Hi all, sorry to piggyback, but the name of this thread is appropriate for my query.
At the weekend I picked up my 500 S, 17 plate with 11,000 miles on the clock. So far its been good, I prefer it to my old Twin Air as its nice and smooth (but a little less powerful that the TT it replaces). Anyway...
Last night I drove the 500 over speed bumps for the first time and noticed a bit of a clank / clunk from what I think is both the front and rear of the car. The best way to describe the sound is that its similar to the sound when you drive over a loose manhole cover.
My initial thoughts are that we have some issues with struts / mounts / shocks or some other suspension component. I have given the car a wobble when stationary, side to side, and then pushed down on the front and rear independently. I can regularly recreate some noise with these tests, and the lateral wobble creates a continued wobble (its not settling quickly). Also the noise is regularly produced during a road test involving said speed bumps.
The noise is not noticeable at much lower speeds, but at 10 mph over speed bumps, and a little quicker over shallower bumps, its audible. Handling feels fine and there isn't too much roll, but my frame of reference is the TT S line so I might just be thinking the roll on this is normal.
So the question really is, am I right in thinking that there shouldn't really be any of these noises? I know the fiat has 'character' and tends to bounce and fidget along, but I thought it would be great to get other's views from their own experience.
Any help greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
I have a love hate relationship to the 500 handling and suspension. Just got rid of an early 14 500s twinair and still have a late low mileage 13 500s 1.2
I can tell you that generally the 500 suspension is not quiet
Moved side to side - the car and the suspension should be rock solid, the only side ways movement you should see is on the tire walls only!
The 500s with low profiles is a rock solid ride, until the rear shocks start to wear and it becomes a pig..... drive over a sleeping policemen on a dual carriageway on a bend and the rear end will lurch out... My TwinAir had new rear shock every 18000miles, as they were knackered by this point..
Then you would get knocking front suspension which was normally caused by the drop links.... They would look and feel fine on the car at 18000miles, but would literally fall apart once removed. One replacement didn´t even last 6000miles.
At 45000miles the anti roll bar bushes were noisy.
I had the suspension rebuilt at 18000miles and 2 years - new monroe shocks, top mounts and drop links and it was lovely for 18months. At 5years old and 55000 miles it basically needed doing all again and I sold the car.
I miss the TwinAir engine... but don´t miss the hassle.
I also have a very low mileage 500C Sport, which I will run around in for a couple of years to get some use out of it... The 500C is heavier and doesn´t seem to eat the suspension in quite the same way as the hatchback
Also one last thing, you can´t compare a Fiat 500 to an Audi TT... The fiat is a great little car but it is not durable like an Audi.
To be fair though the 500S was always cheap to fix.