away

Then did the cambelt (vernair pulley fitting) and all good, till it lost its alternator belt (doh!) so wheel off once more, and refitted that and since then its got the weird vibrations over about 50-60mph... really bad at about 80mph

Could it be that the wheel hasnt fitted centrally or similar? going to take wheel off and refit and see if problem goes away one thing to note though, there is no lip for the wheel to sit on when fitting dont know if that would be a factor...


second problem... now ive had 5 centos so i know all too well about the cento lean but mine has a cento lean on drugs.... over a inch difference in the arch gap on the fronts, front driver side on bumps can scuff into the arch liner.. only had that problem since setting off onto a roundabout and getting a loud "TWANG" noise... visually nothing is wrong with spring or well anything really except this major lean

The spring does have a strange bend in it though which was there from day one but dont know if it was this bad... (have sent in pic to ff phone gallery - so will have pic shortly) only other thing is a dead passenger side engine mount but again dont know if that would be the cause of sitting lower on drivers side?

am i right in thinking it cant be shocker as that wouldnt affect the height it sits at anyway? that would be done by the springs? tempted to email teh guy who keeps re-listing FK springs on ebay lol

i hav the same problem exept my mine is pretty much standard. and at about 80 the steering wheel shakes prety badly, didnt think it was anything major though. mind you ive had that many problems it woudnt suprise me if it was lol

thing is mine has come and gone with jobs that require the wheel to come off so im just hoping i've tightened it off centre or something maybe

im guessing the wheels are balenced.mine arnt and it vibrates well bad

spiggot rings?

centre bores are right, but with a 6mm spacer inside of the disc it doesnt leave a lip big enough for wheel to sit on

arent you on wobbly bolts? maybe its sat just off centre

still using bolts arent you? Should really be using studs with centering nuts to stop that, does sound like an off centred wheel - especially since you've got no lip to rest the wheel on to center with... make sure you tighten crossways too..

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am trying to find some1 scrapping/breaking a sei abarth to get the studs/nuts off that seen a couple but sellers didnt get back to me :tosser:

have got longer studs in airing cupboard (had to go in flat somewhere...) but these were a pain and i prefer the sei ones with the spanner...able... bit

did do the cross tightening bit but thinking about it i think i may have done one almost fully up before doing the opposite one... will have a go at that tonight again anyway

any thoughts on the lean? my thoughts are either bent spring (spring has almost a 90 deg bend in it! - though was similar to that when i first got it but not sure if that bad) or the strut top mount bit

tempted to buy the fk springs off ebay but dont know if i can justify it if i dont know it'll solve problem

Mark which way the wheel is on, ie a pencil mark on wheel and hub. Remove wheel, rotate 90 degrees, test drive. Try all 4 positions, which ever is the best, then mark with a permanent marker. My dad always used to mark wheel position when removing them, but I am too lazy to ever bother.

can wheel position make that much difference?

p.s. lean could also be a duff passenger side engine mount - though thats the side sitting high

edit: p.p.s. it also makes a rubber on rubber type sound when steering at near standstill

GhostWKD said:

can wheel position make that much difference?

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Well, the weights they stick on to balance a wheel are only a few grams, so could do. And as you said the problem arrises when you have removed and re-fitted a wheel.
And also, my dad suggested it to me, and we all know dads are never wrong when it comes to cars

true true

p.s. nope not on wobblies with these wheels

wheel has been on/off twice now and still wobbling, almost had a crash by some pillock when i was going around the roundabout (to turn around on myself) just took one glance then went, resulting in me sliding and missing his boot by all of a couple of inches probably... pissing down with rain and going to have another look.... i hate this car!!!!!!!!

i'll have it

GhostWKD said:

can wheel position make that much difference?

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Surprisingly, yes. What might have happend (and this might tie in with the swapping of engines) is that the driveshaft might be out of balance. If the wheel is also slightly out of balance, then when fitted at certain positions the out of balance wheel might counteract the out of balance driveshaft and stop vibrations. But if fitted in the other positions it could cause both the driveshaft and wheel to be even more out of balance.

