Hi, I read a thread a while back about people complaining about a rattling in their front suspension but I'm not sure if the issue was resolved or just left hanging. Anyway, here's what's happening with mine. I was getting that rattling on slightly uneven roads that seemed to be coming from the steering system. In the past month or so the rattling has become ridiculously irritating so I gave the car a lift and checked the suspension. It appeared initially that a inner tie rod on the passenger side was knocking about in its socket and the tie rod end on the same side was loose, causing the wheel to be really noisy as I grabbed it and moved it side to side. That made me happy as this was DIY fixable. Yesterday I pulled the boot off the inner rod to check things out and found that the bloody thing was all right. A lot of movement in that ares but it's coming out of the steering rack. So while I'll get rid of some looseness changing the tie rod end, the big problem is in the rack.

Anyone know what's happening in there- bushings worn? Someone earlier mentioned a kit sold by Fiat to tighten this up. Can anyone confirm this? this can't be a safe condition in addition to being really irritating.

the car's got 85.000 km on it on warsaw roads, So like 100k everywhere else

Any advice would be appreciated.
thanks,

Tom

I hear this "krrrrrk" kind of sound when I turn the wheels on my '00 Sporting... I've noticed it when the car is still and at low speeds... I think i does that always but i jus' can't hear it at higher speeds... Is this the problem you mean too? At first it was happenenig only at the front-right wheel, but now the left one (got jealous and) started doing the same noise... It irritates me a lot...! :bang:

I spayed some WD40-ish stuff everywhere behind the wheel and it disappeared on the right side, but was still there (lessened, tho) on the left side... However, the lubricant i used is not "waterproof" and within a week or so the noise gradually came back... So i think it's just a matter of Lubrication... But i'm lazy and i haven't gone to the garage to grease it...