Alfa Pages

[LDA]

hey all,

not having a good day today i dont think.
been out in the car for the last 7 hours and i'm def up with it now.

the brakes (changed about a month ago) are just not up to the job of stopping the bloody car! they di it but if you need to stop hard in a short distance then forget it.

the drive line shunt through town was almost embarassing. it sounded like my car was falling apart to the uneducated ear.

the pedals are too high. why do they need to be that far from the floor?
trying to drive in traffic or round town is a pain. the go pedal only needs a light touch to get it going so your foot is allways in mid air.

the gearbox is huge. the stick has to go about 3 or 4 times further than any of my other current cars and i almost missed 3rd a couple of times as its just so far forward!

no remote central locking

last but not least, i was driving round some very nice country roads and i hope that would cheer me up a bit. not at all. the car doesnt handle that well in stock form and i feared that deadly understeer could take me out at any second.

i dont think i can live with this car anymore. it was the best thing since sliced bread the first time i had one as it was better than anything i had ever driven up to that point. but i have been spoilt by cars that had got grip, proper gearboxes, no nasty clunks and bangs under smooth driving, vari-speed intermitant wipers, brakes and dash board dials with lit needles.

for a family saloon its very hard to use as a daily driver. my 411bhp pulsar with paddle clutch is easier to use in town than the alfa and my drift car has got better road holding, and thats setup to lose grip at the rear as often as possible.

i'm shocked that i feel this way about a car that i once loved even tho i knew it had some faults. i think the only kind thing to do to the car would be to sell it to someone who really doesnt mind a perm 4 as a daily driver.

check out the for sale page, i'll stick an ad in there.

L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[paddy granger]

Luke,

I have to agree with you on some points. The 33 is not a good daily driver, but I love to drive it in the weekends.

We have 2 other Alfa's right now - a 156 Sportwagon Diesel and a 147 Twin Spark. You can't compare the comfort with these cars, as they are simply far better.

What I like about the 33 though is the handling, as it is better than the newer Alfa's. It used to be pretty crappy with the standard springs, but now that it is nested on stiff sports springs, 30 mm lower all round, it is like a cart. The engine is underpowered on the motorway though.

The gearbox takes a while to get used to, and I have mistaken 3rd for 5th sometimes, (luckily I noticed before it was too late), but once you get the hang it is good fun. I always double the clutch, as it is the only way to change gear properly in my opinion, plus it is fun.

In town, the clutch can be a bitch, and the steering is quite heavy compared to the other Alfa's we have. But I still love it to bits. Must be the smell, and noise it makes.

Paddy.

[gritsop]

Hi,

Some points:

brakes: Not a good point in a 33 - but a P4 with vented fronts and discs at the back should be better than a "smaller" 1.4 or 1.5 ver. Are you driving hard and quick in city roads and try to stop in front of a danger? (padestrians, buses etc.)

Sounds: why your car makes embarrasing sounds? Why do you feel like it's falling apart? because of the sound? I've also been told "Why does your car sound such? " and the answer is "because it 's a boxer!"

Pedals: Seems you are tall enough

Gearstick: needs some time to get used to it (+ double declutching; VERY practical)

Car handle: Have you replaced the shock absorbers?

Also keep in mind that Alfa's are special character cars and two way communication must be established between car & driver for joyfull driving.

Just my opinion.

Regards
_________________
Thanassis Gritsopoulos
1991 Alfa 33 1.4 IE
2001 Alfa 147 1.6 Distinctive

http://www.alfa-restoration.co.uk
Parts Shop: www.alfa-restoration.co.uk/shop

[ak863]

agree generally LDA but that is what makes 33 different..
it is a mechanical car which gives continuous feedback to the driver.
yes the steering is not power steering at all, yes the brakes are prone to locking , etc etc but it is a wonderful car to drive..
Everyday i am doing 100mph in the motorway and it goes lovely. Acceleration is unbelievably for a car of its age, cornering is something else (it says press the accelerator more) and the sound is beatiful.
the cops never stop me (yet) and none drives anything like that..

twice the last days i almost crashed because the brakes are locking but both times i managed to keep it on the road...
Ok it is not easy car to drive, but i think a car like this makes my driving skills improve every day...

[paulhide]

I haven't got my feet up in the air on the peddles! I do have remote central locking. My dials are lit up by blue lights. My drivetrain no longer makes noises and I've got rid of the awful understeer I originally had. Originally I did not like my gearbox, but simply sorting out the linkage has improved things dramatically. However I agree about the brakes and I've also got to sort out the wipers which shouldn't be hard. But really why go for a P4 when you've got a 410hp Pulsar/Sunny? All I can say is that I like the 33 crowd and enjoy driving my 33s and why does Michael Schumacher own a Fiat 500?
_________________
Owner's Club 33 Registrar. Now from P4 & S2 1.7 QV
http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5188

[Eddie W]

Well LDA, when you fall out of love divorce is inevitable.
However here's my 10 cents worth:
The brakes are a bit of a pain, mainly I think because the self adjusting rears don't seem to self adjust giving too much pedal travel when you are going hard and just want to tap the brakes to steady the balance. I've only locked the brakes under emergency stopping in the wet or similar when cornering hard. I don't think you could blame the 33 in either case. My daughters daily driver Lancer has rotors and drums that are a lot smaller and it seems to stop very well but they are way over boosted and lack modulation. I believe the 33s brake problems are rectifiable.
In the handling dept. I think the 33 is pretty good. I've seldom struck understeer and love the way it will tighten into a corner whenyou apply more power, most front drivers will do the opposite. On 195/50 15s, Ive seen off a lot of fancy late model cars that have been trying pretty hard.
The Pulsar may be a dream car but the GTIRs spit gearboxes like nobody's business( a friend of mine with an ex works rally version had to spend NZ$60,000 for a Getrag to fix the problem) and even minor maintainence is a major exercise on them. I'd rather work on a 33 any day.
With a rebuilt gearbox in our S2 1.7 I find that you can flick through the gears with ease and the ratios are well matched to the engine and fast country driving.
All in all ,in spite of their foibles, the 33 is probably the best bang for your bucks that you can get considering their minimal cost.
Regards Eddie
_________________
A LITTLE FURTHER A LITTLE FASTER

[LDA]

ok, thanks for the input folks and it seems in my ranting (just after getting out of the car) i have left out some detail and just had a go at the car and not tried to think the problems through.

here goes..


i think the handling could be tyres. the car has got 4 good tyres that seem ok on dry roads but they are cheap unknown brands and seem to offer little or no grip on the damp and slippery december roads of sussex. i'm not going to blame the car for this as my last perm 4 never suffered from a lack of grip but i used to have good tyres on it.

paul, i think you could be right about the shift linkage. i dont think its been 'serviced' ever. it doesnt miss gears and due to a box rebuild last year the gears dont crunch at all. plus i dont bang them in hard as i know how much damage this can do to the chocolate 33 gearbox. maybe some nice new linkage parts will sort me out. any pointer.. oh hang on there was a topic about this the other day, i'll do a search.

(side note)pulsar boxes..
yep the weak point on the R is the box. the 3rd/4th selector fork often snaps and this can destroy the rest of the box. also if you drive them like you would think a rally car should be driven. banging in ever gear and dumping the clutch hard, the box wont last 5 mins.
my box was fine until i tried to drag race my car with about 340bhp. bang! £2500 for PAR gear set and about another grand for extra parts and labour and its ok now. still wouldnt trust the casing too much, i added a plate to stop it cracking as per the group A rally cars.

the alfa clutch is fine. no problem with it what so ever. its not too high, not too much travel and has loads of bite. i think its just a stock part on my car with no fancy presure plate or clutch. the shifter is the problem i have.
sadly i did get 3rd and 5th mixed up once in a 16v fwd. about .5 of a sec in gear and the box and lump were stuffed. an expensive lesson learned that day.

brakes.
none of the stopping i was doing today was hard or late or even fast. i drive the car carefully as i know that it cant stop on a 2p. i leave room and dont brake late. i dont have a problem with them locking (it would be nice to be able to lock them tho!) just not stopping !!! it seems to take ages to scrub of the speed. maybe some pads, discs and lines would sort it out and with a new larger master too.

sounds..
its not the engine, its the prop shaft. clang! clunk! bang! ping! Esp’ if i'm rolling at about 10-15mph with no gas in second gear. then i gently go for some gas. as little as poss, but it nearly all ways clunks or bangs etc... after the prop has done its clunk then its fine. its just the low speed drive line shunt.. paul, how did you get your p4 to not do this anymore??

ak863. i love the power steering on the p4. i think it gives loads of feedback (unlike most PS cars) and it seems to be quite linier with not too much bump steer. it just under steer that was killing me today. the car felt like it was at the edge of its grip on some quite slow corners. the faster less tight ones didnt seem as much of a problem. but i think this could be the tyres. and i was taking every corner with care, just in case.
my brakes dont lock might need to sort it out this weekend.

pedals.
the offset is fine. it was weird when i was 18 and had my first alfa but 6 alfa's later i'm used to that. its the fact that the gas pedal rests very high up. i have size 10 feet and my shoes are not that small either but reach isnt the problem. its the fact that the pedal only needs a light amount of pressure at all times (hardly ever need WOT even when going fast!) so my toes are up in the air and my heel on the floor but the angle of my foot from heel to toe must be about 70*. i may chop the pedal up and weld it in a new location just so my toes don’t have to reach for the sky for 7 hours next time i'm out for a long drive.

bang for buck.
yeh the perm 4 is good value for money. they are all worth less than £1600 now so there is little out there with 137bhp and light weight for the same money. unless you go jap.. but lets not go there.

i'm torn now. my lovely stock perm 4 isnt up to the job. if i do some choice mods (brakes, shocks and spring, tyres and fix the drive line shunt and gear linkage) then it would be a wonderful car, but it wouldn’t be a lovely stock perm 4 anymore. what to do?

after calming down i think i'd rather improve my perm 4 to make it nicer rather than selling it. on my drive today there was a toyota celica st182 (last of the pop up light shape) 2.0i that was trying to push my up a dual carriage way. the alfa rose to the challenge and wipes the floor with the coupe. it is a quick car (if you get it over 4k) and the fact that no one knows what it is anymore makes it all the more fun to turn up a places in.
and i too like alfa owners. they are all ways helpful and very friendly


... ok so i want to fix my perm 4. but i'd like to use alfa parts as much as poss, just to keep it alfa.

1/bakes. larger master from other alfa? larger callipers? bigger discs?

2/gear linkage. how do i fix this? (oh yeh look in other topic)

3/handling. first up i'll change the tyres. i'm sure that will help a lot and then i'll see if it needs more help.

4/pedals. umm i think i'll just mod the gas pedal so its more in line with the brake. this would also help heal toe down shifting. (very hard to do atm as the gas pedal is higher than the brake at the top of its travel!)
...................accelerator
..........brake
Clutch
hassle.

5/ drive line shunt.
is there a fix? if so what is it? what part of the system is making the noise? sounds like the coupling grabbing the prop and trying to turn it (clunk) then it takes up the slack and goes ok.
lose mounting point?


sorry for long post.

Luke.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[paulhide]

By the way, I was very disappointed when I first got this car, but with a fair bit of work I've sorted it out alot, so much so that I'm really not very keen to sell it which was the original plan.
I would definitely change the tires - they make a huge difference. So far the best I've used are Goodyear F1 directionals. Just tried Bridgestone dual compound directionals and although they have some advantages I preferred the Goodyears. These are standard 185s; using 195s would be a further improvement.
Brakewise, if you haven't already, bleed the whole system to get rid of old brake fluid - something I am going to do after Christmas.
All my knocking noises were simply (thank God) caused by the drivetrain hitting the exhaust in two places - there is very little room to muck around with. I was about to change the mounting points when I noticed tell tale marks on the drivetrain/exhaust. As you speed up the drivetrain centres more and is less likely to hit things. For tight manoevering I switch the 4WD off.
I'm not a big fan of power steering though. My series two 8vs give more feedback and are more direct. The best power steering I've come across was in a Honda! Prelude. The 33s system is pretty good though. What's the Pulsar's steering like?
By the way you blew the engine and gearbox in this car! Cheers for now, Paul.
_________________
Owner's Club 33 Registrar. Now from P4 & S2 1.7 QV
http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5188

[LDA]

yeh i think i popped some of the lifters on one side of the lump and the EMC gave up the ghost.
the EMC had been on its way out for a while when i got the car, it lasted about 9 months and then died. the engine got swapped out when the bottom end let go so i got a new one stuck in. sadly at the time the garage didnt have a spare perm 4 gearbox so it had to have the duff one with a broken EMC stuck back on
perm 2
then one night driving from brighton to reading i blew some of the tapets on one of the banks of the engine. drivers side i think. it sounded like the bottom end so i had the shells replaced but it wasnt the problem and before i could save up enough to fix the car i sold it.
the oil i had put in was too thin and this is what caused the probelm. if only i knew then what i know now

i use eagle F1's on my pulsar as they are the only thing that can lay down the power with minimal 4 wheel spin. they tread isnt as deep as other makes or models of tyre but the grip wet or dry with second to none.

when the brakes were done i just topped up the fluid. i really should change it all. hmm that'll keep my bust for a hour or so on the weekend.

i dont mind the power steering on the perm 4. i think its quite nice if a little over damped. i intend to replace the rubber parts of my steering with poly or steel parts to sharpen up the feed back.

the pulsar's steering is amazing! it is powered but it is about as direct as you can get. To help reduce the fade you get from PS the pulsar has a power steering fluid cooling rad. the only other car i have driven with better steering was a lotus elise. the scooby and evo's have very over powered steering with less feedback.
my old man's porsche has got very nice steering but it's not powered and quite heavy at low speed.

what gen prelude was it that you liked the steering of? my house m8 used to have a gen 2 and then later a gen 5. the gen 2 had power steering rather than power assisted steering. so it had little or no feedback and was very light.

right off to find out if goodyear eagle f1's will fit my tiny alfa wheels.

L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[ak863]

LDA,
just a last comment.. Dont sell the car, fix it and you ll enjoy driving..
Even though it has problems , you are lucky you have a P4. (what could i do with the extra 25 horsepower of the P4!!!!)..

If you want to improve it, have you thought about reducing the weight? (Someone was mentioning something of cabrefiber parts here...)

33 rules!! (this goes to the little fiat punto sporting who saw my ass in 2 seconds and then decided to race me when it was late)..

[LDA]

yippie, eagle f1's for teh alfa are half the cost of the same tyre for the pulsar! 2 for 1
just ordered a set of fronts for the moment. the back can slide all it wants, i've just got to get rid of the understeer for now. plus i have to save some money for chrishtmas.

i dont think i will sell it now. if i can improve it without too many mods then i think i'll be happy with it.

i might have been me who said something about carbon parts. i've just started my own company making carbon parts for cars. i hope to have some nice cheap 33 carbon parts ready some time in the first couple of months next year. watch this space.

ok mods to make it better.
a quick show of hands,
i'm trying to keep my P4 as standard as possible but still make it driveable. is a brake and suspension upgrade breaking the rules of trying to keep it as a mint p4?


L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[Ben_nz]

LDA - let us know whether those tyres get rid of your understeer. In my experience, my 33 handles the way you describe, and not the way Eddie W describes.
But I have standard 14" wheels and tyres that I'm guessing are cheap, whereas Eddie W has 15" wheels and good tyres. Two of my tyres are getting low, and I've been thinking of doing what you're doing with getting real good tyres on the front only.

About modifying your suspension/brakes - why keep the car stock if you find the stock setup is frustrating and easy to improve upon?

I recently found myself a deserted 2-lane roundabout one rainy night, and had some fun going round and round testing the handling of my car. Nothing I could do with the throttle and the steering would lose the back end of the car, even spinning the front wheels, winding on extra lock and letting off the accelerator. But add in the handbrake and you can have some fun! I found the car forgiving and easy to control in brief handbrake slides, although I did need both lanes of the roundabout for that. I find the 33's understeer is easier and more predictable than the dodgy roll oversteer my old Mitsubishi Cordia seemed to have. I'm now gonna start experimenting with tapping the brakes to stop understeer slides.
Sure my mum's old '92 Nissan Pulsar X1R got its power down better and steered very sharply and easily, all on even cheaper tyres, but so what? Where's the challenge?

[LDA]

hey all,

had a good day messing with the car today. did quite a few tidy up and quick fix tasks and i'm much happier with it now.

1)stuck in a new thermo for the engine and now my heater works much better!

2)with a hot heater i took apart the top of the air heater system and cleaned out as much dirt as i could. there seems to be more air blowing through the vents now much nicer on these cold winter nights.

3)got the eagle f1's today but i didnt get time to have them fitted. maybe tomorrow. (i also am running stock 14" perm 4 wheels.)

4)shelled out on some nice dot 5.1 brake fluid and did a 100% flush of the system and refilled with the new fluid. the brakes feel much better now but they are still not totally up to the standards that i deem safe. maybe some new grippy pads will help?

5)i've ordered a set of powerflex polyurethane suspension bushes for as much of the car as they could supply in their kit. turns out i have to order the other bushes one at a time, once i find out what i need. i've done this mod to many cars and it allways helps the steering feel and the handling of the car.

6)after looking at my pedal box for half an hour (and taking some pics so i can keep looking without standing on my head) i've started to come up with a fix for the pedal placement. i haven't got any parts yet so its all just ideas so far but it should sort it out a treat.

7)last but not least. i went to a scrap yard and got a sunroof from an s3 33. there is nothing wrong with mine, i just want to use it as a template to make a carbon part and rid myself of that heavy glass.

with slighty better brakes the car is a bit nicer to drive but the tyres are still scaring the crap out of me, so i'm still tip toeing round at super low speed. with a warmer cabin it's much nicer to in the car without my jacket on
if i get time tomorrow (and i find somewhere that's open) i should be able to get the new tyres on. that is going to be very nice, i cant wait!

oh and i've found a car cover that i'm going to use over night to protect my 33 from the cold winter frosts.

i'll post back the results of the tyres when i get them on. and i'll try and get some of my drawings for the pedal mod online at some point too.

ttfn

Luke.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[paulhide]

Doing handbrake turns in a P4 is not a good idea as it can damage the drivetrain. Good luck with everything Luke. Remember the tyres will need a bit of bedding in. Make sure you've got good shocks and springs on the front. I did have lowered and hardened front setup as the previous owner was trying to minimize roll, but this stopped the wheels biting and the front skated everywhere. And I may look around for some 195s sometime aswell. I think the Pulsar will take some beating though. Cheers for now, Paul.
_________________
Owner's Club 33 Registrar. Now from P4 & S2 1.7 QV
http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5188

[gritsop]

Hi,

Wow, glad that things are being sorted out! It now looks that you have got into the car's mind and do what it really needs !

A brilliant idea about the car cover! You will soon notice that amount of dust that travels in the air

Regards,
_________________
Thanassis Gritsopoulos
1991 Alfa 33 1.4 IE
2001 Alfa 147 1.6 Distinctive

http://www.alfa-restoration.co.uk
Parts Shop: www.alfa-restoration.co.uk/shop

[LDA]

[LDA]

hey all,

right i've taken the day off work today as i didnt feel like a trip to the workshop today after working all weekend in there.

got the tyres on and even with the release agent still on the rubber they offer much more grip than the old tyres. this isnt a fair test yet as the roads are dry today and the tyres are not run in yet. plus i can't burn out the fronts to help bed them in. just have to stick a load of miles on them this evening.

pedals.
has anyone got a spare acclearator pedal they dont need any more? from a s3 33. i want to chop up mine but i need the car so i need the pedal

paul, i'd never do handbrake turns in my p4. it tottaly isnt up to the job! i'd fear that something would break big time if i treated my like that! i leave the rally driving tricks for the pulsar. after all thats why they built it

also by "good shocks and springs" do you mean good stock ones or are there uprated kits that are worth the effort for the 33? i dont think i would want to lower the front anymore but the back could do with a 50mm or more drop.
are there any uprated anti roll bars for the 33? (does it even have one?)

right, off to bed in the tyres.

L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[Peter D]

Hej Luke


Now you have fixed the tyre problem by fitting new Goodyear F1 (but still the same size, new rims with 195/50-15 would be much better). But you did not tell which marque the original tyres were.

You have also not told the marque of brake pads and discs. These could be crap ones, and you can not judge the system well, until you have tried genuine parts.

The springs and especially the dampers could be worn out. You could also not judge these parts as inadequate, before you know if they have worn out. In Europe a lot of people drive with Eibach springs and yellow Koni dampers (just do not tight'n them up, but leave them in the factory setting for a start). This gives very good handling and still good comfort.

Peter (DK)

[LDA]

hey peter,

the brakes are cheap ones. just a non alfa replacement part. my old pads were worn out and the discs had seen better days to so i had the whole lot swaped for saftey.
the parts could well be crap and not very good at what they are trying to do.

i think the dampers and springs are ok. they seem to soak up the bumps quite well and there doesnt seem to be too much bounce. but the tyres were adding a lot of understeer.

i would like some larger wheels, i was thinking 205x45 15". and i would only use goodyear eagle f1 tyres.
the new tyres have sorted out the understeer and i feel much safer on the damp roads of sussex now . hasnt helped the brakes much tho

the old tyres were very, VERY cheap and nothing to do with me
my brother had the car before me and he only did about 8000miles in 18months so the tyres were from who ever owned the car before that. they were not a good make of tyre.

lots of people seem to use the koni kit. but everyone warns me about not turning up the stiffness. for road use i would agree but would the shocks set to stiff punish the chassis too much? is there a risk of doing damage to the car with the shocks set to stiff?

thanks for your comments

L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[paulhide]

Yeah, a mate, Steve Morris, used to have an excellent handling normal 16v which was setup rather/very stiff along with 195/45s (brilliant on smooth continental roads), but after a few years hard motoring he managed to crack up the front subframe, letting go spectacularly around a roundabout after trying to weld the cracks! But then again we think it had been in a shunt before he bought it which may have contributed to this?
_________________
Owner's Club 33 Registrar. Now from P4 & S2 1.7 QV
http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5188

[LDA]

hmm i thought it might have been something like that. well i'll just have to stick to the softer of the 4 settings. the koni's are quite stiff even on the soft setting, so they should still improve the handling quite a bit.

what about seam weldeding? i cant weld (i might be able to but i've never tried) but i know a man who can. is there more to seam welding than meets the eye or is it a simple matter of making sure that all the metal edges are welded together?
would a strut brace help spread the load or is the center box section between the suspension turrets enough on the 33?

L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[paddy granger]

Luke, as for the tyre size, I think that everybody on the forum will agree that 195/50 R15 is the best. Has anybody here tried 205/45 R15's? I can imagine they have about the same profile hence no problems for the speedo, but they are wider so maybe might aquaplane?? The pressure exerted on the 195's is nice, and they grip very well - not sure if increasing this surface area will improve things?

