suspension shock woes

Morpheus

Hi lads,

I need to buy suspension parts, namely shocks, do i get Oil or Gas shocks?

Im buying for the rear only.

How much will they cost about, or where can i buy them, ive searched goldenpages.ie and its sh*te.

Are they as easy to fit as my mate told me?? (take you ten minutes, just jack it up, undo two bolts top and bottom and slap in the new one...

id love to "have a go" if i knew i wouldnt be driving off looking at the rear suspension and axles lying in my rear-view-mirror.

Im fairly competent with working with parts, but to be honest, ive never been under my car other than to find out what the noise was before i knew the shocks were on the way out.

any advice? im gonna phone kwik fit and advance pitstop and of course my friend to see if he can fit em too.

cheers

Morpheus

also, i meant to ask about this,

my headlight went the other day (standard h7 bulbs in puntos)

I checked it and it was blown but i noticed a tiny spot of rust at the base of the bulb, in between the two contacts which the wire plug slots onto.

Personally I think the H7 bulbs always have their contacts too close to one another, but the point is that moisture must be getting into my headlight casing and rusting the contacts allowing the bulb to blow. Has anyone else had this problem?

Ive put a tiny dot of rubber sealant between the two contacts on the replacement bulb to protect from this in the future. someone suggested using clingfilm between the back of the headlight and the little removable door you use to get in at the bulbs.

Contacts
\
_¦__¦_
--+

---

+----
| |
| | <--- Bulb
| |
| |
\ /
\ /
\__/

Also the plug that slots onto the back of the bulb loks slightly melted!!! but this happened last year and the bulb blew several times, FIAT looked at it in the service and said it was nothing to worry about that they would check out the wiring and fix it up. They said the plug didnt need to be replaced, that it was only slightly burned and that they had made adjustments to the wiring.

This one is the one which they repaird the wiring on and I was quite happy because it hasnt blown since the service last may. Now im thinking it may just be gone, or maybe im having problems again.

I think my rubber solution will do it. Just wondering if other punto owners have had a similiar problem.

byte

I think my front shocks are on the way out also.

After asking a mate (who is constantly messing with cars) he reckoned that if I were to attack the job myself, I'd need spring-clamps, otherwise it would be more difficult and frustrating.

Seth Brundle

If you are unsure of how to do this then don't - you may end up with a problem and your car not mobile!

Chimaera

If you're reasonably competent with a spanner, you could try getting the Haynes manual for your car and go from there.