Good afternoon all.
The little Punto (X reg Mk 2 8v) has just failed MOT for front suspension has excessive play in lower suspension ball joint.
Can anybody tell me, does that mean that all the lower suspension arm has to be replaced, or is it separate?

Looking on ePer it seems to the same arm setup as the Cinq/Sei, which is a full arm replacement job. Very easy job to do on the plus side, and I picked up a pair of new arms for less than £60 on ebay.

OK thanks. Just looking in Haynes manual. I reckon I should be able to fit one with a bit of cursing and swearing and cups of tea!

New arms also come with new bushes so your getting a few things done for the sake of undoing 3-4 bolts

That sounds good! Is it worth doing the track rod ends at the same time?

If I was you and I was doing a lot of work like this, especially the track rod ends, how about taking REAL careful measurement of the track of the front wheels before you un-bolt anything. ie..steering central, key out so locked in straight ahead.

Mark and measure between say parts of the treads on the front wheels and write it down. Then, you have a really good ball park reference to set back up to for if it doesn't end up quite the same as it is now (assuming proper handling/tyre wear etc).

Reason I say all this is where I work they sometimes struggle to get a van to drive right even with correct set up data and laser aligner. If your car drives well now then i'd def be tempted to try this. If you do one track rod at a time and then re set the track to exactly as it is now, surely that way your going to be very close without the need for alignment at a garage?

And please, if all of the above seems just wrong lol, someone please say so How sad am I cos I've given this thought in the past lol.

Good luck though

Thanks for giving it some thought! You are absolutely right though.
Knowing me I will take absolutely ages over this job because I will check and re-check everything about 6 times.

Makes sense to do both, rather than just the one. Plenty of Plus Gas on the bolts/nuts (especially the smaller ones) a day or so before you start.

Sounds like good advice.
The other items on the failure list are a blowing back box (along the top seam so I couldn't see it from underneath, but it is definitely blowing). Also high emissions. The MOT guy thinks that the hole in the back box will be messing up the emissions, which seems logical. What do you all think?
I have seen the advice about the "Italian de-coke" which is a fantastic excuse for some foot down fun, but if I do this before the exhaust is fixed, will there be any benefit?
All advice gratefully received.

I'd sort the exhaust first. They're an easy DIY fit (you might save anything up to 80 quid on a fitted one) providing you get the right one. (There are a lot of different Puntos out there!)

What I am hoping is that I can get the exhaust done, and then get the probe up the exhaust (ooh er missus!) because I don't want to blow my free re-test and have to pay for a complete re-test.