Reprinted from i Saluti, April 2000,
from the Alfa Digest
Steering Wheel Alignment
I just had my Spider�s front suspension aligned and now my steering wheel isn�t centered anymore. (That is, when traveling down a straight road, the spokes on the steering wheel aren�t at 10 and 2 o�clock or 9 and 3 o�clock.)
It makes no difference to the round steering wheel if it is not centered provided the wheel alignment makes the car go straight ahead. With Alfa Romeo cars, however, it does make a difference in overall handling. Going straight ahead without pulling is ok if that�s all the car has to do. The design makes it possible for extreme handling under race conditions, so the alignment must be exact. What many alignment shops fail to do is lock-down the steering wheel centered so it cannot move during the alignment procedure. When done to Alfa specs, the wheel will be perfectly centered and the car will handle as designed!
Also, I�m willing to bet not one shop bothers to load the cars as Alfa specifies. No shop will let you and a passenger sit in the car up front while they adjust. They don�t have the right weights in sand bags or other stuff. So I insist on human ballast. If you ride alone in your Spider most of the time, your weight in the drivers seat would help much. I can just hear the hot rodders among you disagreeing loudly. � Fred Di Matteo
I tend to agree with Fred about the loading of the car when doing an alignment. If you consider the weight of an empty car vs. a loaded car, if the front suspension is aligned empty and then you put in a person, the tendency will be small, but significant to cause a push/pull in the car. I don�t know if the new alignment machines take this into account or not. This case was dramatically shown to me by a shop in Culver City CA when I had my �65 Spider aligned. They always used a human in the front seat when setting the suspension. Result? Hands off at 70 mph and it would track perfectly straight. The other thing to do is rotate your tires on the front to eliminate radial bias or wear patterns to further eliminate push/pull. � Christopher Boles
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