Hi

I'm having a bit of an issue with my '56 reg grande punto sporting 1.4 16v!

Every time I go round a corner relatively quickly, typically long-ish sweeping left hand corners, there's a kind of rhythmic knocking/dull thudding/rubbing type noise, the frequency of the sound correlates to the speed of the car. Quite hard to describe really..

I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas what this could be??

I've had my wheel bearings checked and my mechanic thinks these looks okay!

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Rob

Could possibly be the cv joint starting to go. What's it like at full lock at slow speed?

I don't seem to be able to hear any noises at slow speed with full lock on..

Could be top mounts common thing

Also check ur wheel nuts sometimes they can come loose

Any noises over speed humps or rough roads?

The top mounts on the suspension are a common fault. Mine are due for a change. I get a knocking noise when turning the steering wheel when stationary and at low speeds but the noise disapears when up to normal speed.

I had the drop links go on a previous GP and this caused slight knocking when cornering etc. Also a common fault.

As you have mentioned the noise being rhythmic, I'd personally look into rotational components such as the drive shaft etc. Grab the drive shaft and give it a pull side to side and feel/listen for any knocks.

You could also try jacking the car up and getting a mate to hold the brakes on whilst you shake the wheel side to side, and up and down. This way it makes everything as rigid as possible and if there is a worn bearing or bush it will be easier to feel. You may as well check all four corners this way.

Dont discount the simple things either, you may have something in the wheel well rubbing against the tyre as the suspension is being compressed during the cornering. Sounds silly but its happened and these grandes never cease to surprise me! Only yesterday my CD player decided to eat my CD, I opened up the top case to inspect and found one of those head unit unlocking tools jammed in there! Some people... :bang:

Hope this helps

Thanks for all the replies!

There is now also another noise, a kind of knocking/popping when accelerating and ee accelerating at slowish speeds?

Could they be related and what might this new noise be?

Cheers

robpunto1 said:

Thanks for all the replies!

There is now also another noise, a kind of knocking/popping when accelerating and ee accelerating at slowish speeds?

Could they be related and what might this new noise be?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Sounds as if could be either top mounts , snapped spring, drop link , cv joint , just a few suggestions one of them is my bet

Just been out to have a play.. Had a look at the driver side drop link!

Looks pretty worn to me and if I try hard enough (with all 4 wheels sitting on the ground) I can actually get the drooling to wiggle about..

Thoughts?

Thanks again!

Seems like that could be your problem. For the price of them (they're not expensive from your local motor factor) you should replace them both. It's a fairly straight forward job. I had them off whilst changing the top strut bearings last weekend. If I remember correctly its just a 17mm nut and a 5 or 6mm allen. One at the top and one at the bottom. Make sure to soak them in plenty of WD40 prior to the job

Right! I did hVe the passenger side one replaced about 6 months ago, and that one feels rock solid compared to this one!

Cheers

Have *

Right, clunking solved - dodgy drop link.

Anyone any more ideas on the noise that occurs when going round left hand corners at decent speed?

Mechanics told me my off side wheel bearing is running a bit rough.. Could this be it?

Cheers!

Could a slightly buckled alloy wheel be causing this??

mine is doing the same but mine only starts when it gets hot and like you said when you get it up to speed it drives through it!

What's it like steraight ahead? If it was a buckled wheel it should be bad at certain speeds.

Have you checked the wheels are done up properly and whether you have wear in the front suspension joints

Also check the driveshafts, they're a candidate if this gets worse the tighter you steer