[James Granger]

I've also had days when I became pissed off with the car - simply because, as you mention, it is not a pleasant car in stop-start traffic. The driveline on mine has some annoying problem that makes the entire car shudder on certain take-offs (my specialist is not sure what it is).

But I've never been annoyed with the brakes or the steering - it's an old car and there is simply no comparison against modern alternatives.

I doubt that I would be able to live with my 33 as a daily driver - it's just not comfortable enough. It's a bit like a traditional filmroll camera compared to a modern digital one - fun to do as a hobby, but totally impractical everyday with the modern alternative on offer.

Handling I think is brilliant - my car (fitted with 195/50/R15 Michelin Exalto's) is far more grippy than the 147, although has much more torque steer if pushed and is slightly less communicative.

I've never had problems with the gearbox other than the above mentioned driveline shudder. Although rubbery in the shove-through (just like the Delta Integrale's), it feels much more precise than the notchy and mildly detached 147's, which seems very cheaply manufactured in comparison.

But the thing that sells the car is the sound, driver-to-machine feel, and the gorgeous petrolly smell after a quick blast (I've only known Ferraris and Maseratis to smell this good).

[Peter D]

If you already think that comfort is poor, why stiff'n the Koni's more than the basic settings?

I have not heard of problems with the front rails since the 16V versions were fitted with the two bars diagonally from the rails to the bulkhead.

I do not believe in strutbraces on Alfas boxers, since the cars already have one.

I also used to have Goodyear Eagle F1, but a test in a the biggest German magazine (AMS where they usually do not like Italien things!) ended up with the new Pirelli P Zero Nero as a winner. I have bought these tyres for two of my cars, but they have not been fitted yet, so I can't tell if they are really better than the F1. The F1 had the problem of too soft sidewalls which meant a good comfort, but that the sidewalls bented too much when you were using the car on a racetrack. They also got too hot too early and then the grip decreased.

About the size 205/45-15 they are so difficult to get (only a few manufacturer) and the price is twice that of 195/50-15, so already for this reason do not choose these.

Another thing is, that I think they will rub on the wheel arches (depending on the inset of the rims). They will also tend to run more after the grooves on the road made by the lorries.

Happy New Year

Peter (DK)

[Matt Stolton]

Why not 195/45 R15. About £50 a tyre, inc VAT/fitting/balance/valve gets you Yokohama A539 from Elite (Rainham Essex). The last time I had 4 fitted, it came to about £206 all in.

I have tried these on both road and track, with great success. The slightly lower tyre wall gives a little bit of the battle back to the transmission, but the better rubber, definetly with P4, means no spinning at stand off. Wet and dry performance are great, again both tested on track and road, and i can't really fault them.

Re. brakes, check out my post on using Alfa 75 brembo twin pots. The theory is sound, although I would use aftermarket calipers, rather than try and refurb the 75's calipers, as parts are rocking horse shite.

In the short term red dot do good quality discs and pads, that don't compromise cold to hot performance too much (i.e. when you push the brakes from cold, something happens, rather than the nothing that can happen with some performance pads). When hot they are also pretty good.

However, I completely agree that the brake system is piss poor standard, so for the long term, upsized front discs and calipers are the way to go. A very small 4 pot, or twin pot, on the front with 285 vented discs is job done. Again tested on track and road, and never failed me.

Handling wise, on a P4, keep the shocks soft. You can fit yellow konis, but pretty much keep them softest setting ish. I used eibach springs all round with great success, and managed to source a rather rare eibach front anti-roll bar, which helps enormously. I only had standard shocks, but that worked very well, and was comfortable too.

Overall this package gave a neutral to mild oversteer 'feel', but even more importantly, behaved very predictably, with loads of feedback to let you know what was sliding where, and how fast. It also sat very square to the road, although some of that was lost in 2WD mode, so a certain amount of the body roll control does come from all 4 'axles' being 'torqued up'.
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Regards

Matt

Ex Alfa 33 'GTA' (P4 with Knobs On)
Now cruising in a 166 3.2 Ti!!