I'm fairly new to Cinqs, but doesn't one of the driveshafts have a damper weight (harmonic damper?) fitted to it? And I'm sure I've read that worn CV joints can give similar symptoms of vibration. Either way, first thing I'd do is have the wheel balance checked before trying anything else. I suspect it's going to be a process of elimination.

As for the 'leanage', one possible way of checking is to remove both strut units and check the free lengths (side by side and with a tape measure). Of course, they might be fine and only show up differences when under load. It's also possible that one spring is more 'tired' than the other.

Lastly, when checking for leanage are you measuring the car in the same position but also checking with the car the other way round (rotated on the spot by 180 degrees?) My driveway is a bit wonky, and one side of all my cars has the suspension compressed more than the other side. Park the opposite way round and the leanage moves to the other side of the car.

Hope you sort it out soon Alex!

I think thre only wayyou're going to find out if the strutsor springs are boogered is to pull them.

Don't get the stuff about the studs. Why is a studkit a pain?

1986Uno45S said:

Surprisingly, yes. What might have happend (and this might tie in with the swapping of engines) is that the driveshaft might be out of balance. If the wheel is also slightly out of balance, then when fitted at certain positions the out of balance wheel might counteract the out of balance driveshaft and stop vibrations. But if fitted in the other positions it could cause both the driveshaft and wheel to be even more out of balance.

I'm fairly new to Cinqs, but doesn't one of the driveshafts have a damper weight (harmonic damper?) fitted to it? And I'm sure I've read that worn CV joints can give similar symptoms of vibration. Either way, first thing I'd do is have the wheel balance checked before trying anything else. I suspect it's going to be a process of elimination.

As for the 'leanage', one possible way of checking is to remove both strut units and check the free lengths (side by side and with a tape measure). Of course, they might be fine and only show up differences when under load. It's also possible that one spring is more 'tired' than the other.

Lastly, when checking for leanage are you measuring the car in the same position but also checking with the car the other way round (rotated on the spot by 180 degrees?) My driveway is a bit wonky, and one side of all my cars has the suspension compressed more than the other side. Park the opposite way round and the leanage moves to the other side of the car.

Hope you sort it out soon Alex!

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Wobble gone, seems to be that the disc isnt sitting centralised (i dont use the locating pins or the disc holding bolts due to my 6mm spacer not having the hole for that... looks like im going to get the drill out next time ) but spent ages lining up with use of twigs (cable tie far too thick - gives you idea how small difference we're talking but also explains why only wobbled over 80)

Also when break heavily it pulls to the left, and also it steers to the left during driving so i know alignment needs doing so will get that sorted too shortly

Re the lean, its defo leaning whatever angle its left at, going to swap side to side the struts when get a spare moment, see if the lean moves, if it does its either strut, strut top or spring, if it doesnt then urm something else

fingers99 said:

I think thre only wayyou're going to find out if the strutsor springs are boogered is to pull them.

Don't get the stuff about the studs. Why is a studkit a pain?

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Studs were a pain as i put them on, then some studs just came out with the nuts and now stuck there, others got stuck in a old hub

So i want the sei ones so i know i can spanner tighten them against the disc... plus actually that would also solve my problem of the locating pins/bolts holding caliper :idea:

If the engine mount has dropped on the passenger side then it could be that the tripod ends on the off side drive shaft are bottoming out in the cup.

Studs were a pain as i put them on, then some studs just came out with the nuts and now stuck there, others got stuck in a old hub

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Trick is to use loctite on the studs and copperslip on the bolts! You can probably get the ones stuck inthe old hub out by using locking 12mm x 1.25 bolts.

A few people here have destroyed the (very expensive!) FIAT ones when attempting to remove them.

I'd be inclined to use the studs, at least until you can find the FIAT spacer assembly (or get someone to make you a pair).