Mozella
New member
My 2006 Grande Punto 1.4 16V recently started making a strange "Sproing" noise when turning at low speeds. A search of this forum quickly provided the reason why. The upper strut mount bearing had failed. Thank you fellow forum members.
The original dampers weren't bad, but the car has nearly 90,000 km and it wouldn't be long before they give up the ghost. Because I was going to take the springs off the front struts, I decided to go ahead and replace the struts and rear dampers while I was at it.
The job is pretty simple and very much like changing dampers and struts on any other similar car, but there were a few surprises which I want to address in hopes of saving someone some time.
The rear shocks are held in place with Torx head bolts and they are all VERY tight. A standard socket will partially engage these bolts, but you run the risk of rounding off the head and then you will be in real trouble. Buy a set of Torx sockets if you expect to extract the bolts. You can find them on EBay for not much money. And don't try to turn the nut on the lower part of the damper assembly. It's welded in place, so you must turn the bolt head, but the weld is hard to see in dim lighting. You'll also need a long breaker bar or a good impact wrench. My cheap impact wrench wasn't strong enough. Bleed your brakes while you have easy access to the calipers.
To access the front upper strut mount, you should remove the large plastic piece at the rear of the engine compartment. That requires removing the windshield wiper arms. I've removed plenty of them in my life time, but mine wouldn't come off without a puller and my puller was too large. So, the wise mechanic will be sure he can remove the wiper arms first. As it turns out, if you remove the rubber seal at the front of this plastic piece you can carefully bend it up just far enough to get a 1/8"drive socket wrench attached to a 6mm hex driver to hold the damper shaft. Then you can get an 18mm open end wrench on the retaining nut. It isn't easy and it isn't fun and your risk breaking an expensive plastic part, but it can be done.
The rest is straightforward. Note that the torque values for the lower strut bolts are very high and then you're supposed to go an additional 45 degrees. I was just able to quite achieve this with my long breaker bar but it was quite difficult. Be sure your car is proper supported when you do the final tightening.
The original dampers weren't bad, but the car has nearly 90,000 km and it wouldn't be long before they give up the ghost. Because I was going to take the springs off the front struts, I decided to go ahead and replace the struts and rear dampers while I was at it.
The job is pretty simple and very much like changing dampers and struts on any other similar car, but there were a few surprises which I want to address in hopes of saving someone some time.
The rear shocks are held in place with Torx head bolts and they are all VERY tight. A standard socket will partially engage these bolts, but you run the risk of rounding off the head and then you will be in real trouble. Buy a set of Torx sockets if you expect to extract the bolts. You can find them on EBay for not much money. And don't try to turn the nut on the lower part of the damper assembly. It's welded in place, so you must turn the bolt head, but the weld is hard to see in dim lighting. You'll also need a long breaker bar or a good impact wrench. My cheap impact wrench wasn't strong enough. Bleed your brakes while you have easy access to the calipers.
To access the front upper strut mount, you should remove the large plastic piece at the rear of the engine compartment. That requires removing the windshield wiper arms. I've removed plenty of them in my life time, but mine wouldn't come off without a puller and my puller was too large. So, the wise mechanic will be sure he can remove the wiper arms first. As it turns out, if you remove the rubber seal at the front of this plastic piece you can carefully bend it up just far enough to get a 1/8"drive socket wrench attached to a 6mm hex driver to hold the damper shaft. Then you can get an 18mm open end wrench on the retaining nut. It isn't easy and it isn't fun and your risk breaking an expensive plastic part, but it can be done.
The rest is straightforward. Note that the torque values for the lower strut bolts are very high and then you're supposed to go an additional 45 degrees. I was just able to quite achieve this with my long breaker bar but it was quite difficult. Be sure your car is proper supported when you do the final tightening.
