TexCorvette

Shoud I go with stock C5 specs or z06 specs as I do have the OEM Z rims, but with Piolt Sports? My car is lowered and now needs to be aligned again. Its been about a week from when I lowered it, so all should be settled. The wheel is off 2 deg. or so (very little) to the right.

I was going to wait tell I get my sways, but I don't think putting those on later will change anything.

TexCorvette

No one? I'm about to get this done now, don't want to make a mistake :(

TooManyIDs

I would say use the Z06 specs, or more, only if you autocross or use the car on a road course.
http://www.corvetteforum.net/c5/toom..._alignment.htm

TexCorvette

Doing the sways later won't change anything on my alignment, right?

C5 Frederik

After lowering I went to a tire shop who does alignment for Porsches, AMG´s and many vettes. The guy does this already for 22 years. He had his own specs and I showed him the GM ones. At the end he did a good job and when I compare the data I now have Z06 specs, only toe in is set to + 0.15 in front and 0.15 in rear. The car drives great and he said also tire wear will not be bad.
Frederik

luvinc5

You would think Z06 specs would offer better handling.

2kbluestreak

I do not understand the posted Z06 alignment specs. What units are the camber specs in? They are shown with a " symbol, which is either inches or seconds of angle. I thought camber and caster are supposed to be in degrees of angle? For Toe, the units are shown as degrees. Can anyone explain this?
:confused:

C5 Frederik

You can type it in two ways, for example:
1.5 degrees is equal to 1 ° 30´ ( 1 ° is 60 ´ is 60 minutes )

So IMO you are right, it should be a ´instead of a " (minutes instead of seconds)

Frederik


[Modified by C5 Frederik, 4:34 PM 5/14/2002]

2kbluestreak

I don't know if it should be minutes of angle because 1 minute of angle would be 1/60th of a degree and this is not very much. On the posted Z06 alignment spec sheet, the Service Prefered Ind. Front Caster is shown as -.7". If you go to http://www.vettenet.org/align.html, Chris Teague recommends a street front camber of -.7 degrees, all be it for a 90 Vette. I think the units on the Z06 sheet should be degrees for camber and castor as they are more in line with other vehicles. Does anyone know where the alignment specs for a non- Z06 C5 can be found. I just had my 2k coupe aligned last week and the tech set camber on all 4 wheels at -.2 degree, even though I asked him to go more negative as I no longer have runflats. Still :confused:

TooManyIDs

I rechecked the manual, no units of measure are specified in the grid, so I updated the spreadsheet.

Latter topics describing each aspect of alignment had some reference to units, but I'm not going to go through and list them all here.

The alignment guys know what to do with those numbers.

C5Hud

I am a first time vette owner and the my 98 C-5 was scraping my driveway as I pulled in. I had it raised back up. Unfortunately now that it has been raised and handles like my 78 Monte Carlo did. I tis overstering in a BAD way and feels way loose. In other words, when you go into a turn and turn the steering wheel the car turns and then it feels like it over turns and you have to
correct the wheel a bit - i.e. let off of the turn and and even turn it back
a little bit. It almost feels liek it might spin out. Another way of
describing this is to say it seems like it takes a while for the rear of the
car to catch up with the front of the car. It is pretty scary at speed. I
checked to make sure that the rear sway bar was attached and tight and it is.

My mechanic raised the front 1 3/4 inches and the rear 1 inch. They now sit
at 28 1/2 and 29 1/4 respectively. Do you have any suggestions how I can
get this car to handle correctly? One other thing the car no longer has the
ride control system. It has Bilsteins installed.

Regards,
Chad Hudson :flag

TexCorvette

Get aligned, and if you have the base suspention, Z06 Bars will do a world of difference. Also, you could lower it again, and get the little underbody wheels for the front and side sill protectors.


[Modified by TexCorvette, 12:24 AM 5/15/2002]

C5Hud

OK - but it has already been alligned..... Also, Can I put the Z06 sway bars on only if I have the "base suspension"?

Crash99

TexCorvette:

I too had the same question as you, but I had already committed to getting the alignment.

I have a 99 coupe with 17" x 9.5" and 18" x 10.5" Z06 rims and Pilot Sports in 275/40 front and 295/35 rear. I lowered 1" all around and installed the Z06 sway bars about 100 miles before having the four wheel alignment done.

After consulting this forum, reading all I could, and talking to the owner at the alignment shop, I went ahead with the alignment specs for the Z06.

I picked up the car this afternoon and took it out for a spirited drive on some rather nice tight turns and long, high speed sweepers. I was very happy with the results: my vette has NEVER handled better. I can't wait until I get it on the track later this month. :D

Not sure how the tire wear will be but the owner of the alignment shop figures it might be better this way (by the way, it was well out of spec after I lowered the car!!) due to the wider rims and tires compared to stock.

Best of luck,

Crash

TexCorvette

Yes you can, if you have a base suspention, the better the impact of the z06 bars!! Mine is/was the base setup also.

I'm having it aligned first, and installing the bars next month, I don't think adding the bars will change your alignment.

TexCorvette

My Dealer said they couldn't do z06 specs because the car was lowered, and their isn't enough play? WTF? They didn't want to do it in the first place though, saying the suspention is so much different in the z06, when all I think is shocks and larger sway bars, and the rims I already have.

davidmax

Always go for as much negative camber you can handle.My 01' Z06 is very highly modded 1,000 bhp(at the crank and 1100+ Lbs of Tqe) I run close to an avge of 1.75 degrees of negative camber(over Z06 spec) and 1 degree of toe in to offset tire wear and still provide you with flat cornering.
As far as bars go they dont affect alignment specs at all so you can change bars and experiment all you want,your actually better off doing alignment 1st you can play with any suspension component you want to as long as it doesnt change ride height then realignment is required.
A great comp alignment is the key to getting your best wheels,tires,bars,bushings,shox and springs to act as one tied in unit it also enhances braking,traction,turn in and turn out more than any single mod you can do.
You will loose 25-50% tire life by just smaking in lots of negative camber but an experienced 4 wheel independent suspension tech weather it be mono leaf or coil over kit (my favorite for optimum performance but not 1/4 mile) will keep your premature wear down to 5-20% and I dont have to tell you what a set of HI-po rubber goes for today.
We at XTREME Have noticed the tire that can give you 30K+,exceptional handling and are available for a large%ge of our clients that go for tubs in the rear and run a 335/30/18 and a 285/30/18 front and use HRE's or Fikse's can get a great package and we will work hand in hand with your alignment shop to give you C5R handling and great comfort on the road.We just starting carrying a new brand of sway bars lager and much more affective than Hotchkis or Z06 bars ,a bit smaller than T-1 and supposed to be amazing handling I will be testing them on a 98' C5 and my 01' Zo6 under track and street conditions all the feedback so far is SUPERB and people swear better ride and handling than the truck like T-1's.To get more info on these bars contact Nate by clicking the link in my sig or call @480-517-4969 and Nate or Mike can fill you in on them.

I hope I helped more than I rambled.Good Luck Dave S.