KW V2 settings for 147 GTA????

makes sense that pud.
caldo, good idea lad, i just need to spend half a day fiddling and testing settings.
vamos, brilliant advice. i think the settings for the damping are half way all round at the mo, i'm gonna stffen the rears up a little and go from there i dont think im gonna fiddle with the height too much cos it looks spot on, even possibly a touch too high at the front cos i'm a bit of a stance *****.
ta lads.

Ideally, if possible maybe try and keep the same rake-angle as standard.
i.e. the height difference front to rear.
Measure from the centre of the wheel vertically up to where the measuring tape touches the curve wheel arch.

If you raise the front relative to the rear, you will add some understeer, obviously raising the front at all over standard will increase understeer too.
..you also get more understeer if you lower the rear relative to the front.

Having the rear slightly higher than the front compared to the standard rake angle is okay (say 10mm), it reduces understeer but if you overdo it it would have a negative efect effect on stability.

I can tell you that it makes an enormous difference lowering the front, but the main issue is ensuring you have sufficient front ground clearance on bump=y roads and parking ramps etc.

The KW2s are just rebound adjustable I think, so you will have to be relatively sensible in chosing how low to go.
-15mm at the front should still be okay I would think, but start off conservative and just enjoy driving without bottoming out for a while before going too low

Originally Posted by Trailbraker

Ideally, if possible maybe try and keep the same rake-angle as standard.
i.e. the height difference front to rear.
Measure from the centre of the wheel vertically up to where the measuring tape touches the curve wheel arch.

If you raise the front relative to the rear, you will add some understeer, obviously raising the front at all over standard will increase understeer too.
..you also get more understeer if you lower the rear relative to the front.

Having the rear slightly higher than the front compared to the standard rake angle is okay (say 10mm), it reduces understeer but if you overdo it it would have a negative efect effect on stability.

I can tell you that it makes an enormous difference lowering the front, but the main issue is ensuring you have sufficient front ground clearance on bump=y roads and parking ramps etc.

The KW2s are just rebound adjustable I think, so you will have to be relatively sensible in chosing how low to go.
-15mm at the front should still be okay I would think, but start off conservative and just enjoy driving without bottoming out for a while before going too low

Ta TB. I think thats a good idea you have there regarding measuring the height from the centre of the wheel to the arch. I just need to find a standard 147 GTA to do this with now. I'll take my tape measure with ne to penrith in the hope that theres one there.
Front clearance doesnt seem to be an issue at the mo since ive fitted the 19's cos they gave a little more height due to the larger rolling radius.
I'm guessing that at the mo i have relatively lower the rear on the rake angle, so i just need to have a proper fiddle on the weekend.
Thanks again

Somebody on the forum would do it for you i'm sure?

Might need a seperate thread to get noticed?

It worked for me, bmoferrall kindly obliged
Feel free to borrow the pic for your thread.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-...on-owners.html (Favour to ask of 156 GTA saloon owners)

Thanks very much TB, spot on. i think i may just rip off your thread a little. Great. i havnt got time now tho, i'm late to see the missus.

Bacon, a top brace will help as well. I was always under the impression the braces were used to pull the suspension together. I realise now they also prevent the wheels from pulling out by pushing the struts apart

So a top brace will help as well

Find it tricky doing it that way as it is near impossible to find a flat enough surface. Have you measured off the threads as well TB, is there much difference? Be good to have an idea of weight distribution over each side to maybe compensate by a mil or two, but then get to thinking about driver load and how much juice is in the tank and it just doesn't seem worth the bother.

Yes find flat ground. For a standard car If the left and right sides are the same height as the front and back wheels its probably close enough I would think especially if you turn the car 180 degrees on the same spot and repeat to doublecheck.

There was very little difference in the number of threads, to get the same ride height on each side with an unladen car.
Then again I was usually using 10Kg front springs which wouldn't deflect much for the slight weight difference compared to standard road springs.

Originally Posted by Caldo Bollente

Find it tricky doing it that way as it is near impossible to find a flat enough surface. Have you measured off the threads as well TB, is there much difference? Be good to have an idea of weight distribution over each side to maybe compensate by a mil or two, but then get to thinking about driver load and how much juice is in the tank and it just doesn't seem worth the bother.

Have something similar to this which is handy to lock and apply to the other side to get them nice and precise... why? I don't know

A gadget man after my own heart!

Tune in tomorrow for another thrilling installment of 'caldo's confessions'

As promised haven't actually got round to it yet so only guilty of intent at the moment, but we use this temperature laser gun in the kitchen to monitor and record how hot/cold stuff is for food standards. You point the infra red dot at something, shoot and it gives you the temperature, now wouldn't that be cool to check tyre, even disc temps at a track day?

Was unaware they already existed though, after a browse demon tweeks have a whole selection of the things, little anticlimactic, still good to have already even if it isn't entirely used for the purpose it was intended

Pyrometers | Wheels & Tyres | Chassis & Drivetrain | Motorsport | Demon Tweeks

If you have more of these, you should set up a thread, and invite everybodys gadget confessions while you are at it!

AFAIK the laser ones aren't quite as accurate for tyres as the ones that stick a probe into the tyre (but I still want one ).

Don't know, after eezibleed, digital tyre pressure / tread depth doo-dah and torque wrench it could start to run a little thin... though it would be nice to know of any other goodies out there


This one isn't bad, within +/- 1ºC up to 100ºC, 300ºC max. Industrial version goes up to 1,000ºC (as does the cost).

MicroRayOnline.com | IRtec MicroRay Xtreme

Not sure if its a gadget but top of my list for next years Halloween, is one of theose motion sensor activated skeletons that whizzes (via invisible cables) over the heads of the kids coming up the drive with an effective screaming noise, and automatically is rewound into its hidden position behind a bush.
Made me jump when I was shepherding a few little Trick or Treeters last year!

You're going to wait till Halloween?! Sounds like year round fun to me, like on hornblasters

Was given a clever little gizmo for xmas, may need to go o.t. with it...

Sounds intrigueing, please do

Instead of demoing I'll link 20Q.net Inc. in 'Classic 20Q' form, think of something and it'll ask 20 questions in order to guess what it is you are thinking. Online version detracts from the novelty of it being just a toy but one that's able guess a seemingly endless amount of things... for instance a friend tried beating me (it) with a not so common vegetable, that's the day I learnt what an okra was.

I had one! It was excellent. I got it as a present for a seriously precocious 7 year old and it blew his mind when he lost the first two challenges

You are right though having the little thing in your hand defeat you makes it more real.

We better stop or the mods will give us demerits!

From suspension to botany... you could be onto something there :-/

How are you getting on with the coilovers Bacon?