I know this should be posted in the Tire & Wheel forum, but I've spent some time there and it's a kindof lonesome place.

I have 4 new tires arriving tomorrow (275/40/17 Fierce) and will need them installed and balanced. I'm concerned however about the edge wear that happened on my current Goodyears. They seemed to wear quickly on the outside edge. Here's my concern:

I took the car to a drive through carwash when I was bringing it back from the East Coast. When I was lining the car up in the shute (for lack of a better term), something on the left rear caught the rail and completely stopped the car (it was not yet being pulled by the carwash). The attendent did not seem to concerned (which should have been my first clue) and motioned for me to back up and try again. It caught once again and I was ready to give up and get the heck out of there, but on the third try, I guess I got it lined up and it slipped right in to the rails. Apparently the inside rail at this carwash was very tall because I could feel it sliding under my footwell all the way through. When all was said and done, I got a decent exterior only wash but I'm thinking something might have been bent or knocked out of alignment on the rear, causing the edge to show such bad wear (albeit the tires are now bald anyways).

Any thoughts or advice on proceeding? I don't want the new tires to wear funny as well.

Thanx in advance,

Jim

 

Hey Jim, from your story it sounds like the alignment is off, whether it's from the car wash or something else the outer edge wear isn't normal. Your spending the $$$ for the tires now is the time to spend a little more and protect your investment, if you put the tires on and wait to align the front end the new tires will have a wear pattern formed and keep wearing that way even after the alignment is corrected. Ask around and find a good alignment shop in your area that specializes in Vette 4 wheel alignment and tell them you want to watch them do it. then ask the tech what corrections he made and how much off they were. Just my 2 cents..good luck Oh and Jim..no more carwashes

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, but I was bringing the car home for the first time from picking it up 3200 miles away and I wanted it to be clean for the wife to see.

Jim

 

Go here and print the page and take it to the alignment shop with you

http://www.vbandp.com/instructions/h...ruct/align.htm

 

OK, this is interesting. I like the "Advanced Street" settings, but I see the top of the page indicates these may be different from factory specs.

Does anyone know what the Factory Specs are for a 1988 Corvette with Z52 Sport Handling Package (if it matters)?

Jim

 

Remeber these words: "The suspension is that tight."

Any shop that does Corvettes should know to do this but...

They should measure the allignment as it is. Make adjustments. Lower the car and drive it around the block. Measure again and make adjustments. Repeating this until they measure the same values twice.

Also, your shocks are supposed to look that way. No matter what they tell you about your shocks your response is "They're supposed to look that way."

It's perfectly normal for Bilsteins (sp?) to leak a bit of oil.

Use this link to find someone with the right equipment.

GSP ballancer

Then call them to make sure they have and use tape weights with teflon backs. There should be no reason to have nasty looking clip weights on your wheels.

 

I've got a connection with a GMC dealer here in Gilroy, they've got the Hunter Balancer. He's quoting me $60.00 plus weights for the balance, and his alignment guy for Corvettes is out till next week (I can always bring the car back in).

If my tires show up tomorrow (per the UPS tracking), it's off I go.

Thanx for the advice,
Jim