Technical Fiat 500 suspension ball joint

[MissSLC]

Help, I have a 2012 fiat 500 and just had its first MOT. It failed . The MOT tester has advised that the front suspension has excessive movement at a suspension ball joint offside front lower and needs replacing. The car has less than 15,000 miles on it.
Is this a normal fault at such low milage?

 

[varesecrazy]

Help, I have a 2012 fiat 500 and just had its first MOT. It failed . The MOT tester has advised that the front suspension has excessive movement at a suspension ball joint offside front lower and needs replacing. The car has less than 15,000 miles on it.
Is this a normal fault at such low milage?

HI, and welcome to FF,

not too unusual IF you do lots of speed humps . pot holes..,
at least its a Cheap job

Charlie - Oxford

 

[Mila]

I still find that unacceptable. Too early for it to fail.

 

[306maxi]

I still find that unacceptable. Too early for it to fail.

If it's been smashed into kerbs, driven over potholes and so on then that's what happens.

Also, these days the gaitor just needs to be torn and that's an MOT failure. Could even be down to the low mileage that the car has done as the rubber would harden up.

 

[Mila]

Well yeah smashing into curbs will stuff up most cars. But I've driven over heaps of potholes here in ****ty Melbourne roads and my 500 is fine.

Nearly at 40,000kms and driven mostly on shocking roads over here.

 

[306maxi]

To give you some idea of how long they can last, I've done 79,500 miles and mine are still fine. That's almost 130,000 km

 

[Mila]

So yeah. Probably premature failure. It happens. Or you must have hit something nasty.

 

[TrevC]

Sometimes it just happens. A few years ago I had a Vauxhall fail its first MoT for the same reason, after just 29,000 miles.

 

[ahmett]

I go over many potholes daily and no damage like that except leaking fiat dampers which I replaced with billies.

I never ever kerb the wheels though, I even park the car a bit out of the kerb so I don't touch them!