Hi People

Been reading the threads on steering / type wear problems, and I'm still confused.

I've just bought a 1.9 53 reg JTD stilo estate, with 34k on it. The front tyres are fairly worn and the steering pulls to the left and 'fights' me when I'm following a right hand bend. As far as I know, the suspension has been untouched since new.

I got the alignment adjusted, which helped a bit, but didn't solve the problem. The mechanic told me they were wearing faster on the inner edges.
As I've got 6 weeks before the 3 yr waranty expires, I'm keen to identify any design faults that could be responsible which I could take to Fiat to sort out.

I've read about rear and front suspension mods which have been done under warranty, but I'm not sure exactly what they entail - details of each would be most welcome. Are both front & rear mods accepted by Fiat as design faults and how can I tell if my car has has them done already ?

Any info would be most appreciated, though I know this subject has been done to death...


Cheers

TR

You're right, this subject has been done to death and a few people have asked the same question recently.

Basically you must get a full 4 wheel alignment check. This will involve some sort of computer printout and MUST give readings for front/rear toe-in & camber. If you're really paranoid then go to a couple of places and see if the readings match.

If it's ALL within tolerance then end of story - just drive differently and don't forget to swap back/front, now and again, to double tyre life (tyre wear is opposite on the front to the rear on almost all Stilos).

If the readings are out, and can't be corrected, then take it to your dealer and complain bitterly as you've likely got (big) problems.

Welcome to the forum BTW

Thanks for the reply

The alignment check I had done was a 4 wheel check (though no computer equipment was involved) - Mechanic made adjustments front & rear and declared himself satisfied. This reduced the L/H pull on the steering a bit and made it a little more precise. It does still pull to the left, though, and needs extra force on the wheel on RH turns. He also said that, given the condition of the front tyres, some problems would persist until they were replaced, which I interpreted as largely a sales pitch !

I'm reluctant to shell out on new fronts only to find I'm still getting problems a few months down the line, by which time I'll be out of warranty.

If anyone can advise what the suspension fixes are that have addressed this problem for others, I would be REALLY grateful ..:worship:

Thanks

TR
.

If you have very uneven wear on the fronts then, it's be expected, even after the wheels are aligned correctly, for the car to drift and it will keep doing that until you have a flat footprint of tyre on the ground. You could try swopping rears to front as an experiment, assumng they have a flat tread.

Pumping up the tyres to the max load pressures (pressure willl depend what tyres you have fitted) helps significantly reduce camber following

Stilos tend to follow the camber of the road a little so try, when you can to see what it's like on the dead flat and, maybe down a straight country lane, try it it on the right hand side of the road, on a right hand camber.

If you're arm wrestling the steering all the time then something's wrong.

Try flat treads on the front, upping the tyre pressures to the max load and see what happens

TinkersRucksack said:

He also said that, given the condition of the front tyres, some problems would persist until they were replaced, which I interpreted as largely a sales pitch !

Click to expand...

Not sales pitch - badly worn tyres can have a dramatic affect on steering pull (as can fitting a single new tyre). The sensible thing to do as I’ve already suggested is swap them back to front to reduce/nullify the affect.

There's little point in looking for a solution until you know you've got a problem. What final figures have you got for:

N/S Front Toe & Camber ?
O/S Front Toe & Camber ?
N/S Rear Toe & Camber ?
O/S Rear Toe & Camber ?

Some good advice there! Had 4 wheel alignment done on my JTD soon after purchase and before fitting my alloys/tyres off my last Stilo. Swapped them front to rear and tyres are settling down nicely... as for the new tyre sales pitch would comment as follows:

My 1.6 on 15' steelies with the fronts down to 3 mm felt totally insecure and ASR light thought it were on a night out at the local disco!

My JTD came on 15' steelies and being an ex. motability car, had nearly new tyres on with 6+ mm of tread all round, but found it disturbingly easy to overpower the tyres with the 115 hp available. On the 16' alloys from the 1.6 and tyres at 5 mm all round nothing seems to phase it!

Thanks for the advice

I tried upping the tyre pressure to the max (2.4 bar front, 2.3 rear) & it made quite an improvement. I'm hoping a new pair of front tyres and a full four wheel alignment will improve things further .. i'll let you know..

Cheers guys .....
TR