alignment

["Ferdinando Di Matteo" <ferdinando.di@domain.elided>]

Charlie, regarding the alignment of the steering wheel, you're quite correct
that it makes no difference to the round wheel if it is not centered
providing the 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 tie the
steering wheel centered so it cannot move during the adjusting  procedure.
When done to Alfa specs, the  wheel will be dead on and the car will handle
as designed!.   I'm willing to bet not one shop bothers to load the cars as
Alfa specified.  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  Fort Myers, Florida         

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