We're planning to sell my wife's Fiat Punto and have just had the tracking adjusted to cure a steering wheel 'fidget' problem on the car at all speeds. However, I just picked the car up from the garage today and it hasn't gone away (it was to late to go back to the garage). It happens at all speeds, to the extent that when moving slowly in traffic the wheel moves gently from side to side.

Given that the tracking has been checked, could it be something as simple as a wheel balance problem (could have thrown a weight)? Previously I've only noticed problems with wheel balance at higher speeds. Could it be a wheel bearing problem? If anyone has expertise in this area and can offer an opinion I'd be most grateful.
The last thing I want to do is throw it at the likes of Kwikfit and wind up with a monster bill for rebuilding the entire front suspension and steering.

 

It's called steering 'feel'! A feature the Scoob doesn't have enough of but most Italian cars do, i.e. it's meant to do it

 

i had something similar on my car turned out to be warped disks.it feels like a gentle rocking off the steering wheel.

 

Thanks for the helpful info - my wife took the car into a tyre place and they've rebalanced the front wheel which seems to have made some difference - we're about to sell the car so I really don't want to get into front disk changes if I can avoid it!
The car doesn't have power assisted steering so you do tend to feel a lot more than in the Impreza - given the choice, though, I know which car I pick everytime!

Cheers

Andrew

 

I'd go for a knackered tyre first, then a bent rim ( and probably a knackered tyre). You'll probably find the tyre is miss shaped, if you jack the car up and spin the wheels you'll see the tread going up and down. There might be flat spots too.

I once had a conversation with a guy over the phone and he described the symptons exactly as you have, I said have you checked the tyre? He says yes so I pick the car up and start to drive it back to work. I had to get out and look at the tyres after about half a mile of fighting the steering wheel! The car had four bald tyres with the front two showing the cords!

Hope you get it sorted! Post your reults?

Bob

 

AJC,

This is odd, my missus's Punto does exactly the same thing. My thoughts were that it has clouted a kerb or the wheels have gone out of alignment some other way or the balancing. Had all these looked at and it came back with a clean bill of health, even went through the MOT no problem.

I have put it down to a 'feature' of the Punto, but then again I am not selling the car but running it until it runs no more.


I wonder if there's a Punto Drivers Club but will they be offended by the 55S L reg.

 

Looks like we should be forming the ScoobyNet branch for 'Blokes with an Impreza who's other half has a Punto'.
When we sell it then I'll take the standard Subaru dealer line on clutch slipping and engine surge - 'they all do that, it's a feature'
I think that the wheel balancing has mostly sorted it - the tyres are all almost new.
It is almost 7 years old so it isn't going to be perfect.

Cheers

Andrew