Technical Abarth tyre wear and pulling to left and general update

[krismc]

got bad inner tyre wear and stearing is pulling to the left a lot,

tracking was checked and it was fine.

also i THINK lower suspension arm is worn as i get clunking over bumps and and creaking/clicking when coming to a stop, so would it point to lower arm?

any chance this worn arm (passenger side) could be causing the car pulling?

cheapest iv seen for new arms is ebay £90 for both sides delivered.



cars now done 110k
just replaced the washer jet pump (£9 new delivered ebay)


have noticed oil leak however, not had a chance to trace it yet, i think from cambelt side, no strange noises, any ideas?

also not sure if its coincidence or related but when noticed said oil leak gave the underneath a gentle spray at jet wash to help trace the fresh marks,

now usually my oil preasure at tick over lights up all the bars, now after the clean it sits 2 bars from full, but goes to full when the cars revved/driven any ideas?

from reading posts that preasure seems normal, but strange after it has been on full previous, plus slight oil leak.

any tips etc greatly received, as if its my lower arm thats faulty a freinds replacing them this week so could look into any other repair at same time​

 

[Greggers]

Hi,

Good luck with the motor and as you say, the lower wishbone change should hopefully sort the tyre wear. It's totally plausible that that's causing the tyre wear... just remember to drop the car onto the floor before torqueing the wishbone bolts and to get it re-tracked afterwards!

I'm interested in your oil leak... I've got one from the flywheel side but i can't trace it as it's coming from behind the bell housing. I think that it's either the crankshaft oil seal, the balancer shaft oil seal or the oilway plug. Given that all three of these things are on the belt side of the engine as well... it could be one of those

 

[OzMoSiS]

regarding the tyre wear, there was a service bulletin update to fix this. Look of posts by dan-the-man in technical as i think the bulletin number is in there.

also if your tyres are unevenly worn then it will favour a certain side, so it may be as simple as that.

surely a suspension arm would have come up on the MOT?

 

[krismc]

it was fine during mot, its failed recently (do high mileage)

ill order new lower arms then go from there, as the clunking sugests they need changing

 

[mattkh]

... just remember to drop the car onto the floor before torqueing the wishbone bolts

Hi
Lets say the setting is 30Nm, then how much do you have to torque the wishbone bolts when the car is on stands ?

 

[Greggers]

Hi
Lets say the setting is 30Nm, then how much do you have to torque the wishbone bolts when the car is on stands ?

Don't torque them at all. Just do them up loosely until the bolt head is in the right position, then drop the car to the floor to let everything settle into the right positions. The bolts can't be tight otherwise the wishbone won't settle. Once it's settled, tighten the front bolt to 100Nm and the rear to 110Nm

 

[Greggers]

it was fine during mot, its failed recently (do high mileage)

ill order new lower arms then go from there, as the clunking sugests they need changing

New wishbones make a huge difference... mine felt like a new car afterwards

 

[mattkh]

........... then drop the car to the floor to let everything settle into the right positions.

Hi
Thanks very much.
I take it the floor then has to be nice and even and level.

 

[Greggers]

Yep! Flat and level with a normal load on board

Have a look at this thread where I posted the proceedure for replacing the wishbones

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/180281-drivers-side-clunk.html

 

[krismc]

quick question, is it hard to tighten it all back up once its on the floor with an abarth, ie isnt the car too low?

 

[Greggers]

quick question, is it hard to tighten it all back up once its on the floor with an abarth, ie isnt the car too low?

Yeah, it is. Once it's settled though, you can jack it up a bit to give you access to the bolts, should be fine