It seems to be getting harder and harder to find a qualified shop that knows what they are doing in regards to performing a 4 wheel Corvette alignment, especially in my area. Anyway, I bought it to Steve Shannon Tires in my area, and they did a 4 wheel alignment; they were able to get the front and rear toe dead on, as well as the front and rear camber, however they say they don't really mess around around with the Caster settings (only adjustable in the front on the Corvettes); I though that was part of an alignment? The settings for the caster came up as follows:

Left - +4.0 Right - +4.3

The FSM calls for +6 plus or minus .5; my question is are my numbers close enough not to even have someone mess around with it? It doesn't seem to pull or wander when driving down the road. I've read that the Caster numbers should be as close as possible to each other, even if they are not in spec. They seem to want to charge me additional labor to bring it back to set the Caster, and they said it could result in the car pulling or wandering to one side. What happened to having a little confidence in your technicians? Anyway, before I bring it to another shop (Jack Williams Tires), should I just leave well enough alone since the current settings are not too far off. Not sure I can even find a place that specializes Corvettes here in Northeast PA..........

Regards, Chris

 

Yes caster is part of an alignment, if the shop is using a laser type alignment machine it will include caster sweeping. Since they gave you a measurement it should be. That being said, if they adjusted camber they should have adjuster caster too since youbuse the same adjustment points for both. Your measurement of +4.0 left and +4.3 right will not cause any tire wear issues but it may affect your handling. The higher (more positive) the number the harder it is to steer the tires but you have more straight line stability, the lower the number is the easier to steer and turning through corners like on a road course would be easier. As far as the .3 difference that might cause the slightest pull to the left but with road crown you may not notice it. This is why they allow a .5 variance.
In the shop I worked in as an alignment tech we warrantied our work and if you came back we realigned it at no charge. Since caster is part of an alignment and they should have done it since your car is fully adjustable my advice would be to find a more reputable shop or take it to a Chevy dealership.

 

They need to hire a good tech. C4s need 6* caster in the front to keep from wondering with the grooves worn into the pavement. Its not that hard to do.

 

However, there seem to be a lot of shops out there that don't want to spend time adjusting caster %@#%!@$!@%!~*

 

PP excuse for a shop tech !

if they did camber, its almost impossible NOT to DO Caster !

its the SAME set of shims...ONLY difference is that in camber you pull/add shims equally to both mounting post ea side...CASTER you add or pull more or less shim at one or the other post to get the desired result.
The extra charges and whinning say to me that this shop is either not qualified, the tech does not understand what caster IS, or they are just a production fix-it store and could care less about quality work.
ANY boob with a REAL laser alignment machine starts with a printed diagram of what the car is doing NOW...toe, camber & caster. If the boy is too stupid to know that the camber is the same things as caster adjustment..then he outhta be back in the grease pit where he belongs....
Thats outrageous...charge extra for doing the job RIGHT . Used to be there was MATH involved...figuring out what a 1/32 shim did to create X-degrees pos or neg caster...NOW, the computer TELLS then in print outs exactly what to do...add 3/64th shim at rear post rt side...pull 1/32 shim frt post rt side...Helen Keller could do an alignment with todays equipment !

 

I think you guys all summed it up correctly; I was just looking for some verification; I'm no expert in alignments, however just doing some basic reading it doesn't seems too hard that caster and camber are pretty closely related. This next generation is something else; so many are too lazy to do the job correctly the first time. The next time I will take it to a different place for an alignment. They didn't tell me until after the alignment that they don't set the Caster as part of the procedure. It's close enough for now that I can get by. Looks like I'll have to shell out another $69 bucks or so down the road to get it done completely next time. I'll have to ask beforehand next time, or find a shop that comes highly recommended, or one that specializes in Corvette alignments, although I shouldn't have to, as these are pretty basic 4 wheel alignments for someone that has half a brain, and the other half in ambition.....

 

as is ALL things referred,

contact your local Corvette club and ASK them for a referral. Thats what the Corvette community does, help each other, spread the word about both good and bad shops and exchange useful info for the benefit of members and Corvette fans in general.
Good luck !

 

Takes time to set it just right, changing the shims is a trail and error thing. I got my alignment done takes them a long time to get it spot on.
Most prefer to just adjust the toe in that takes just a few minutes

When you find a good alignment mechanic spread the word.