Suspension: Alignment settings

[Trance_LT4]

My normal driving routes from my house to all the places I go, I encounter alot of long right hand turns (off/onramps for instance) and I've noticed that the outside of my front left tire is near bald, and the inside still has medium tread. So, I want to put in a little more negative camber.

I know most service centers when doing your alignment simply put the car within factory (liberal) specs. Has anyone had experiance with giving service centers specifically what you want your camber/caster/toe to be, and them being able to do it?

Doing this myself would mean #1 buying the right tools, #2 sweating that first drive after doing this for the first time myself......

so I'd rather have this done professionally. If anyone out there was also unhappy with their factory alignment settings, and had them changed, give me a few words of advice.

 

[kfehling]

I have had a little negative camber put into my '96 CE and had the caster dropped to about 5.5 and I really like the improved handling and no noticable uneven wear. These settings take care of most of the understeer and I have not noticed any untowards wear--and I do like to corner hard. I went to a Corvette shop and asked them where to get the alignment that I wanted. They recommended a shop in my town (Santa Rosa, CA). This shop (Accurate Frame and Alignment) listened to what I wanted and the desired effect that I was looking for (weekend autocrossing, spirited daily driving) and recommended a setting (they then made the change to my car). Your best bet is getting some feedback from a local Vette club or going to a race shop. Good luck.

 

[Trance_LT4]

good stuff.......I did some reasearch.

For spirited driving steetable settings, VetteBrakes recommends this

Front: Toe 0”
Camber .25 degrees negative
Caster 5-7 degrees. pos.
Rear: Toe 1/8 inch toe-in
Camber .50 degrees negative

 

[maxrevs85]

Where did you get your info ?

 

[rrubel]

I think they're actually in VBP's paper catalog.

Once and only once have I had luck asking NTB (National Tire and Battery) to set my alignment to my spec. I'm hoping my local Firestone will do it for me; they seem much more relaxed and willing to please.

[RICHR]

 

[maxrevs85]

ok cool.....I think most reputable front end shops would do your settings. We have 3 shops in my area that specialize in suspension work ,one of them being a racer, he would enjoy doing it . I'm going to take those settings to him and see how it works out. Thanks

 

[Trance_LT4]

I got those settings of this website

http://64.35.86.141/newsa.htm

it also lists autocross, and road race settings.

 

[vms4evr]

I think they're actually in VBP's paper catalog.

Once and only once have I had luck asking NTB (National Tire and Battery) to set my alignment to my spec. I'm hoping my local Firestone will do it for me; they seem much more relaxed and willing to please.

[RICHR]

Rich,
I just had mine aligned at Firestone. I brought in specs that I got from VBP website for spirited street driving. They told me it is a Firestone company policy that they will not set your car to anything other than factory specs for liability reasons. I got the same song and dance from a handful of other shops. I finally found a shop that caters particularly to Vette owners. They said they will set it to anything I want within reason but no full autocross settings for a street driven car. So they're pretty cool about it. Unfortunately I just got my factory spec alignment done so I'm gonna wait a bit...
The numbers that Trance_LT4 posted are exactly what I shoed the guys at the shop that was willing to do it. They thought those numbers were fine. They only cautioned that the car might be a little sensative on the highway and not as easy going as the factory setting. Everywhere else they would be fine.
Graham

 

[Mad-Mic]

Rich, Trance,

let me know if you find a shop that does that. i'll look on my end.

 

[Trance_LT4]

Rich, Mic........Cecil's Alignment in Edgewater is going to align my vette next week to my specs. He said the factory settings sucked, and what I quoted him would be ideal.

 

[rrubel]

Cool. Edgewater is pretty close. You'll have to let us know how it runs on the street as well - since I have Firestone's lifetime alignment, I can get it set back to factory any time I want, but there's still the hassle factor.
[RICHR]

 

[Trance_LT4]

Just got back from the alignment at Cecils.....I can feel the difference in just the 10 minute ride home. The car feels more stable, holds straight over rough roads (unlike the twitchy feeling before), and turns-in better. He said when I brought it in, both fronts were actually sitting with some positive camber, but he fixed everything up just like I wanted for 80 bucks.

 

[Vettelt193]

BTW, do you have GSC's? if so, the outer tread depth is not as deep as the rest of the tire, so it looks like it wears quicker (and it sort of does, because when the outside goes bald, you need new tires)

 

[Trance_LT4]

no, I use bridgestone potenzas on all 4s

 

[rrubel]

I happened to have one of our other cars at my local Firestone (Ritchie Hwy by La Fontaine Bleu) last week for some brake work and asked the guy who works on my Vette about the alignment. He said as long as the specs looked reasonable, he'd have no problem making the changes that I wanted. He even went so far as to suggest coming in before track events to get them set and coming back afterwards to revert to factory. He'd not be making any $$ off me because I have the lifetime alignment.

Now, him SAYING he'll do it and him ACTUALLY doing it are two different things. We'll see - I'm going to try and get the car in next week.
[RICHR]

 

[maxrevs85]

Trance, glad you got back to us on the results. It sounds promising. Mine definatly needs it. Hope to get new wheels and tires this winter and have it ready for next spring. I'm going to go with the wheel/tire combo from AFR. The black GS style wheel with the Dunlops, 11's / 9.5's , 315/35 and 275/40 x 17. See if I can pin down some of that HP.