Technical Bottom control arms.

[Grimmy]

Hi guys newbie here .my wife bought a 2012 500 pop a few months back and it's a cracking little car.however after driving it yesterday it felt very unpredictable in the front end .on inspection I have noticed one of the bolts on the front drivers side(UK) is loose. the problem is I can't seem to get any tools in there to tighten it up because of what I assume is the subframe.is there any tips to get to the bolt?
Cheers in advance.

 

[John202020]

This may help
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/440463-2011-fiat-500-suspension-arms-help.html
But it's a bumper off job it does raise serious questions about who fitted what I assume is a new arm
Also follow the other link in the linked post

 

[Grimmy]

Thanks for that .I think I will put it in to be repaired not got the will to attack that myself these days .it's my wife's first car and she has solely been driving it apart from the test drive which showed up nothing the car was tight as a drum when we bought it.it must have slackened itself over time.I only noticed it when I drove it yesterday and the vagueness is very slight but the problem is obvious when you take the wheel off.cheers for your quick reply .much appreciated.

 

[typecastboy]

Bumper can be off in 10 minutes flat. Easy job.

 

[Grimmy]

Bumper can be off in 10 minutes flat. Easy job.

Yeah watched the video.not that big a job. just not fit enough for these types of things these days. if it was just banging a spanner on the bolt then no bother but pulling the rest off would do me in.

 

[Grimmy]

So got the car sorted this evening took off one side of the bumper and had an assistant hold it while I removed the assembly.the bottom arm bolt was indeed loose and after inspection all the threads were intact and In great condition so put the bolt back in using some loctite to try and hold it better and reassembled everything.the car is all good now.so thanks for all your assistance guys especially John.

 

[chinwan]

Hi Grimmy
Glad you managed it, it was my post John20202 put up, and as you have found out it's a bumper of, or in your case partially of to get to the bolts to remove part of the frame to access that bolt, other than that it's a pretty simple job, drivers side requires washer bottle out of the way as well to wiggle the frame out once bolts are off

 

[Grimmy]

It was the drivers side but managed to pry the arm off without removing the washer bottle right enough.cheers for the original thread it certainly made the difference and saved me a few quid.