Need settings for street alignment
 

I am getting two new tires on Friday and an alignment. I recall seeing a post with settings for street use that was posted in the past. Anyone have a link to this post?

Alignment answer:

If the toe is off, you'll cup the tires.

If the camber is off you'll wear the inside/outside edge but not with cupping.

Caster doesn't really kill the tires that I know of.

So, set the toe to -0.01 on front wheels (+/- 0.0) Rear gets 0.0

Set the camber to -0.1 on all 4 wheels (+/- 0.0)

Set the caster to stock.


What do you use negative camber for? Think about it.... You want the tires to present a flat foot print on turns, yes? No? When they want to go really fast in the turns, the camber is set to a higher negative number, yes, No?

I suggest "yes" to those 2 questions. So, what does negative camber do to a tire that is running straight down a superhighway? Think on it a sec.... It cocks the wheel to put more pressure on the inside edge of the tire. Where is the "bad" wear the horror stories have complained about? The inside edge of the tire is "down to the belts" and the rest of the tire is great. Sound familiar?

Yeah, yeah, almost 0 camber is horrible!!!

Think about this... A solid rear axle has how much camber? I'm thinking 0. Does a solid rear axle wear out the inside edge of the tires? I'm thinking, no.

So, in conclusion and before I put on my asbestos suit, I will set my toe to -0.01 my rear to 0.0, my camber to -0.1, and the caster to the stock number. I'll continue down life's superhighways in ignorant bliss with the top down and a smile on my face. :D


If I were to go racing, pylon crushing, or X-Cross, then I'll crank in the negative camber, -2.0 or whatever, and go for it!

My last set of tires (Goodyear GSD3s) got 35K+ miles.

Good reading: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=4

Elmer

I disagree with some of the above. I run -1.0° camber and 0 toe and don't have issues what-so-ever. I actually run those settings on two different cars. It's the combination of camber and non-zero toe which will wear out (caused by scuffing) the inside edges.

Follow Pfadt's guidelines which are posted above. I used them as a guide, but was lucky enough to go to a place which specializes in setting up road course and auto-cross cars. He dialed me in awesome and exactly the way I wanted it, as seen below. Made a huge difference in how the car handled.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/n...ent8_30_08.jpg

If you have a Z06, the OEM camber is -1.0 My $.02 was from my personal experience. I do NOT have any handling issues but I don't expect to push the car to the limit on maneuvering. I'm set up to get the most miles from the tires on city and highway driving, that's it. If you want the -1.0 camber for "handling" then prepare for tire wear. I'm just sayin'.



Elmer

:iagree: :thumbs: :iagree:

Here are the specs I set my GS to, right in the center of GM specs.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y96...ps7fee5562.jpg

I have noticed no abnormal wear on my Super Sports. The dealer set camber on my 11 GS Vert to around -.1 to -.3. I pulled .5g on the interstate and it felt like the front was pushing. Not good with a guardrail next to you at 80mph. From my personal experience too much toe in and just about any toe out will kill the tires in a heart beat. The toe on my 11 GS got knocked out of alignment somehow and within 1k miles I lost 2/32ds of tread on the inboard part of the rear tires.

If people fear tire wear then the Corvette is not the car for them. Some parts of our interstates and definitely the back roads here in Utah have a lot of curves. .5-.7g is not that much since a full size GM SUV can easily pull in the .7g range.

You also don't want too much caster as the suspension will hit the subframe if you have too much. Mine did with the above specs.

I have a C6 coupe (w/ Z51) and a Firehawk both with 0 toe and -1.0° camber. Both have been setup like that for years....the Firehawk close to a decade. I inspect the tires every fall as they come off the car for winter storage. Neither car's tires show any signs of any abnormal wear, all four tires are wearing perfectly across the whole tire surface.

One can have it setup for handling and tire wear, you just need to find a place which will do it for you. The place that did mine told me exactly what I have experienced for years.....you can run up to a little over -1.0° camber as long as you don't have excessive non-zero toe and still have normal wearing tires. It's the COMBINATION of non-zero toe and excessive camber which causes the scuffing.

Believe me, I run Michelin PS2's, if I were seeing any abnormal tire wear which would decrease the life of my tires I would definitely change things. I just have not seen it and therefore see no need to change. I like to have my cake and eat it too :D :cheers:

:iagree:

This is why I wanted more camber. Mine was also pushing (understeering). When in a corner I want a flat tire footprint, not one which is on the outside edge. Glad to hear you are also seeing good tire wear running aggressive camber. :cheers:

Be sure you get the correct numbers for your car, a C6 has different specs than a C6 GS.

I tried the above specs and did not like the handling. I kept the alinment for a week, it handled so badly.The car wondered at highway speed while driving in a straight line. The front end handles light with no grip. I did not keep the alinement long enough to determine tire wear. At any rate the cars handling is important to me more than a claim of perfect tire wear.

Using the Phfdt street specs now for two years my tire wear is even across the tread with a little more wear in the center on the rears, which I understand is common. I run 30 lbs cold.

I can offer no technology proof but real world results on my personal car comparing the two different approaches.