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 Nothing will enhance your enjoyment of an Italian car like an improvement in handling. Alfas, Fiats and Lancias already hold the road well, but were designed with certain built-in compromises. Alfa Romeo and Fiat even had to raise their cars’ ride height in order to meet US headlight regulations. You’ll be amazed at the difference a few bolt-on parts can make when they’re engineered right.
It’s possible to adjust your car for more “neutral” handling. The chart below is a general guide to changes that will work for most cars, starting from stock settings. Note that most Alfa Romeos and Fiats begin life with moderate to heavy understeer. (Understeer is when the car “pushes” or “plows” when you turn, and front wheels lose traction first; overseer is when the rear of your car is “loose,” and loses traction first.)
Lowering your car moderately can improve handling, by reducing lateral weight transfer in corners. Just don’t overdo it, because excessive lowering will upset suspension geometry—with undesirable results—and will result in bottoming out and/or tire rubbing. Moderately stiffer springs reduce body roll and help keep your wheels perpendicular to the ground (less camber change during cornering). Overly stiff springs can actually reduce cornering power. We’ve developed our performance spring sets to be both lower and stiffer by carefully determined amounts, for optimal handling.
Anti-roll bars (sway bars) are a great way to fine-tune your car’s understeer/oversteer balance. As the chart shows, use a bigger bar on the end of the car that you want to “stick” less. For an Alfa Spider, for example, you want to use more rear bar to reduce under steer. Fiat Spiders benefit from both front and rear bars. A bigger front bar reduces roll in the front end, which reduces camber change during cornering, and the bigger rear bar helps the front end bite even more.
A really top-notch set of shock absorbers, like those from Koni or Bilstein, will also result in an amazing improvement in handling. What you’ll feel is greater stability and control, and faster cornering on imperfect roads (i.e., most roads). A side benefit of switching to top-quality shock absorbers is that they are built to last and carry lifetime warranties..
Wider and taller wheels help turn-in and cornering power, and give more immediate response to steering wheel input. This is because, with these wheels, you can run lower-profile tires (such as /60 or /50 series), so sidewall flex is greatly reduced. The fact that our alloy wheels look so cool is just icing on the cake.
- Mark Lee
| For More Understeer* | For More Oversteer** | | Chassis Feature | Adjust As Indicated | Adjust As Indicated | | Front Tire Pressure | Lower | Higher | | Rear Tire Pressure | Higher | Lower | | Front Tire Section | Smaller | Larger | | Rear Tire Section | Larger | Smaller | | Front Wheel Camber | More Positive | More Negative | | Rear Wheel Camber | More Negative | More Positive | | Front Springs | Stiffer | Softer | | Rear Springs | Softer | Stiffer | | Front Anti-Roll Bar | Thicker | Thinner | | Rear Anti-Roll Bar | Thinner | Thicker | | Front Roll Center | Higher | Lower | | Rear Roll Center | Lower | Higher | | Weight Distribution | More Forward | More Rearward |
* Understeer—The car pushes or plows when you turn, and front wheels lose traction first.
** Oversteer—The rear of the car is loose (loses traction first). |
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