ZPirate

At Modshack's suggestion, I had a four wheel alignment done on my car today. The car has approximately 4,800 miles on it. The toe on all four wheels was significantly out of spec. I know others on the forum have had similar results, including Modshack.

The front toe was the worse. 1.19 degrees total toe. Factory spes are -.10 to .20. The rear was .61 degrees total toe. Factory specs are -.20 to .20. Now all four wheels are well within the factory specs. I just wanted to pass this on to others who might want to have their alignment checked.

Pecanman

1500 miles showing. Have mine planned for next Wednesday ZPirate. Good info.

Modshack

Yes, Do it!!

As I've said before, the chances of getting an "on spec" alignment out of the factory is slim to none... Figure 10 potential adjustments in 3 minutes of rack time?....

Everyone here is always complaining about inside tire edge wear down the road a few miles...Some have even shown pics of the cords and metal belts showing.....This is TOE induced, NOT camber as many surmise. Toe was out on 3 of my 4 wheels, and 4 of 4 on Zpirates car....

ZPirate

I think it is well worth it to get the alignment done. Certainly a lot cheaper than new tires.

BTW it cost me $89 for the four wheel alignment. Took the tech approximately one hour to do it.

vetsvett

Yep I know what ya mean. I just had mine done, 27K miles, 4 new tires, balance and 4 wheel alignment. The guy said that just about every corvette he aligns, is "way" outta factory spec.
It now feels like a brand new ride. steering feels tight again.

2009 C6

Looks like I'm putting a four-wheel alignment on my list.

nwc6

After reading Modshacks post on tire wear, I got my 08 in Monday. Camber was -1.1 on the left, -.5 on the right. Toe was out a touch on left also. The technician took the extra time and set everything to spec, Zero +/- numbers..

ZPirate

That's great! I'm glad you had them check.

BTW I didn't mention it in my original post, but my camber was fine all the way around. Just the toe was out of spec.

A-Pex

Any performance guys and/or tuners out there heard anything about making sure your 'vette is "toe'd in" on the front end to reduce tramlining?

The folks at RMCR recommended this to me, and I thought I'd see if anyone else had similar experiences/results.

JRHAWK9

toeing it in will help reduce tramlining, however at the expense of steering response. Toe in will make the steering a bit sluggish, depending on how much toe in you give it.

I like to have 0 toe and prefer to have crisper steering response in exchange for the little bit of tramlining that may occur.

ZPirate

Good point. The steering response on my car felt noticealby better as soon as I got in the car after the alignment.

nwc6

My car's steering was great, I could not tell anything was wrong. I'm sure in another 5K miles or so, I would have found the left front chewed up on the inside. New car or not, I would have the alignment checked soon after it comes home.

TEXHAWK0

That is the first thing I do also. I try to get the dealer to check alignment as part of buying the car, even on the Corvette. You cannot trust the alignment from the factory. They only have a few seconds to rough align the car as it comes off the assembly line.

The last time I bought a GM car, the dealer would not align it until it looked like there was a problem. I drove the car for a few weeks, took it to the alignment shop of my choice, and sent the bill to the service department at the dealer. GM reimbursed me for the cost of the alignment.

One other point is that the car can be "within factory specs" and still be set too aggressive for the way you drive and acceptable tire wear. My Z06 came from the factory with -1 deg. camber, and with wide tires, I was getting noticeable inside tire wear within 1000 miles. I gradually backed off the camber, and found that anything more than about -1/8 deg. will give you significant inside tire wear for street driving.
When you get an alignment, you need to be able to TELL the shop what settings you want. Don't just trust them to set everything to factory specs.

TEXHAWK0

Not entirely.
I set my toe-in to zero and left the camber at -3/4 deg. and I still got significant inside tire wear. Toe-in will make the problem worse by causing feathering wear, but you need to reduce the camber to -1/8 deg or less to eliminate inside wear.

ZPirate

I just came back from a long drive in the twisties this morning. It's amazing how much better the steering response feels after the alignment.

I was also wondering if the fact my car was shipped from PA to NC when I purchased it affected my alignment. I know it was strapped down in the trailer.

Modshack

Not my experience, but YMMV....Heres a tire (Bridgestone SO3) with 20K miles on it that was mounted on an Audi TT witjh -.8 degrees camber up front and -1.6 degrees in the rear. Toe neutral up front and toe in of 1/16th rear. Not bad for a high performance tire on a highly cambered car. Driving (cornering) usually compensates for any camber related wear issues resulting in generally even wear across the tread. if you're a highway cruiser with an alergy to aggressive cornering (as many are here) then I'd agree that camber will play a bigger part in tire wear.



Corvette GS2 tires at 10K and On spec alignment:
Fronts:


Rear:


As I said earlier, your mileage may vary, but there is NOTHING wrong with the factory specification, provided it is ON SPEC and not at the outer edges of the range...

miami08VETTE

Can any suspension/alignment gurus recommend specs for a good street alignment. I would like to hand the tech a set of specs to go after versus just letting them get within spec. Looking for a good set of numbers for a good "tire life/handling" compromise. I know you have to give up one or the other, but figure there must be a good middle ground for street use that also leaves in a bit of descent handling.

ZPirate

A good alignment shop should be able to get you right in the middle of the GM specs. My shop gave me a printout showing the camber and toe before the alignment as compared to the GM specs and after the alignment as compared to the specs. My car's alignment specs are now right in the middle of the acceptable GM spec range.

Modshack

Yup..They should have this in the database of their alignment machines.

JOHN MOORE

Where did you get your alignment done? I live in Wilson, and have an '08 with less than 1500 miles. May be my imagination, but it seems like it wants to drift to the right a little. Air pressure is 30 cold, and I don't notice any wear, yet. I think for peace of mind, I'd like to get it checked/set by a good shop. Thanks.