Alignment Specs again...doing the whole job
06-05-2006, 07:30 PM
#1
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Alignment Specs again...doing the whole job
I had posted before about alignment specs.
Since I'm upgrading the brakes I decided to do the entire thing.
This Saturday I have an appointment to get the ride height set, corner weighted, and aligned.
Street car with 5-6 track days per year, Kuhmo MX tires and I want to get at least 10-15K out of the tires.
2000 Coupe with all Z06 suspension parts, shocks, front/rear spring, BMR Front and Rear adjustable sways.
I'll put up with some following of the crown in the road for a decent improvement.
What should I watch for while they are doing it? Anything specific I should ask?
Once I get this done the only maintaining of the setup will be an alignment every once in a while, correct?
Since I'm upgrading the brakes I decided to do the entire thing.
This Saturday I have an appointment to get the ride height set, corner weighted, and aligned.
Street car with 5-6 track days per year, Kuhmo MX tires and I want to get at least 10-15K out of the tires.
2000 Coupe with all Z06 suspension parts, shocks, front/rear spring, BMR Front and Rear adjustable sways.
I'll put up with some following of the crown in the road for a decent improvement.
What should I watch for while they are doing it? Anything specific I should ask?
Once I get this done the only maintaining of the setup will be an alignment every once in a while, correct?
06-05-2006, 08:24 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
this is what my previous printout said when I was running MXs
Front (L/R)
-1.6*/-1.6*
8.2*/8.6*
-.02*/-.03*
Rear (L/R)
-1.1*/-1*
.02*/.03*
I liked this setup, but the toe in front did cause the tires to chunk along the center strip in the tread. It seems to be wearing down now though, but I'm not sure you'll get 15k out of 'em with the toe.
Recently I switched to
Front (L/R)
-2.21*/-2.23*
8*/8*
-.05*/-.06*
Rear (L/R)
-1.48*/-1.52*
.06*/.05*
And this setup is great but will be much harder on tires. I don't drive much on the street anymore. Occaisonal trips out to eat because the vette is still nice than my other cars and trips to the track.
Hope this helps.
Front (L/R)
-1.6*/-1.6*
8.2*/8.6*
-.02*/-.03*
Rear (L/R)
-1.1*/-1*
.02*/.03*
I liked this setup, but the toe in front did cause the tires to chunk along the center strip in the tread. It seems to be wearing down now though, but I'm not sure you'll get 15k out of 'em with the toe.
Recently I switched to
Front (L/R)
-2.21*/-2.23*
8*/8*
-.05*/-.06*
Rear (L/R)
-1.48*/-1.52*
.06*/.05*
And this setup is great but will be much harder on tires. I don't drive much on the street anymore. Occaisonal trips out to eat because the vette is still nice than my other cars and trips to the track.
Hope this helps.
06-06-2006, 03:02 AM
#3
Former Vendor
Member Since: Jan 2002
Location: Defending the US Constitution in Northern CA
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Keep in mind that different driving technique (even in the same car) will require different alignmant settings.
I align over 250 C6 & C6s each year (plus a bunch of road race cars)and i would say that for MX tires, that any camber setting beyond -1.0 will probably reduce traction rather than increase it.
My recommendation would be to start with -1.0 camber in front & -0.75 in the rear, run +7 to +7.5 caster (over 7.5 tends to overheat the power steering). And don't run any caster split on a Corvette, they don't like it unless you are only turning one way. Toe the front in 1/16 total and Zero toe in the rear.
and start your tires off with 32# air pressure cold.
Then get yourself a pyrometer and let the temps guide you as to what is the best camber settings for the way that you drive. Not what works for someone else.
Case in point, one of the Historic NASCAR stock cars I get hired to crew on has a driver that is getting a better feel for the car, and this class has a very hard spec tire. We started with -2.0 camber at Laguna and had the inside of the tire 20 degrees hotter than the outside of the tire. We took out 1/2 degree neg camber in the right front and got almost perfect tire temps in our next session. He said that the car felt alot better but he couldn't get it to rotate while trail breaking, so we dialed in more rear brake as we were seeing over a 400degree cooler rear rotor temp. When he went out next time we picked up almost 1/2 second and he really liked the way that the car was rotating entering the turn and stayed stuck comming off. When we checked temps again, we had picked up 10 degrees of heat in the outside shoulder of the right front tire, so we added 1/4 degree negitive camber to that corner. Next session out we picked up another 1/4 second and now the tires have even heat across the tread. So now we have a good setup base line for Laguna Seca, now we need a good baseline for thunderhill and sears point.
I align over 250 C6 & C6s each year (plus a bunch of road race cars)and i would say that for MX tires, that any camber setting beyond -1.0 will probably reduce traction rather than increase it.
My recommendation would be to start with -1.0 camber in front & -0.75 in the rear, run +7 to +7.5 caster (over 7.5 tends to overheat the power steering). And don't run any caster split on a Corvette, they don't like it unless you are only turning one way. Toe the front in 1/16 total and Zero toe in the rear.
and start your tires off with 32# air pressure cold.
Then get yourself a pyrometer and let the temps guide you as to what is the best camber settings for the way that you drive. Not what works for someone else.
Case in point, one of the Historic NASCAR stock cars I get hired to crew on has a driver that is getting a better feel for the car, and this class has a very hard spec tire. We started with -2.0 camber at Laguna and had the inside of the tire 20 degrees hotter than the outside of the tire. We took out 1/2 degree neg camber in the right front and got almost perfect tire temps in our next session. He said that the car felt alot better but he couldn't get it to rotate while trail breaking, so we dialed in more rear brake as we were seeing over a 400degree cooler rear rotor temp. When he went out next time we picked up almost 1/2 second and he really liked the way that the car was rotating entering the turn and stayed stuck comming off. When we checked temps again, we had picked up 10 degrees of heat in the outside shoulder of the right front tire, so we added 1/4 degree negitive camber to that corner. Next session out we picked up another 1/4 second and now the tires have even heat across the tread. So now we have a good setup base line for Laguna Seca, now we need a good baseline for thunderhill and sears point.
06-08-2006, 01:44 AM
#4
Former Vendor
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One more thing, Today I had the opportunity to realign my old C5. When I sold it last December I had forgotten to take out my "Race tire alignment setup" so the new owner has been driving the car for the past 5 months with 1 1/2 degrees negative camber in the front an 1 1/4 neg in the rear. We had put on a brand new set of yokahama AVS Sport tires just prior to delivery (as it is tough to drive on the Street durring the winter on worn out V710s). Well 4000 miles later, the inside shoulders of the tires are about to let the air out (Cord showing). Toe was still in 1/16 and the caster was dead on 7 1/4 on both sides. I guess what I am saying is that track alignment setting on cars driven on the street will kill some mighty expensive street tires in hurry, so you might have two settings, your track setting and your street one.