Tire conundrums

You mentioned there is no play in the steering. Some cars are difficult to assess accurately. One option is to raise the front wheels on jack stands and rotate the steering wheel until the column lock engages. Next grab the tire on each side of the car and try to shake them. If a wheel bearing has worn out of it's preload you will notice some play. If a steering rack bushing has shattered you will notice some play. You can sometimes detect wear in the ball joints this way too but you'll also want to check with a pry bar or large flat-blade screwdriver.

If you already did all of these things then I recommend a sanctioned priest who can splash holy water on the windshield and chant the correct Latin phrases to dispel whatever demon has taken up residence in your Fiat. An X1/9 is too small to contain a powerful demon so it shouldn't take more than one application.
 
I did not go through the specific steps you mentioned but easy enough to do. As for the second part I might have better luck with a Rabbi but then again this is a car made in the land of Catholics so who knows. Maybe the DC area needs a cars and coffee and blessing of the cars day.
 
Thanks. I was gonna have the wife follow me and using these new iphone walkie-talkies :) have her check for any wheel bounce, cause that was the only thing I could think of next. I think I have both front and rear problems, in that the wheel shakes and the shifter shakes though not as much.
My friend put new performance springs on his and cut some of the fronts to lower it about 1 1/2 inches.
Good luck doing yours!
 
Carl et al, apologies for this off-topic post, but I need to get some good tire mounting/balancing done on a couple of cars, what's a good shop in our NoVa area? I used to use G&C in Chantilly but "fired" them after being ripped off several times on parts and labor charges following annual state safety inspections. Might be useful info for a few other folks in our Fiat-rich area.
 
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