Newbie

[OG156]

Hey all,

i just found this site a few days ago and decided to join coz i had a lot a usefull tips i needed
my dad bought me a 156 about 2 yrs ago from auction and yeah wasnt what wanted but fell in love



i havent done much just the stuff a young teenage would do most of the stuff ive got is from europe front grill, new black headlights HID's and of course a sound system

i want to change a few things like rims and lowering it but i dont want to make it a jap spec wanna be car, its also expensive for the aftermarket parts

cheers guys please reply i really would appreciate the comment

[John Hanslow]

Welcome to the forum.  Interesting mods. Not my style but that does not matter as its not my car.  It looks like the same model as my previous car that I miss very much - a good look and good performer.

You have a Sports Edition - I can see from metal finish Monza badges, special wheel rims and body kit.  Also those great seats.  You car is a limited edition and quite rare.

You car is already lowered  with Monza sports suspension so perhaps you would look at upgrading the shockers and springs only if necessary - the shockers may be worn and the springs colud sag a bit.  I would have done that if I kept the car as it did roll around a bit.   Any further lowering will give you unnecessary grief - go for good handling and performance instead.

With the 'right' set up, it should ride quite well with minimal rebound on speed humps etc. where you damage the undertray.  Great for spirited driving on country roads.

Make sure that you get the car serviced at an Alfa specialist who uses the correct oil and is aware of usual Alfa maintenance issues like belt, viariator and bearing change as necessary.

Cheers

[OG156]

Cheers john for the feed back

im not sure if its the sports edition its a 2001 2.0L twin spark selespeed do you have any pics of your 156 ?

the guys at automoda in fivedock did a major service on the car when the selespeed gave up on me 3 months after getting the car
spent about 5 k on it seized joints, selespeed pump cant remember the rest, after that the car hasnt given me a problem since.

performance wise its not the best like she eats 1.6L civics vtec and just keeps up with 1.8L vtec integar thats the only 2 cars i was confident in racing
but truthfully i dont like driving my car hard but i want it to look low fast and mean, scrapping the undertray will be something i would have to live with.
i was going to buy coilovers from ebay or lowering springs not sure which on to go with yet
Yeah i took it out to dubbo it was a really good drive.

Thanks John

[John Hanslow]

No pics on hand but I had a look at Car sales - it apperas people are very creative with the definition of a "Sports Edition' to a sport style car.

Here is an example of the real thing:
http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/alfa-romeo-156-2001-11932687?silo=Stock&cr=5&eapi=2&vertical=Car&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%204294967249%204294967222%204294737690

Do not know the car or seller but we can see:
-metal cloverleaf decals on front side panels (Monza had green)
-cloth recaro style sports seats - some did have black leather.
-body kit including spoiler
-special edition wheels
-Monza carbon fibre look dash

Basically a Monza with a few extras.  Over time some people have changed various items on their cars.

If you are going to lower it so be it - but it's already on the (Victoria) legal limit anyway and any further lowering can stuff up the handling of it and if you have people in the back seat you will readily know about it.

Hope all goes well though.

[OG156]

cheers john gave me a new insight on my car made in that much better
the legal limit in NSW is 100mm i think but i never get pulled over(knock on wood)
ill put up pics when im done trying to make it look good but its an alfa so theres not much i can hahaha
thanks again john

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Looks like a pretty tidy car, good luck with it.

Personally, I wouldn't lower it, it will probably ruin the handling and the ride.  But, you're young, so I understand that you gotta do what you gotta do.  I realise that you feel you need to 'make it better', so I would recommend just maybe going up a size in wheel to fill the wheelarches a bit more, rather than lowering, but whatever.

And since it's a selespeed, I would also save the money spent on mods for fixing it when it breaks again.  Not if, but when.

You might want to check out ausalfa.com.  They have a good forum over there that caters for a lot of the more modern Alfas, with a lot of members that care more about looking good than going fast around corners.  They're generally a good bunch of blokes, and will have all the info you need to modify your car. 

Good luck mate.

[OG156]

Cheers sheldon

one of the reason for lowering is also to kill the body roll when i do take a corner at speed it feels like the car is gonna roll
i was going to buy new rims but i was having trouble finding a good rim that would suit the car and make it look better instead of buying any bob jane t mart rims
also the stud pattern is hard to find.
the selespeed did go on it spent a fair bit getting it from the dead dreading the day it might go out on me again

cheers for the link will have a look

thanks for the advice sheldon
cheers

[Darryl]

Nice car. Those wheels are classy and as you said hard and/or expensive to get something that suits.

one of the reason for lowering is also to kill the body roll when i do take a corner at speed it feels like the car is gonna roll

If looking cool is more important - do what you gotta do but do consider what John said re suspension upgrade and Sheldon re "more about looking good than going fast around corners".
Lowering is not the answer if handling is actually your motivation and you already have the sport pack (lower already).
Aside from ausalfa, its probably worth looking on the UK alfaowner forum for info on stuff that actually works (though you will also get plenty of what looks cool) and suppliers (who will generally be able to ship stuff here and do so pretty economically).

