[chihuahua]

Ok, so my new (third hand, but bought two months ago) 159 3.2 Qtronic has spent six of its eight weeks off the road. I'm sanguine about it now.

After some warranty fixes etc. It's now suffering an inability of the body shop to get the Autodelta body kit on - and this has been a two week saga already with AD originally sending one of the wrong side skirts and now really poor fitting, coupled with messed up bodywork on removal to do the job again.

Has anyone had success (or failure) of fitting it? And what did you do about the exhaust?

Link of what it looks like for those interested/ wanting to throw stones for ruining "the best looking saloon car on..."

2008 Autodelta Alfa Romeo 159 J4 2.2 C - Side - 1024x768 - Wallpaper

Ta

 

[dpat]

it isn't that bad. Will the exhaust look like that It is just the front end I am not so keen on.

 

[cloverleaf159]

doesnt sound good ben..... what have autodelta said about the poor fitting? who makes the bodykits for them?
and whats the issue with the exhausts exactly? poor fitting again?

is the bodyshop blaming the bodykit is of poor quality?

 

[chihuahua]

Everyone's blaming everyone, obviously! AD says a good fitter will have no problems. The fitter is saying it's really poor quality and has stupid fitting options/ bits (I'm not technical). Because of the angle, the exhaust has to be theirs. But they have a 6-8 week delivery, so I'm having to go a different route (ha, dpat!). Basically, it's all cocked up!

 

[cloverleaf159]

hmm, yeah..... not ideal at all..... and i guess you cant send any unused parts back . Did they tell you about the exhaust when you bought the kit?

 

[chihuahua]

It's on their website, but I've got a solution for the exhaust. The problem is getting the bodykit on - and as a quality job. I'll get there, but just seeing if anyone's done it before. Never again!

 

[cloverleaf159]

are you considering using another bodyshop then?

 

[chihuahua]

No CL159 - they're trying it again. Been away for a couple of days so will check progress tomorrow...

 

[toshy]

I don't want to throw stones, because it's still one of the few if not only the only decent looking body kit for 159 but... About two years ago when they released the body kit I wanted to get it myself, but then I started looking more careful at their official pictures I started noticing all the flaws of the body kit: gaps, alignment problems, asymmetry, etc, not to mention the poor fitting they done on their show cars. And that is visible on their marketing pictures. I am happy now I never got a reply from them when I asked about shipping overseas

Anyway, If you can't send the body kit back, a good body shop should be able to fix it, but I'm sure it will cost more.

I have no idea about the AD exhaust, but I have the Novitec backboxes on my 159 and one of them didn't fit originally because the Y pipe was... I don't know, my guess is that it was "manually adjusted" with a hammer by AR because one of the original backboxes was shorter than the other one. So it wasn't Novitec's problem, but it took me some time to figure it out.

 

[chihuahua]

Hey Toshy,

Thanks for chipping in. Yep - basically they've had trouble fitting it so it looks good and have also complained about the quality of it. It's not an AD made product I've found out; some cheap crap they've sourced in!

About them not replying t email. That's happened to me with them about three times over the years and they seem to evoke the good old Alfa service of old - complete dislike of customers.

Never again with them - and I suggest no one else does if they can't supply quality at the prices the charge and can't be bothered to communicate with customers.

Picking up on Saturday, so hoping will look good. Will post pix.

Chihuahua

 

[toshy]

Yeah, I hope it'll turn out fine and I'm waiting for the pics.

 

[cloverleaf159]

fingers crossed ben... hope it works out

 

[chihuahua]

So here goes ... pt1

So I got my car back yesterday and here it is thus far. Still to do:

- break caliper decals
- wing mirrors
- lowering (any advice on what's best?)
- alu pedals
- sound system (Focals in the front, change HU and an amp - then maybe a sub and something half decent in the rear)

Looks will likely divide, but I love it.

Chihuahua

 

[toshy]

Cool. Can you please post pic taken from the side, please?

 

[chihuahua]

Will do. Will try to get a good one today.

 

[James159sw]

:thumbs: Looks nice and the rear looks interesting. Is that some kind of diffuser?

I would suggest taking off all those badges as it looks a bit strange with them all spaced apart (IMHO

 

[chihuahua]

Toshy - didn't get a good pic today and I better post a good one else the forum will light up!

James - that's how the badges come from Alfa for the 3.2 Q4. Thankfully, they didn't put Qtronic on as well! Decided not to put an Autodelta sign on as well...

 

[Hunter]

I quite like it and good on you for having the patience :thumbs:

Shame that AD source the kit from someone who didn't measure up properly to start with
I'm with Toshy on this - had a serious look at a full kit a few years ago and there were too many dodgy panel gaps. Looked like they released it without looking into it properly - more of a marketing exercise than a real-life possibility for end users. Cost a bomb too. Hence I went for Lester/Novitec gear on my TI.

 

[Hunter]

FYI I had Eibach lowering springs fitted on my middle 159 2.4 and they worked a treat. (standard shocks)

 

[chihuahua]

Hi Hunter,

This is why the body shop struggled. In the end, they had to fix the gap by gluing/ cementing the kit directly to the body.

Seriously poor kit.