[sketchy19]

On discovering how bald the inside of my front tires were i decided to swap front to back and get the alignment done.

I foolishly assumed if a garage had invested money in a Hunter alignment machine they would have learned how to use it, but now i am thinking, am I just P**sing in the wind and wondering why i am getting wet.

I took the car to kwikfit (groan) alignment done front only as the 159 cant be adjusted at the rear. (so they said Hmmmm) Steering wheel is pointing to the left when moving strait ahead.

Took car back the setting were completely different to the print out from a few days before eg one side Toe was -4' now -14 they said i must have hit a pot hole or something ( I have not) they readjusted to -3' per side. Rear shows at 10' per side so they said does not need adjusting and camber in red on rear is not adjustable (hmmm pretty sure it is)

Took car away still steers to the left and i notice on paper work it states steering wheel off center under current condition.

Took to a different kwikfit for a free second opinion. Settings completely different again eg was -3' now 1' and the rear that was 10' is now 20'.

New center could not adjust without a charge but said there could be a calibration difference and that is not always possible to align and get the steering wheel strait if for example the car has been in a crash .

Don't know what is going on. Any ideas anyone. Before you ask yes I am on STD bushes not powerflex but shurly it cant make this much difference can it

 

[Dave Brand]

Normal practice is to centre the steering wheel & set the geometry with that as a starting point.

 

[Verbout]

I had my 159 done at Halfords, afterwards the car wanted to drive into the gutter and the steering wheel was well off centre.

I turned the car around, well it did it itself :lol: and took it back.

I was fed the biggest load of bulls**t I had ever heard as to why the car was heading for the kerb and why the steering wheel was off centre. Rattling on about road camber blah, blah, blah.

I just put the keys on the counter, said I was going for a coffe, ring me when it's done properly, ain't been back since.

 

[tony4hop]

Here you go

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...rera-andamp-946-spider/alfa-...-post-1-a.html

Taking no credit as it is Old Engineers post - I was bald front inners (and I nearly was after pulling my hair out!).

Just print it out and tell me 'like this please'.

Garage wasn't happy to do it to these settings but I insisted and all is OK - not sure of my exact mileage since but it's way more than the 6k miles I got out of the previous set (thinking around 10k), and still plenty of tred left and even wear too.

The machines are set with defaults and unless somebody is told to change them they'll just use factory settings, I'm assuming not many 159's have been to Kwik Fit (just guessing like).

Every time I post this link I still like to thank OE for the info. Thanks OE.

 

[giblets46]

I just put the keys on the counter, said I was going for a coffe, ring me when it's done properly, ain't been back since.

How many weeks has the car been left there now?

 

[sketchy19]

Thanks for your replies guys. I have seen Old Enginners post and it is great. unfortunately -3' is the closest kwikfit would do as this is still with in the Alfa limits. The concern is why it is not holding it settings. and driving to the left. Are the std bushes really so bad that alignment can not effectively be done. Shall i give up on kiwikfit and go to alfa specialist or should is give up on alignment untill i can aford poly bushes

 

[tony4hop]

Thanks for your replies guys. I have seen Old Enginners post and it is great. unfortunately -3' is the closest kwikfit would do as this is still with in the Alfa limits. The concern is why it is not holding it settings. and driving to the left. Are the std bushes really so bad that alignment can not effectively be done. Shall i give up on kiwikfit and go to alfa specialist or should is give up on alignment untill i can aford poly bushes

Give them the read out and tell them you, as the customer, want it doing to those settings. Ignore Alfa's limits and go with what works.

I know not all cars are set up the same but these settings have worked for so many when Alfa's own didn't.

Mine's done 118,000 and so far as I can tell I am on original bushes (I've done 40k in the 4 years I've had it and it came with loads of receipts and was well looked after - none were for bush replacement).

As for poly bushes that's not for me to post about - OE may step in on that one :thumbup:

 

[AlfaJoe92]

I have the exact problem as the OP. My steering wheel is about 20 degrees off to the left but the car pulls to the right if I leave the car to find its own path. Would OE's print out work for me too? I'm looking to get wheel calibration done, Halfords, Kwikfit e.t.c offer low prices but obviously I'd like it done properly and bypass the time wasting like the OP has had to deal with. I also have bald front tyres on the inside. Cheers.

 

[Verbout]

How many weeks has the car been left there now?

Hahaha, excellent:thumbup:

It's still there, bought a Lexus until it's ready.:lol:

 

[Haffiana]

Here you go

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...rera-andamp-946-spider/alfa-...-post-1-a.html

Taking no credit as it is Old Engineers post - I was bald front inners (and I nearly was after pulling my hair out!).

Just print it out and tell me 'like this please'.

Garage wasn't happy to do it to these settings but I insisted and all is OK - not sure of my exact mileage since but it's way more than the 6k miles I got out of the previous set (thinking around 10k), and still plenty of tred left and even wear too.

The machines are set with defaults and unless somebody is told to change them they'll just use factory settings, I'm assuming not many 159's have been to Kwik Fit (just guessing like).

Every time I post this link I still like to thank OE for the info. Thanks OE.

I Can't get that link to work. Can you post it again?

 

[Verbout]

It's in the sticky's in the 159 lounge.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa...-alignment-with-correct-data-in-post-1-a.html

 

[FiremanAxe]

I thought tracking didn't effect which way the car pulls?

If the tracking is out the tyres scrub because they pull against each other whilst trying to go in a straight line.

Camber of the road exaggerates this as the tyre are trying to pull a straight line on a curved surface which makes the effect worse.

Actually, I just realised that the end result of the point I'm making is that Kwikfit have done a **** job, Take it to someone who knows what they are doing and then send the bill to Kiwkfits head office as a customer complaint, big companies hate that kind of stuff, might not get you your money back but will get someone arse kicked.

Axe

 

[Alfa.Romeo]

Thanks for your replies guys. I have seen Old Enginners post and it is great. unfortunately -3' is the closest kwikfit would do as this is still with in the Alfa limits. The concern is why it is not holding it settings. and driving to the left. Are the std bushes really so bad that alignment can not effectively be done. Shall i give up on kiwikfit and go to alfa specialist or should is give up on alignment untill i can aford poly bushes

Not sure where you are in the south East, but take it to SVA imports. They have a hunter system, and really know there geometry. 4 wheel alignment | SVA Imports

 

[Old Engineer]

So you'll have my settings (you just have to tell them to act like a 'mechanic' and set the machine to the piece of paper you wave). If they don't know how to do that walk away.

If you have the steering wheel off centre you have to start with the rear alignment. To explain, if you imagine your right hand rear wheel pointing massively inwards (Toed In) it will push the rear of the car to the left until the joint rear tyre angle is in balance and both tyres get dragged equally. The car will be crabbing with the rear closer to the kerb than the front. To stop you spearing off to the right you will have to steer the car to the left.

Once you have the rears aligned you then move to the front. First the steering wheel must be locked to the straight position with a device (get them to show you their tool!) This inevitably means the left and right track ends will have different amounts of adjusting to do.

You can see that the lazy (and most profitable) way is to ignore all this and just do the adjustment on one side. You can guess which tyre companies incentivise their staff to cheat.

 

[tony4hop]

You can guess which tyre companies incentivise their staff to cheat.

Never thought of that :tut: