Technical Front suspension balance off (inspection)

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Technical Front suspension balance off (inspection)

torniojaws

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I just had my GP go through the inspection, where it failed on multiple counts (though not unexpectedly). But what caught my eye was something it didn't fail in:

The front suspension test result was 61 % left, 49 % right (off balance by 20 %), which I assume means that the left side absorbed quite a bit more kinetic energy (61 % of the energy the test device puts out) than the right side during the test.

And it has quite literally entirely renewed front struts: everything, including the nuts and bolts, are brand new OE parts.

Could it mean that the right side shock absorber is bad? As mentioned, it didn't fail on that, but the values sound really low, and the balance is off quite a bit?


Also, if you're curious, these are where the car did fail the inspection in. I still have time until April 20 to get them sorted (but might end up getting a new car, but that's unrelated :D)


  • Rear suspension: 45 % left, 20 % right (off balance by 56 %)
  • Emissions: CO % at high RPM too high: 0,26 (max: 0,2)
And there was a note that several sidelights are not working. The inspector mentioned about front reversing lights, and the result paper mentions upper rear lights (which is funny, because they do have lights on - not sure what it refers to?).

Now the rear suspension I'm not surprised about, since they are still the original 2008 parts, and fairly easy to replace. But the emissions would be quite expensive to fix for real. It would need a new catalytic converter (400 EUR), new lambdas (100 EUR total) and quite possibly a new exhaust pipe too (about 200 EUR). And to replace the catalytic converter, I would also have to finally do the removal of the studs from the engine block, which could be quite a PITA :D Doing that stuff at a garage would probably come to about 800 - 900 EUR total, which is probably more than what the car is worth :yum:
 
What country is this test?


Also does your Punto have daytime running lights?
If so perhaps he o my had them on and got confused between them and thought's the side lights should be on with them?
 
Why not swap the struts right to left..
Well, the GP front struts are side-specific. You cannot put a left-side strut to the right side - it probably won't fit even physically as the droplink hole wouldn't line up.
 
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What country is this test?


Also does your Punto have daytime running lights?
If so perhaps he o my had them on and got confused between them and thought's the side lights should be on with them?
Finland. By daytime lights, do you mean the two small white ones under the side mirrors?

At least in the front of the car, there are six white lights that all work when enabled:

1. 2 main headlights
2. 2 long-lights / high beams(?) (same housing as the main lights)
3. 2 fog lights (bottom of the front bumper)
 
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Finland. By daytime lights, do you mean the two small white ones under the side mirrors?

At least in the front of the car, there are six white lights that all work when enabled:

1. 2 main headlights
2. 2 long-lights / high beams(?) (same housing as the main lights)
3. 2 fog lights (bottom of the front bumper)
Your can't have daytime running lights so ignore my previous comments
 
Alright, brought it to the garage since I was busy with other stuff. Now it passed with flying colours (y) No fails and no remarks. Not sure if "remark" is the term, maybe it has some different name in English, but a remark is something non-critical that can be fixed easily, such as a bulb that does not work.


With brand new rear shocks, the test result for the rear is:

51 % left, 57 % right, and 11 % difference

So I guess the low-sounding value is to be expected.

Oh and they also inspected the front strut bolts by my request (I changed them 4 months ago myself), and everything was good :)
 
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