156 jts wheely wheely bent!

[t-rev]

I'v had a strange shudder coming through the steering wheel and the car wasn't tracking smoothly.I had the wheels balanced today and discovered that one of the front wheels was warped!,the guys at the tyre place put it on the back as a temporary fix and it drives a lot better.The good thing is that there was no expensive front end issues,but i still need to get a wheel[2006 jts] any ideas?Thanks Trev

[colcol]

Hey Trev,you could get the rim re rolled if it is not too bad at Neway rims in Heidleburg or go to Monza Motors in Bayswater or see if anyone is wrecking a JTS on Ebay, Colin.

[t-rev]

Thanks Col,the guy at the tyre place said it wasn"t repairable so i think i will check those places you mentioned.There was a new one on ebay in the uk for 150 pound,but by the time i pay for postage i think i would be looking like around 400 bucks.I remember when i done it,pulling into a shopping strip in mornington,i was juggling the indicator lever[opposite side!]while drooling over my sporty looking dash,iwhacked the front wheel into the gutter!

[Sportscar Nut]

Understand Arthurs Seat to Neway in Heidelberg is a fair drive but highly recommend you visit. They have perfetcly re-rolled & painted many sets of wheels for me over the years including the 156 JTS and two were 'fairly bad' in their speak (wheels have the structural strength of a coke can = soft alloy). They typically buckle from normal road driving let alone hitting a kerb and suspect all your rims have 'some imperfection'. All four on the 156 needed some work.

Would get another opinion to your tyre guy before buying new and probably cheaper to get all four re-rolled.

Paul

[Craig_m67]

What wheel is it, what's it look like?
I'm about to bin 4x wheels off a MY03 156 V6 (16" teledials)

[t-rev]

sounds like a good idea,i'v rung a few Alfa places around town and most of them are selling second hand ones for around 450 buck's! These wheels are the 16 spoke type , not as strong as the teledial's apperently.   

[colcol]

Don't think that soft alloy rims are poor engineering, they have to have a bit of 'give' in them, so that they don't shatter when they hit a pot hole, which was a problem with some mag wheels in the 70's, the Speedline telephone dial wheels on 33's and Sud's are more prone to bending than the 156 JTS Speedlines, i have hit potholes in the 156 and the rim has survived, but the alignment has gone out, i wouldn't get any from overseas, postage would be horrendus, try Monza Motors which is closer to Arthurs seat than Heidleburg, Colin.

[colcol]

t-rev, see if anyone is wrecking a JTS on ebay, the JTS and JTS TI rims are different, freight wouldn't be too bad in Australia, but i would prefer to see one in the flesh and spin it on the car to see its not buckled, Colin.

[t-rev]

Still looking for a wheel and various Alfa indies are asking 450 to 750 for a used item and around 1200 for a new!geeez!!,anyway i contacted "veloce's in uk and they can do me a new set of 4 new,for 1200 including postage.Im still waiting for the guy at Millano's[realy helpfull] at Thomastown to get back to me about a 156 that is being dismantled,but if that fails i think i might go with the uk option and then sell the others

[colcol]

I hope the local parts suppliers see this, $1200 for ONE wheel locally and $1200 for FOUR from the UK, but with the resent fall in the Australian dollar overseas will get more expensive and the local spare parts places will be more compeditive, i cannot beleive how expensive used wheels are, you see used 156 being sold as wrecks for a few hundred dollars, Colin.

[t-rev]

yer it's crazy,i'm thinking that the 156 'facelift'is not that common in oz,and because these wheels are prone to buckling and need replacing,they can charge that much.If im going to be buying parts from oversea's i hope the dollar doesn't go down to low!Feels good driving a rare car!ha ha

[t-rev]

i eventually found two rims on ebay,300 for the both of them.They have many curb scratches but no buckles.These will keep me going for a while if i'm careful!

[colcol]

T-Rev, you can get them reconditioned or you can do a touch up yourself, there are wheel touchup kits on the 156 worldwide ebay site, Colin.

[Marc P]

should have rang Milano spares they had them for about $250 never mind next time.

[colcol]

Milano Spares should advertise so we know about them, greybeards like me remember them from the olden days, but the newer Alfa owners have never heard of them, i have been going there for about 25 years, they also have secondhand parts on ebay, Colin.