Service Letter reguarding Wheel Alignment

[Nitrate]

1981. 2000. Anyone hear of Fiat Service Letter: SL 000-49 Dated 6-11-81? I'm looking at it now. It has wheel alignment specifications for 1980-81 models. They are the same as stated in the owners manual which specifys laden weight. Here's the kicker, the Service Letter states "Note All Specifications refer to unladen vehicles." So now I'm really confused. Anyone familiar with this Service Letter? RB

[RRoller123]

My GUESS is that it resulted from alignment shops almost never loading up the weight. The various shops that I have spoken to about doing the alignment "laden" either laughed or said to bring along the bags of sand and they would put them in the seats.

[Nitrate]

But wouldn't the specs be different unladen and laden? That's what is confusing me. RB

[Frog2Spider]

2 Adults - 300 lbs!

Must be a old spec ....

I think that in modern equipment, the 'laden' weight factor is entered into the alignment machine. They likely just use an average, but if given a specific weight, you can get a 'custom' alignment.

Dave.

[Exit98]

Just search "unladen" and you'll get a bunch of hits. Here's one:

[url]http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... n&start=15[/urlall

I have a copy somewhere on my office PC with the service bulletin with the unladen specs but you can find them on here.

My alignment was done a local midas shop and they had Spider specs in their computer. There was no putting weight in the car and as far as I can tell it wasn't necessary. My car tracks fine and have no unusual tire wear over 3 or 4000 miles.

[Exit98]

Found the earlier posts. Here they are:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... it=unladen


http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... it=unladen

[DieselSpider]

Just search "unladen" and you'll get a bunch of hits. Here's one:

[url]http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... n&start=15[/urlall

I have a copy somewhere on my office PC with the service bulletin with the unladen specs but you can find them on here.

My alignment was done a local midas shop and they had Spider specs in their computer. There was no putting weight in the car and as far as I can tell it wasn't necessary. My car tracks fine and have no unusual tire wear over 3 or 4000 miles.

Then they had the unladen specs in their computer. Firestone in Dunedin had the same laden specs as the owners manual so they put two extra spares in the trunk and sat two garage monkeys in the car and gave me a lifetime alignment. Tire Kingdom in Orlando did it unladen to the laden specs and it was toed out so badly when laden that it destroyed a new set of tires in a few months which they then refused to replace. The Firestone alignment done laden has resulted in the tires wearing evenly and the tires still looking like new after 8,000 miles.

Jack up the car so both front wheels are off the ground and as you jack it up you can watch the wheels continue to toe in as it goes up. If you align the car to the laden specs with the car unladen then the wheels will toe out as you put weight in it and you will get a car that floats or has extreme wear on the inside of the tread. If you load the car with two people or are a big body like me the wear will become more pronounced then if you have just a 110 lb jockey driving it. This is not as pronounced on newer cars with struts.

[Nitrate]

Thanks for all the REPLYS. Actually, looking at the Owners Manual specs again. The toe-in is different: laden +5/64 to +7/64 unladen +3/64 to +3/16. Sorry my bad. RB