c6Z06 alignment
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Race Director
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 12,439
Likes: 920
From: CONCORD NC
c6Z06 alignment
I must congratulate GM on making both front and rear upper control arms adjustable on the Z06. Each washer works out to about 1/2 deg, so it is super easy to make finite changes without worrying about changing the castor, or fidling with concentrics, unless you want to.
I went pretty aggressive, as a trial, on this particular Z. OEM was -1.2 front, -1.0 rear. I took 2 spacers out of each front (OEM had 4 total), and took 1 spacer out of each rear (OEM had 2). This will bump the car to just over 2deg from, and about 1.5deg rear for the THSCC event at Roebling next week. Based on tire wear (running street tires) I'll see if that is too much prior to going to the NCM event at VIR coming up.
btw, I was concerned, as the normal front uprights on the steel framed cars have nutserts in the frame (basically pop-rivets with threads inside of them), and are very easy to strip. I've stripped several in C5's, and was afraid this might be an issue in the Z06. HOWEVER, it looks like they took a solid block of aluminum, tapped and threaded it the full length of the bolts, and welded that chunk into the frame. In other works, the threads seem much stronger than the ones in the front of the C5, even though they are aluminum instead of steel.
Anyway, if anyone need a Z06 aligned, it's not bad. Swap out all of the bolts/washers, reset the toe, and go go go!
I went pretty aggressive, as a trial, on this particular Z. OEM was -1.2 front, -1.0 rear. I took 2 spacers out of each front (OEM had 4 total), and took 1 spacer out of each rear (OEM had 2). This will bump the car to just over 2deg from, and about 1.5deg rear for the THSCC event at Roebling next week. Based on tire wear (running street tires) I'll see if that is too much prior to going to the NCM event at VIR coming up.
btw, I was concerned, as the normal front uprights on the steel framed cars have nutserts in the frame (basically pop-rivets with threads inside of them), and are very easy to strip. I've stripped several in C5's, and was afraid this might be an issue in the Z06. HOWEVER, it looks like they took a solid block of aluminum, tapped and threaded it the full length of the bolts, and welded that chunk into the frame. In other works, the threads seem much stronger than the ones in the front of the C5, even though they are aluminum instead of steel.
Anyway, if anyone need a Z06 aligned, it's not bad. Swap out all of the bolts/washers, reset the toe, and go go go!
Pro
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 677
Likes: 1
From: Virginia
Thank You!!!!
I tried this as a quick and dirty track setup for VIR last week with NCM and Chin. Pulled 2 from the fronts and 1 from the rears and wound up with -2.0 front and -1.5 rear. It worked PERFECTLY!! No change to toe. It already had a slight toe out.
One odd note: One bolt on my right rear only had 1 washer from the factory. The other rear bolts had 2.
I'll probably dial back the fronts to -1.5 until next time. My rears were tending to wear on the outsides; so I'll leave them at -1.5 as well.
After 4 track days and 700+ street miles:
Right:
Left:
One odd note: One bolt on my right rear only had 1 washer from the factory. The other rear bolts had 2.
I'll probably dial back the fronts to -1.5 until next time. My rears were tending to wear on the outsides; so I'll leave them at -1.5 as well.
After 4 track days and 700+ street miles:
Right:
Left:
