166 front end

["AlfaBill LLC /alfabill.com" <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I've got a problem, which I think I saw before on my 164.
>The very inside of the front tyres is wearing extremely badly, and I'm
>fairly sure I ended up replacing the rear suspension arms to correct it.
>
>This was about 5 years ago.
>I remember about a year later replacing the front suspension bushes with
>help from AlfaBill and Powerflex bushes.
>My first thought was the front bushes, but before the rear bushes failed
>first, but I can't remember the symptoms.

Not to over simplify, but inner tire wear is either bad alignment, badly 
lowered suspension or worn parts.

I'm not familiar with the 166 pieces, but the bushings would have to be 
very worn to create this sort of wear. Has a good front end shop looked at it?

Too much toe out, or excessive camber settings, bent struts from extended 
pot hole action, or a lowered car without geometry correction are about all 
that can cause this.

16 or 17 inch wheels with lower aspect ratio tires will be even more 
sensitive to these conditions due to the lessened sidewall flex that results.

My experience with 164s is that if all the parts are in good shape and the 
camber is less than the -2 degree spec, the car will wear tires evenly, if 
not pretty quick. But not atypical for a front drive car. I'm running 16" 
OEM wheels on my 91 with excellent wear. My 2 "L" 91s also do the same, but 
both are in good repair with snow belt battered front a arm bushes replaced 
with the PowerFlex polyurethane pieces. Like most mechanical things, if it 
is all in good shape, things work well. As much as I don't like to disagree 
with Father Fred, I like the factory spec for alignment, zero toe makes my 
164 feel more "nervous" at higher speeds. The black 164 I drive daily had a 
great alignment recently and tracks like a train on rails.

I'd have a good alignment shop look at the specs and go from there. If you 
have torque steer, it's likely the big end bush on the front arms. The 
inside gets compressed and while it looks good on the outside, the inside 
area is worn and allows alot of travel under load.


Bill Harkell
PowerFlex, Leatherique and more
AlfaBill LLC
Tampa Florida USA
http://alfabill.com
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