Hi all, long time lurker and reader here, never needed to post anything before but could do with a little advice now. I own a Panda cross that has just had its first mot, it passed and on the phone they said there were no advisories. However on looking at the written mot I find that there is an advisory ie 'suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement offside front (rear bush)'. The car has only covered 14k gently driven miles and is still under warranty by a few days, should this advisory be covered by fiat warranty or will they argue that it is simply wear and tear. To have wear at such a low milage seems very wrong to me. The car has always been serviced by a main dealer, driven carefully and I love driving it. I should have also said it has the twin air engine. If I am going to have to get this fixed myself any ideas on likely cost. Thanks in anticipation.

It's not uncommon for wishbone bushes to wear on any car.
Sounds like the tester has picked up a little bit of play or a small tear in the bush.

How long they last is luck of the draw, though nearside suspension parts always gets the most water and crud thrown at them.

You can try the dealers for warranty, but I wouldn't hold your breath (or pay out for them to look at it).

A genuine Fiat wishbone is around £120 I think, a good aftermarket one about half that.

By the time it's up on the ramp and the wheel is off, count on it being an hours labour.

Its a bit of a job to change, which starts with taking the front bumper off, then removing the front section of the subframe on the affected side. This allows access to the front mount bolts for the wishbone. I had one replaced on my 2013 4x4, but as now sold, I no longer have the paperwork to tell you what Fiat charged. The figure of about £300 rings a distant bell though.

On mine, the rubber 'doughnut' in the centre of the rear bush became detached from the metal ring it should be bonded to.

Thank you both for your replies, very much appreciated, I'll give the dealer a ring tomorrow to see what they say but I think I will go to an independent if I am going to be paying for the work. If Fiat parts only last this long I need to have something more reliable fitted if I am going to keep the car as long as I had planned. This will be the first time I have ever had to replace a suspension part on any car I've owned in forty plus years of motoring covering hundreds of thousands of miles so I think I have been lucky in the past. Thanks again for your help, appreciated.

Quercus said:

Thank you both for your replies, very much appreciated, I'll give the dealer a ring tomorrow to see what they say but I think I will go to an independent if I am going to be paying for the work. If Fiat parts only last this long I need to have something more reliable fitted if I am going to keep the car as long as I had planned. This will be the first time I have ever had to replace a suspension part on any car I've owned in forty plus years of motoring covering hundreds of thousands of miles so I think I have been lucky in the past. Thanks again for your help, appreciated.

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A relative had the lower wishbone's replaced on their 60000 miler front wheel drive 1.2 - this was £50 per side fitted at a trusted local garage. Wouldn't use a main dealer. Gives you an idea if ringing around.

Thanks for the information AB100, appreciated. Apologies for my slow reply, it's been one of those days where nothing goes right!. Thanks again, appreciated.

On my previous car, Nissan Terrano 2, I replaced anti-roll bar bushes at least once a year, suspension and wishbone bushes every 3 years or 40000km...

A lot of offroad use, which doesn't help longevity of suspension parts.

I replaced both lower arms at 85000 miles with Moog parts. They weren't too bad when I removed them, they were definitely worn but not beyond using - they'd have probably lasted another 10000 miles easily.


They'd been mentioned on the MOT for 2 years as an advisory so thought I'd better change them before the 3rd.

I've found the after market arms seem to be better quality than genuine ones!

The large bush doesn't seem to wear it just comes unbonded from the outer coller causing alot of vertical movement but very little horizontal movement.

This was the state of mine after 85000, I’ve seen worse but there was definitely a lot of play.