I got a 4 Wheel Alignment done today on my 79 Corvette. I had completely replaced the front end bits last fall before I put her away fro the winter and bought new rubber. Now that it is finally getting warm here I brought it in for the alignment.

I took her to the Lake Geneva Chevy (since I have all my fleet work done there). I was quoted $89 and talked to the service tech and mechanic prior to insure that they had done Vettes before, particularly older ones.

Anyway, the bill ended up being $66 and some change. They gave me a very nice print out of what the vehicle looked like before and after.

The front end was toe'd in pretty bad on both sides. In any event the Red in the pics denote the BAD... The Green = GOOD.

As you can tell from the after, the front end is perfect. The rear still has a Toe issue, however they informed me at the dealer that the toe on the rear was not the end of the world and to fix it would be big bucks. Anyway, I am glad they told me ahead of time.

Here is the pic:


For you experts out there. Is the toe and issue on the rear? Also, is it really that hard/expensive to fix?

I did indicate to the dealer that I was planning on re-doing the entire rear end this fall like I did with the front. I mentioned it because I wanted to know if that would help one the expense front relevant to re-aligning it. They told me most likely, yes.

Ultimately driving it, it tracks a lot better. It feels smoother, and the steering wheel is finally straight!!! YEAH!!! So overall for $66 at a dealer, I am quite happy with the results.

Thanks and enjoy!!!

 

Yes, that rear toe is atrocious and will cause handling issues. Fixing it isn't a big deal - if your T/A bolts aren't totally frozen (as many are). Stainless shim kits are available from all of the major vendors, and you'll need your own - I doubt most Chevy dealers have them around anymore, much less non-Corvette alignment shops.

 

Ok, cool.. So I assume from what you are saying I may be on the right track if I just re-do the rear end and have something new/fresh to work with that is not frozen.... That aside, are you saying that I could potentially order and add the shims?

What kinda of handling issues could I expect? So far this thing is like 10,000% better than what it was before I replaced all the front end parts. It feels tight and responsive where as before it pulled hard to the right and was wiggly and loose.

Thanks.

 

Re-doing the T/A bolt/shim area can become a big deal if the bolts are frozen, often they have to be cut to free the arm. If you're lucky, they'll pop out. Don't change the shims yourself unless you take good measurements to get the alignment right.

Compared to the previous measurements, you should see a big improvement now. With that sideways rear toe, though, you're going to see some weird tire wear in back, along with a tendency for the car to "dog track" a bit.

 

Ok, good to know.. Perhaps I will just concentrate on doing the rebuild sooner on the rear. Once that is done I can bring it back to the dealer, along with my own shims and have it aligned.

Where can I expect to see the tire wear btw? My guess is with my hotfoot the way it is, I will burn the tires down myself long before the toe does.

 

It's not that bad at all, definately not atrocious but yes I would fix and have a bit of toe in on both of the rear wheels.

 

I am not a fan of positive camber.
Take a look at the vb web site for some good guidelines for alignment specifications.
http://www.vbandp.com/instructions/h...ruct/align.htm

Current alignment machines do not have the right infomation in them to align our old cars. The set points are to wide and/or not correct. These shops can make all the colors green and the car still drives like crap. Looking at the at the changes they made it looks like a classic "toe and go" job, with a easy camber change for the rear.

I always recommend to go to a shop and present them the alignment numbers you want. If they act like they can't and want to do it per the machine, find another place. Even with the VB numbers sometimes you can not get exactly the numbers on the sheet. When that happens you ask for as close as possible and equal side to side. If they can only get 2.3 caster on the right make it 2.3 caster on the left.

Glad to hear yours is driving better with the results they arrived at.
There is still alot of room for improvment.

 

I just spent $300 for a 4 wheel alignment on my Vette. Took the specs I wanted the car at, he set the machine and cut the tolerances down to .5 and set everything. He spent over 3-1/2 hours getting everything set..I'd replaced every suspension bushing, ball joint, tie-rod and idler arm in the car over the winter, new T/A bushings and VB&P's s/s shim and bolt kit.

 

Tim - and the results were? In other words, did you see a big improvement?

