General Mk1 with Steering Problems

[Trooper]

Hi All,

I recently purchased a Mk1 '96 1242 75ELX 5 door Punto as a second 'run around' car but the annoying niggles I am having with it are beginning to deplete my back balance!
Apart from replacing the clutch and clutch master cylinder due to horrendous clutch judder, the thermostat packed up last weekend shutting off the cooling flow causing the car to nearly overheat.

I treated her to a nice set of BF Goodrich directional tyres as the set on it were a mismatch of different makes and she didn't exactly drive in a straight line, but after 5 attempts to get the tracking right, i've given up with the garage. She refuses to do anything apart from pull to the left when travelling in a straight line. The garage tells me there is nothing wrong with any of the suspension and the tracking is set apparently with lasers, and they state the alignment is correct.
I've seen on different threads on this forum various different members that have had wayward steering and I was wondering if anyone knew of an alignment specialist in the Northamptonshire area that checks the rear thrust line / camber etc when tracking vehicles, at a reasonable price. This is going to be my next port of call after i've checked the suspension myself for damage / excessive wear. A couple of things that do worry me with the vehicle are that there is a large dent in the N/S sill and I found the O/S front steel wheel rim has been dented suggesting an impact to the wheel at some point which obviously could mean the suspension has moved.

Any help welcome!

P.s My main car is a Punto HGT that I enjoy very much.

Doh, meant to put this in 'technical' but somehow didn't make it.

 

[gezzauk]

had same problem with my punto, garage, set tracking, and everything, no movement in bottom arm, but still pulled like mad to the side, turn out to be my bottom arm. The bush in the middle of the arm, was worn down inside, even tho they was no movement when tested. Only found this out cause he took the arms of. Might be worth a try .

 

[Trooper]

Thanks for the reply gezzauk.

Certainly worth a look.
It is a strange one bearing in mind the new tyres and tracking. The pull to the left is quite strong but the garage insist the tracking is straight.
How much did you pay for the bottom arm?

I'm going to look at the suspension this weekend and try swapping a few tyres around but if I can't find anything obvious, I was going to get the vehicle properly 4 wheel aligned, but my nearest Ctr wants £90 for the pleasure!