[colcol]

Remember too, when you lower it, you will have to realign the suspnsion, as the front will have more negative camber and caster and the toe will change, which will start chopping out tyres, except for the toe, it is all not adjustable, you may have to get a camber and caster kit fitted to make the tyres live a bit longer and you may experience more bump steer, it would never work in my area, council have gone bazongas with speed bumps, Colin.

[John Hanslow]

when i do take a corner at speed it feels like the car is gonna roll

With the roll issue, a good set of springs and shockers will make a vast improvement.  The monza/sports upgrade your car came with may have sagged and softened a bit over the yeasr bit replacing same with Koni springs and shockers will do the trick.

[L4OMEO]

I have done a fair bit of work on my 156 suspension over the years and found that if you do your research and chose carefully you can have the best of both worlds.

I initially installed the Eibach ProSystem kit (tuned springs and dampers) which lowered the car by about 30mm from stock. The effect this had on the ride was interesting - while generally firmer and making you more aware of the road surface, it was also far less crashy and far less prone to bump-steer, which IMO is a real weakness of the car due to the poor standard dampers. In terms of handling, no question this was a big improvement with far superior body control in all conditions, and all but eliminating the feeling of having a big heavy mass of V6 out the front. It just feels better tied down. I added the Eibach anti-roll bars later which further reduced body roll, particularly on turn-in and in quick transitions.

Downsides? Other than a slight compromise with less ground clearance (and it is slight - mine still has to play the versatile family wagon and can't be too impractical), nothing really. Never had an issue with alignment or uneven tyre wear, and I preferred the overall ride compromise I achieved.

Since then I've replaced the Eibach set-up with Zeatek coilovers, mainly because I good a good deal on them. The advantage with coilovers is that you can tune them to suit - when first installed I had them low and hard, too much so as it turned out so earlier this week I raised the ride height by around 10mm and softened the rebound. Handling is still fantastic and the ride quality is about on par with the standard set-up, perhaps a little firmer. Highly recommend the coilovers.

Good luck,

Cheers
Rory

[OG156]

Remember too, when you lower it, you will have to realign the suspnsion, as the front will have more negative camber and caster and the toe will change, which will start chopping out tyres, except for the toe, it is all not adjustable, you may have to get a camber and caster kit fitted to make the tyres live a bit longer and you may experience more bump steer, it would never work in my area, council have gone bazongas with speed bumps, Colin.

Hi Colin I've been looking for adjustable camber kits for my alfa i haven't found any yet, the other day looking at my car from the back i did notice it already had a slight bit of camber
i know what you mean about the inside of the tyres wearing faster my bros S13 before the camber kit ate his tyres.

I have done a fair bit of work on my 156 suspension over the years and found that if you do your research and chose carefully you can have the best of both worlds.

I initially installed the Eibach ProSystem kit (tuned springs and dampers) which lowered the car by about 30mm from stock. The effect this had on the ride was interesting - while generally firmer and making you more aware of the road surface, it was also far less crashy and far less prone to bump-steer, which IMO is a real weakness of the car due to the poor standard dampers. In terms of handling, no question this was a big improvement with far superior body control in all conditions, and all but eliminating the feeling of having a big heavy mass of V6 out the front. It just feels better tied down. I added the Eibach anti-roll bars later which further reduced body roll, particularly on turn-in and in quick transitions.

Downsides? Other than a slight compromise with less ground clearance (and it is slight - mine still has to play the versatile family wagon and can't be too impractical), nothing really. Never had an issue with alignment or uneven tyre wear, and I preferred the overall ride compromise I achieved.

Since then I've replaced the Eibach set-up with Zeatek coilovers, mainly because I good a good deal on them. The advantage with coilovers is that you can tune them to suit - when first installed I had them low and hard, too much so as it turned out so earlier this week I raised the ride height by around 10mm and softened the rebound. Handling is still fantastic and the ride quality is about on par with the standard set-up, perhaps a little firmer. Highly recommend the coilovers.

Good luck,

Cheers
Rory

Cheers Rory
ive was going to buy coilover from ebay (only place i found that sell for alfas) but i had a Big set back with the selespeed
would you happen to have the Eibach kit ?? if so willing to sell ??
i do have an engine strut coming off ebay hopefully that stabilizes the front suspension 


Thanks alot for the advice guys its been hard not being able to talk and get advice from people cause everyones into the jap cars these days
Cheers
Pascal

[colcol]

Hey OG156, there are camber kits available for 156's, i was going to do mine, and looked up a suspension specialist, and they had them, cannot remember who it was though, adjusted the toe to 2mm toe out and the alignment is within specs, Colin.

[OG156]

Cheers Colin

i will have a look into it just got to find a place that will do it right if not the home garage will be the next best thing