TL;DR: Where would I find bushings for the 4x4 suspension?
So as I've mentioned before, I have (and must retain) a good relationship with the local dealer (they're the ones who supplied me with the rear brake damper fix as an internal document which I shared here to fix the groaning rear discs). Having one of the rarest cars here, I can't really risk taking the 4x4 anywhere else. That being said...
Following the 50k km service, the car still feels sluggish, it's throwing error codes every now and then (though not exactly consistently, one was a rear diff error, the other was for gas pedal position sensor) which might just be the battery getting too old. I'll be changing that soon anyway and I'll see if that fixes it, but with this backstory, on to the issue:
They must have mucked something up with the suspension. When it came back from the service, there was a slight knocking sound under braking. Took it back, they cleaned up the brakes and calipers and put it all back together. The knocking sound came back, so they disassembled the front suspension but couldn't find anything. Now, at low speeds, the whole front end groans, creaks and rattles. I'm thinking the poor thing didn't like not having weight on the bushings and now they're a bit "off", or they incorrectly reinstalled or torqued something that's causing the groaning and creaking. Since the car is 7 years old and out of warranty, they (naturally) want to replace the front suspension (namely the lower mcpherson control arm) since the bushings aren't sold separately. I've looked around locally and nobody sells these bushings (though I'm admittedly in a small town with limited access to parts), and none of the local companies I found online had them either. Since the bushings themselves wouldn't be too expensive, I'd be willing to order them from overseas if only I could find them but my Googling has also let me down, as I've only managed to find replacements for the previous model Panda. Any ideas?
So as I've mentioned before, I have (and must retain) a good relationship with the local dealer (they're the ones who supplied me with the rear brake damper fix as an internal document which I shared here to fix the groaning rear discs). Having one of the rarest cars here, I can't really risk taking the 4x4 anywhere else. That being said...
Following the 50k km service, the car still feels sluggish, it's throwing error codes every now and then (though not exactly consistently, one was a rear diff error, the other was for gas pedal position sensor) which might just be the battery getting too old. I'll be changing that soon anyway and I'll see if that fixes it, but with this backstory, on to the issue:
They must have mucked something up with the suspension. When it came back from the service, there was a slight knocking sound under braking. Took it back, they cleaned up the brakes and calipers and put it all back together. The knocking sound came back, so they disassembled the front suspension but couldn't find anything. Now, at low speeds, the whole front end groans, creaks and rattles. I'm thinking the poor thing didn't like not having weight on the bushings and now they're a bit "off", or they incorrectly reinstalled or torqued something that's causing the groaning and creaking. Since the car is 7 years old and out of warranty, they (naturally) want to replace the front suspension (namely the lower mcpherson control arm) since the bushings aren't sold separately. I've looked around locally and nobody sells these bushings (though I'm admittedly in a small town with limited access to parts), and none of the local companies I found online had them either. Since the bushings themselves wouldn't be too expensive, I'd be willing to order them from overseas if only I could find them but my Googling has also let me down, as I've only managed to find replacements for the previous model Panda. Any ideas?
