Ekona

The PF pads don't squeal at all if bedded in properly: I ran them on my old car and there was no noise at all. Bed them in again properly and they should be fine, maybe take them out and put some copper grease on the back again too. As for wheel cleaning, get something decent from Tim at Envy: I've just started using the Espuma Revolution and it's fantastic stuff, a billion times better than the crap you can buy in Halfrauds although you need to be respectful with it.

A petrol Alfa is a world of fun with character, even with the bits that go wrong. A diesel Alfa is just a not very good car with an poor engine. As soon as I get to that point, somebody shoot me!

Agreed: My brother was going to be charged £187 just to change the rear pads on his Zed! Luckily he told me in time and I slapped him hard, told him to go and find the pads cheaper on the interweb and that I'd fit them for him. For a modest amount of beer tokens of course

Only if you were mis-sold, clearly the OP wasn't here.

If you're ever going to consider a diesel, then the only one I'd ever look at is the twin-turbo BMW one. Whether it's in the 1, 3 or 5 series, it's still the best diesel lump out there. 335d would be my choice.

0-60 it won't touch the Zed due to it being FWD, but in-gear times will be noticeably better with the extra torque. Lovely car

He kinda right though Rich. Get a shed for commuting if you must but don't try and justify a diesel as a fun car: It won't be, you've done that with the Civic and got bored and moved on. Hell, even something like a 330i E46 will be a decent car for fun but still give decent fuel consumption.

Locked as I'm not entirely comfortable with this being here: I've seen the way these threads tend to go across many different forums over the years, and the end result is never pretty. I'm going to consult with the Team and see what they think before going any further.

Nicely done Rich Do us a favour and either post up or send us the original Excel file, I'd love to put a couple of other cars in there and see what the costs come out like.

A full alignment at a specialist should probably be your first port of call over changing your tyres if you want to narrow down the possibilities at minimum cost. Spending £100 for a decent setup will be more beneficial to the fault finding process at this point than swapping tyres, although personally I would do both. Whereabouts in the world are you?

I did not see that anyone had posed before me, OK then, you and Ekona Win No chance, there was a good six minutes between posts, so I'm having the win all to myself

Round the world cruise.

Awkward bugger, you know what I mean

Regardless of whether the tyres are causing the issues or not, you need to get some decent rubber on there instead of what you have now. If that solves the problem great, if not at least you've ruled it out and then will have good tyres too.

Stunning I toyed with the idea of getting one instead of the 911, it's just the lack of storage space and relative fragility that stopped me. Well, that and the fact my best mate is probably going to be picking one up in a few months so I can just swap cars with him for a weekend!

See, I'm the opposite. I have never seen a car with aftermarket wheels that suited it better than the OEM ones, although I'll include OEM option wheels in that (like Rays on the Zed for example). The 355 is miles better looking in every department than the 458. It's like comparing Holly Willoughby to Jordan: The latter may have more plastic tat on it, but it doesn't compare to the natural beauty of the former.

Surely most ones will, you just put down an annual mileage of 0.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU BURN IN HELL

IMS effected 996 and 997.1 owners too, although the numbers involved worldwide really aren't as great as the rumours make them out to be. RMS is a far more common problem, however that one is decidedly less terminal.

I guess it all depends on what you want from a tyre. If you want something cheap that is legal then the T1Rs and 452s are perfect. If you want your car to actually handle and grip and stop then I'd spend my money elsewhere. Horses for courses, really.

@RT: They are. Maybe okay on an MX-5 or a Clio RS, but they don't belong anywhere near a £30K 300bhp sports coupe IMHO.

They're like the Falken FK452s, i.e. cheap budget tyres. Go for the Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta or the RE050As.

Whatever, it doesn't make that much difference. I usually leave about 15 mins, but checking from cold is equally as valid. One or the other is fine and has been for decades.