tkmyers7

Is this necessary, useful or even possible?

Strick

Yes it is necessary and very possible. I'm lucky my son works at the local Chevy Dealer and they have the equipment to do it right, all four wheels.

vettek50

i havesome specs for -4 wheel alignment as soon as find the sheet! :auto:

speedjohnson

Since the car has an independant rear suspension you have to do a 4 wheel alignment, or the rear tires may be litterally pointing a different direction that the front. The Vette Brakes and Products catalogue has alignment specs for the various types of driving. speed

Phil-tha-Rush

here ya go...curtousy of http://www.vettebrakes.com


WHICH WAY SHOULD YOUR C4 GO?
By Walt Thurn


This Callaway LM finished 9th overall at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Reeves Callaway, owner of Callaway Cars Inc., once commented, “adjustably is the foundation of a good race car. Each track is different and a good racecar has the flexibility to be adjusted to that particular track. This allows the driver to extract the cars maximum performance.” Reeves should know, he was the brains behind the fastest street car in the world, the Callaway C4 Sledgehammer, which ran 254.6 mph and the C4 Callaway LM, which finished 9th overall and second in class at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. What Reeves meant by adjustably, was the ability to make rapid suspension and shock absorber adjustments during practice and between qualifying sessions. Being able to this can mean the difference between a pole position and starting in the middle of the pack.

How does this relate to our own street Corvettes? Corvettes leave the factory with compromise suspension adjustments that Vette Brakes call the daily driver setting. The factory engineers build Corvettes to operate on a wide variety of roads and the daily driver setting handle these conditions safely. Few Corvette owners have experienced their car setup with a finely tuned suspension. They are a delight to drive fast. You can blast down straight-aways and through corners at incredible speeds and the car is rock solid. It’s almost as if the steering wheel is connected to your brain. With a slight turn of the wheel the car reacts instantly in that direction. It gives you a feeling of total confidence when you are driving aggressively. The car has no quirks, no surprised, just good solid handling. Most dealerships and tire stores offer daily driver wheel alignments. If you want something more advanced, you have to go shopping. We consulted Vette Brakes’ alignment expert, Paul Lesinski, for some helpful suspension adjustment hints, which we want to share with you. Paul has crewed for a variety of race teams including Phil Currin's IMSA Champion Corvette. Paul loves to tweak suspensions from cars to go-karts. He agreed to share his expertise with us.


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STREET


You don’t have to be a race driver to enjoy your Corvette with a properly tuned suspensions.

Daily Driver Settings: These are designed to minimize tire wear and the dynamic forces on the front-end parts such as steering and ball joints. Driver effort should be minimum and the vehicle will steer very light. The downside is that the car may wander or could be “darty” on roads with wear ruts. To eliminate this feeling, you can get your alignment specialist toe the vehicle in up to a maximum of 1/8” total toe-in.

Front: Toe 1/32 inch
Camber 0 degrees negative
Caster 5-7 degrees positive

Rear: Toe 1/8-inch toe-in
Camber 0 degrees negative


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ADVANCED STREET


In 1989, this Callaway street driven “Sledgehammer” was clocked at 254.6 mph on a closed course.

Advanced Street: For a sportier feel, Vette Brakes’ recommends these settings that will give you quicker steering response and minimum tire wear. As we mentioned before, if the vehicle is “darty” especially under braking then toe the vehicle in. By toeing the vehicle in you will lose some “turn-in” qualities gained by these initial specs. The driver must feel comfortable with the feedback from the car, so adjust accordingly.



Front: Toe 0”
Camber .25 degrees negative
Caster 5-7 degrees. pos.

Rear: Toe 1/8 inch toe-in
Camber .50 degrees negative


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AUTOCROSS


C4 Corvettes make excellent autocross racers

Now we are getting serious. These settings are a good baseline to start. But, remember Reeves Callaway’s quote, “adjustability is the key to success”. Each course is different and suspension setting, tire compounds and pressures are the key to winning an autocross. The driver must take all three into consideration before a winning combination can be achieved. These specs do work for street applications, but are not recommended. These settings will cause adverse tire wear and the vehicle will become very nervous on the ever-changing street surfaces. But, on the race course, watch out! Your car will corner like a slot car!

Front: Toe 3/16 out
Camber 2-1.5 degrees negative
Caster 4-5 degrees positive

Rear: Toe 1/16-inch toe-in
Camber .75-1.5 degrees negative


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TRACK


C4 Corvettes are very successful in the SCCA ITC category.

Track: Now these specs are really base line. Racer know that alignment specs will not only change based on weather, but also track to track, set up to set up. When you go to set up your Corvette for the weekend, Vette Brakes’ suggests talking to someone who is familiar with you, your Corvette and the course. These settings are a good solid, “middle of the road” base line in which your car will be stable at speed and provide a base set up to adjust after you get driver feedback when they are on the track.

Front: Toe 0”-1/16” out
Camber 2-1 degrees negative
Caster 1/8” toe-in

Rear: Toe 1/8” toe-in
Camber .75-1.5 degrees negative


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To try out Vette Brakes’ recommendations, we took our project car, an 87 Z-51 coupe, to Kauffman Tire’s alignment shop to change the alignment. Under Paul’s guidance, Joie Casta performed his magic and adjusted the suspension to advanced street settings that are provided in this article. We were amazed at the transformation in the car’s handling!


Kauffman Tire set the alignment per Vette Brakes' specifications.

Joie Castas performs his alignment magic on the C4 test car ...


The turn-in to corners are crisp, when you point the car it reacts immediately with no steering wheel hop. Slight corrections to the wheel provide an immediate response from the suspension. Straight-line performance is very stress free. The car does not wander at higher speeds like it used to and it tracks very well. Even under hard braking, we could not find any vises with the new suspension settings. Tire wear seems unaffected. Overall, we were impressed with the driving improvement of our 87 coupe.

Thanks to:

Kauffman Tire
2701 Tyrone Blvd.
St. Petersburg, FL. 33710
(800) 334-3321

tkmyers7

Vettek, did you live in Austin in '97, and a member of the "Spokes" car club?

2dogs

That is cool info!!

vettek50

no no live ther! :flag

but pay attention to the previos threads on wheel alignment. these are serious adjust and work well so heed therespect your answer is done!!! :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: :flag :)


[Modified by vettek50, 6:10 PM 6/16/2003]

Frizlefrak

If you haven't had a 4 wheel alignment in a while, get one. If it's even slightly off, you will be amazed at how much better the car will handle. Average price is around $50-$70, depending on where you live.

edsalinas

Way 2 go Phil ! ! ! !

:thumbs:

tkmyers7

Thanx everyone, especially you Phil-tha-rush, for this info. I last took my car in for alignment to a 4-wheel drive place only b/c it was recomended by a very serious racer who did his vette's there. I didn't realize one of the reasons he took his cars there was 4-wheel alignment. I don't recall all the specs, but I do know I asked for -0.75 degrees camber. I've noticed no unusual tire wear.

This time I'll use the vettebrakes advanced street settings but with -.075 degrees camber.