147 GTA biting the tarmac!

Morning all!

Picked up a 2006 Nuvola white 147 GTA about a month ago and am absolutely loving it - the looks, the engine note and the acceleration all awesome. The car had 14k miles on her when I bought it, closer to 16k now!

Having a serious problem with the front of the car touching the road far too often. I live in a bumpy part of Yorkshire but my previous car (Z4) which was lower to the ground rarely bit the tarmac. Although the handling is good you can tell there is a heavy engine over the front. However, when the car is making contact with the road I'm sure there is more suspension travel left, i.e. I don't think it is bottoming out.

I bought the car from a main Alfa dealer. The spec sheet didn't mention lowered suspension and the car doesn't look particularly "slammed"!

Any ideas guys?

Car is still in warranty so should I be getting her booked in for the suspension to be checked over?

It will just be the undertray sagging. have a look under the engine. I bet you dont have much clearance.

This happens all the time on All 147,156 and GT's.

Thanks a lot, will get the local deal to have a look and hoik it back up!

Originally Posted by OperationAlfa

It will just be the undertray sagging. have a look under the engine. I bet you dont have much clearance.

This happens all the time on All 147,156 and GT's.

No it doesn't because they don't all have the undertray fitted, the 147 has a long nose which is prone to grounding out even with standard bumper and even more so with smaller alloys like the 15" Elegance.

Where do you live mate? Seems my earlier post on this thread has been purged for some reason. I'm in Hebden Bridge area and suffer from the same sort of thing, tend to drive very slowly over the roads that it happens on and this stops the grounding out.

I also have a front bumper with about 10cm clearance so that doesn't help.

Billy have a look at the yorkshire area part of the site, love to see your car at a meet.



Sean

Originally Posted by GhostyDog

No it doesn't because they don't all have the undertray fitted, the 147 has a long nose which is prone to grounding out even with standard bumper and even more so with smaller alloys like the 15" Elegance.

No undertray on mine at the moment.


Quick question.... why would the smaller alloys cause it to ground more?

Do you mean due to more movement in the tyre itself? The circumference of the wheel is obviously the same.

Smaller diameter Alloys will have little or no effect with regard to this issue.

Originally Posted by OperationAlfa

Quick question.... why would the smaller alloys cause it to ground more?

Do you mean due to more movement in the tyre itself? The circumference of the wheel is obviously the same.

I think it's because with smaller wheels larger profile the rebound rate is larger, I don't get anywhere near as much grounding with the 17s.

It was generally when pulling out of junctions on steep hills or undulating country lanes, however putting the zender bumper on mine just put me back where I started again

Originally Posted by Chris155

Smaller diameter Alloys will have little or no effect with regard to this issue.

Well they do so there

Originally Posted by GhostyDog

I think it's because with smaller wheels larger profile the rebound rate is larger, I don't get anywhere near as much grounding with the 17s.

It was generally when pulling out of junctions on steep hills or undulating country lanes, however putting the zender bumper on mine just put me back where I started again

Rubbish, you just had flat tyres..






(Only kidding)

Cheers Sean, will have a look at the upcoming meets. I'm not too far from you - over Ilkley way. There has to be something wrong with it as it's crunching the road far too often. I need to find a solution as it's too hard to drive the car slowly on a good road!! I was considering upgrading the dampers to fix the problem but perhaps there is a sagging issue?

Can you take a picture of the car underside for us?

Will do asap.

Ok don't have my camera at the office but have had a good luck under the car and it is a sagging undertray - thanks Operation Alfa. This is what is scraping 90% of the time. The other 10% is on the big dips which I have since learnt to take slower - thankfully before any damage to the front splitter. The heated seats aren't working and the stereo does not turn off when I turn the ignition off & remove the key so I will get her booked in for the whole lot doing. All minor issues that don't decrease the grin factor - although I'm glad it's in warranty.

Originally Posted by Billy Bird

Ok don't have my camera at the office but have had a good luck under the car and it is a sagging undertray - thanks Operation Alfa. This is what is scraping 90% of the time. The other 10% is on the big dips which I have since learnt to take slower - thankfully before any damage to the front splitter. The heated seats aren't working and the stereo does not turn off when I turn the ignition off & remove the key so I will get her booked in for the whole lot doing. All minor issues that don't decrease the grin factor - although I'm glad it's in warranty.

Originally Posted by Billy Bird

Ok don't have my camera at the office but have had a good luck under the car and it is a sagging undertray - thanks Operation Alfa. This is what is scraping 90% of the time. The other 10% is on the big dips which I have since learnt to take slower - thankfully before any damage to the front splitter. The heated seats aren't working and the stereo does not turn off when I turn the ignition off & remove the key so I will get her booked in for the whole lot doing. All minor issues that don't decrease the grin factor - although I'm glad it's in warranty.

Good stuff, at least it's relatively easy fix

great forum this, learning by the minute!

The oe dampers do allow too much travel, like that from the factory and only degrade over time. Uprated ones should eliminate grounding, better still coilovers. Should not have to slow down for oncoming undulations or bumps, unless they are of the speed/safety variety of course.

Thanks Caldo, can you recommend any dampers for me? Would be nice unleash the full fury of the beast across the local moor roads! I was planning on some + BHP mods but no point at the moment as I can't fully use all the power I currently have without fear of damaging the front splitter. Or maybe I should just slow down?!

Originally Posted by Billy Bird

maybe I should just slow down?!

Are you mad?

ha ha, yes!

Originally Posted by Billy Bird

ha ha, yes!

Excellent Smithers

Dampers, it would probably be out of Bilstein B6, B8 or Koni Sport's for me.

Or Koni FSDs with Eibach springs, a very popular combination.

Cheers,

Nigel