Rattly NSF hub

[tractorman]

Hi all,

 

I recently got an x-reg fabia 1.4 16v and have been so impressed with it and this forum I thought I would share a recent worrying development with the car that hopefully will help someone out.

To get the car through its latest main dealer MoT last month, I had to change all the front wishbone bushes (powerflex), front discs and pads (genuine), NSF outer CV boot (genuine) and rear springs (non genuine) - about normal for 78,000 miles. Since doing these repairs the car developed a tinny rattle when going over bumps on the NSF which I assumed was the brake dust guard so didn't really do much about it. When it got irritating enough I thought I'd investigate but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary except for the dust guard being a bit close so I 'adjusted' it and it seemed a bit better.

This weekend however the rattling came back worse than before and sounded a lot more metallic :wonder: . More worrying the car had now developed severe wheel wobble above 55mph which it didn't have before :( . I checked the wheels and gave them a shove and the NSF moved in and out at the top by nearly half an inch - great wheel bearing failure! I jacked the wheel off the ground gave it another shove and found the play had gone and the wheel turned over fine   I then happened to glance at the shock absorber rod and saw 2 chunks had been taken out of it near the bump stop so I let the car down a little and shoved the wheel and nearly fell over in shock - the hole in the damper that the rod pokes out of must be twice the size it should be and the wheel is pretty much going where it wants!

I'm changing the strut this week so hopefully I can get some photos up. Moral of the story - persevere!

 

Love the forum, keep up the great work!

Tractorman