all spiders suffer from a certain amount of scuttle shake.
Stiffening the suspension helps somewhat, and fitting a hardtop helps a little! Otherwise you have to live with it, I'm afraid. There is no magical cure!

 

Yep, common problem. Made my Spider much better just changing springs but a handling kit would make a real difference.

 

It does indeed. We've had very good results from fitting our handling kits to Spiders. Goes around corners better too!

 

thanks guys i will follow up the advice and check out a kit

 

Fit a roll bar, but they look awful.

 

Some good advice here. I recently had a set of EBSpares Bilstein shock absorbers fitted to my S4. The scuttle shake is still there but much reduced. The ride is firmer but more absorbent and reminds me of just how bad the suspension on the 156 is.

 

Thanks Deiselnightmare

looks like i have work to do in the winter

 

For what it is worth, I went for Bilsteins as it is unlikely I'll drive mine on a track or in any type of competition. I was also advised that as my car was originally imported from Germany that the springs are much firmer than would have been the case, for example, with an American import. I decided to stick with just uprating the dampers. Probably the ride height to the rear is still a little high but for road use the set up suits me and represents less of a departure from originality than changing springs and bars etc. Though I am very pleased with the results on my car, consider carefully the options offered by Mound's employers (Alfaholics) and Classic Alfa. Enjoy!

 

We do a handling kit that's S4 specific. It uses the "kit B" front springs (1 inch lower) and the "kit A" rear springs (standard height) as there's a lot of extra weight in the rear of the S4 so fitting an off the shelf handling kit will end up with the backside dragging along like a lame dog! You also get an uprated front bar and you throw away the rear bar.

We recommend Koni Classic (red) dampers for cars with standard springs and Koni Sport (yellow) for cars with handling kits. Bilsteins we'd normally reserve for track use and "mild" racing with stiffer track-biased springs.

 

Hi FOLKS

As with all forums there is a conflict of ideas and advice, however i am now convinced the problem is with suspention i just need to decide which way to attack it i dont want to race or track day but keep the old thing as original as possible

thanks for the help :thumbs:

 

Your line of thought is entirely understandable. I went for Bilsteins after a highly satisfactory result on a 75 Twin Spark I used to own. However, they are gas monotubes as opposed to the Koni Classic (red) referred to by Mound which are a decent oil filled shock absorber and much better than the originals. They are probably the closest thing to enhanced originality. If you (or anyone else seriously considering what to do) were anywhere near Surrey I'd offer you a chance to drive mine. I'd recommend buying Bilsteins from EBSpares as they have them slightly revalved to suit the 105 series cars. I am sure that the Alfaholics set up is extremely effective and more closely designed for every individual model but I also wanted to keep as close to original as possible and decided that the additional cost of the springs and bars etc was not really warranted for my purposes. I hope this helps rather than confusing you further!!

 

My car is already pretty low. If I were to lower it another inch in the front (as Mound dawg says his special S4 kit does) I'd be possibly scraping the road!

Has anyone measured their ground clearance, say from the bottom of the plastic sill covers to the ground? Mine measures 173mm at the front of the sill and 201mm at the rear of the sill- is that about what other S4 spiders have? Or is my 19 year old spider sinking like the Titanic?!

 

I'm slightly puzzled here - isn't scuttle shake primarily due to lack of rigidity? Will these handling kits address this? (Perhaps they effectively reduce the vibrational energy transferred into the car, and thus reduce the problem at its source?)
How about something like this which would improve rigidity directly?
Chassis Stiffener for Alfa Spider

I have wondered about these two options as a future improvement for my own S2 spider.

 

I asked Max about these chassis stiffeners when I saw them advertised. He says he's heard good things about them but has no direct experience of them.

I'm also not sure why fitting stiffer springs and anti roll bar would reduce scuttle shake, all I know is that it does, especially on the S4!

 

I wonder if it would fit under a 156....

 

Hi Mound
where were these stiffeners advertised please

 

Click on the link in Sim240s message above...

Or here-

Chassis Stiffener for Alfa Spider

 

Also check the engine and gearbox mountings. I have just had these replaced on my series 3 and you would not believe the difference. I think the engine must be a "stress member". One of my mountings had seperated from the rubber and was not obvious to casual inspection.

 

Good point there! I agree 100%. I think it is the exhaust mount that goes first as the engine "twists" clockwise under acceceration, therefore the exhaust one "seperates" and the inlet one "compresses"-
My exhaust one is due, already have the new one in the boot, ready for when I get down to it-not sure it is going to be easy without a lift though!

As for the gearbox mount, this goes soft with oil contamination. Does this have to be "pressed" in, does anyone know? Might do that as well!