 

I would have to say yes- big improvement- BUT over the winter I did the front and rear suspension, all 4 brake calipers, new master cylinder, flushed the brake system, new tires and wheels and new Bilstein sport shocks. The only thing not replaced was the springs.

It drives way better than it did. Can I attribute it directly to the alignment? Not really. It tracks stright, drives perfectly, no wandering, steering wheel is centered, and goes where it's pointed, unless the rear tires are smoking.

 

In my AIM book has 3 columns. 1. Specs for Diagnois for warranty repair or customer paid service 2. Specs for periodiodic motor vehicle inspection and 3. specs for rersetting alignment. Which set of numbers do I want to use? I assume #3.
Caster is +1 degree +/- 1/2 degree
Front chamber +3/4 degree +/- 1/2 degree
Rear chamber -7/8 degree +/- 1/4 degree

Also lists S.A.I. what is that.

 

When I saw that the bill came to ONLY $66.00. I knew there was no "4 Wheel alighnment done on her. I spent just under $300.00 on mine last summer. Yes it is an issue. (Rear not done.) If nothing else, you will eat tires quickly.

 

I can say for me, the improvement is night and day... I'm very pleased!

 

i dont know how you can say it wasnt done when the before and after for the rear are clearly different, the camber is now set but they couldnt get the toe correct out back.

on top of that $300 sounds like more than just an alignment as i was quoted a price of $89 for mine after i get the front end done by a reputable shop not far from where i live, when i said i needed a 4 wheel alignment on a 78 corvette he said "that price is for a 4 wheel alignment on a 78 corvette barring problems, we do the older cars all the time".
fortunately for me the PO of my car had the trailing arms done before i bought it.
nice new bolts, bushings and shims out back already

 

Utter, total and complete . I used to be one of the guys who did the specification programs for Hunter. We ONLY put data in that came straight from factory service manuals. (We had a good library of data from other sources, but we only gave it out on request.) The alignment specifications in a Hunter machine are exactly what you'll find in the factory service manual for that make, year, and option set.

 

there are 2 different ways to do an alignment basically...

1. computerized which takes minimal time but computers can easily be fooled based on operator skills and also I hear a computerized alignment can not do a car that has a bent frame, etc. The charge is usually reasonable for this type of alignment

2. the old fashion kind (not using computers) of chalking the outside edge of the tires where the tech is in a pit with mirrors, string, etc. This method can be done on any kind of vehicle like limos, etc. it takes considerable more time and is hard to find somebody that has this type of setup with a tech that knows what they are doing. Hence this type of alignment costs more...it costs me $200 for rear and $100 for front using this old style method.

I am not saying that any 1 alignment is better than the other...I believe it really comes down to how good the tech is in setting up the tools used during the alignment process.

 

Very easily. One gets what one pays for. check out the post above this one by"carpedm". He quotes the same price I paid for mine, and my rear Ta's were brand new. with new bolts and shims!!!!!

 

get the rear fixed. correct me if im wrong... but as far as i know... alignment machines measure from the rear. so if they were to adjust the rear toe in specs. the front would have to be re adjusted. if they quoted you a 4 wheel... they didnt do it... before i owned my vette ive miss quoted an alignment as a 4 wheel on a c3 and charged just 59 bucks... we were stuck shiming the car for about 3 hrs... i wont quote a price like that again...lol but we did align all 4 wheels like we said and we didnt back it out without setting the rear toe. i manage a firestone in orlando. so saying there are no problems with shimming the rear a total alignment on a c3 would run just under 200 bucks

 

1) Any alignment isn't going to help all that much with a bent frame. There's no reason a computerized system "can't" do it, but the results won't be all that great.

2) There's no reason to do that sort of alignment anymore, as there is no reason a computerized system can't do something like a limo, the only limitation would be the size of the alignment rack. Anyone set up for medium-duty to heavy-duty trucks could do it with ease. I've aligned semi tractors and trailers before using the latest computerized equipment.

It's amazing how little understanding there is among many very knowledgeable "gearhead" types about wheel alignment and the equipment used. It's not really rocket science.

 

ouch.