I`ve finally got my Vette to go in a straight line - and its nothing 2 do with my driving honest!

It always used to pull to the left bad (I live in the UK and drive on the left). I took it for alignment - still did the same, changed tyres round, no effect, tried new shocks and even some new sway bar bushings - plus all the more obvious stuff, like brakes dragging and wheel bearings - still the same.

Anyway took it for alignment again a few weeks back - everything was out a little but especially the castor - but they told me they couldn`t do that as it was a massive job and it wasn`t really doing anything. I ended up taking the car back 3 times cos it didin`t feel right, so in the end took the printout with me and started to play around at home.

I was pretty surprised to read in the manual that doing the castor (front) is almost exactly the same job as doing the camber, so the b***ards had lied to me and hadn`t even touched the camber either lol.

Anyway there were even numbers of shims on the left side - about 4 on each control arm bolt - where as the right side had 3 at the front bolt and just 1 at the rear bolt - looks like it was maybe set up for driving in the US on the right ? I`ve never played around with alignment b4 so i just took a shim off the left rear bolt to drag the castor back a bit - I coudn`t believe the difference just removing that 1 shim made! - it still tracked left but way less seriously.

Anyway (to save the length of this post!) i ended up with 3 shims front bolt and 1 shim rear bolt - looks the same as the other side - but gives a very slight tendancy to track right on a dead flat surface - which is fine as our roads all dip left - and hopefuly this has also put the camber back which was also different left and right. It took me 1 hr including tesdrives - wuld have been about 15 mins max if i knew wot I was doing - i`ll never trust alignment shops again!

These were my alignment specs for the front end AFTER the alignment shop had messed around with it 3 times:

Castor Left 4 deg 52`, Right 6 deg 35`
Camber Left 0 deg 50`, Right Neg 0 deg 35`
Ok at least they got the toe right at 0 deg more or less exact each side.

I`m hoping that moving those shims to the order i`ve said above has put the left camber to something like the right side and the castor prolly slightly more postitive for the left.

And yeah this did put my toe out - but as i only adjusted the shims on 1 side, I figured if I put the toe back enough on that side to center the streering wheel - then it should be back at zero toe again ?

I`m gonna get a friend at a college to check the alignment for me in the next few weeks with his students to try and get some figures for what the current settings r now.

Oh yeah one last thing - i can now leave go of my steering wheel whilst one wheel hits a bump - and the car doesn`t even get defelected left or right - I never thought I wuld have my vette driving like this!


:steering:

Dom (happy pup)

 

:thumbs: Nice job!

 

Absolute 0 toe will make your car wander all the hell over the road if you aren't on a perfect surface.

 

Yeah it seems my car likes a little toe out - makes it feel tighter - how much should I have ? I know it should have toe-in really but it feels crap like that. :confused:

Tnx,

Dom

 

it depends if you don't mind performing steering corrections constantly - I don't mind, and I have less than 1/16" (1.6mm) on each side. your caster angle should provide some self-centering characteristics, but as scorp points out, it will wander since it will twitch at any road disturbance with little toe.

i'm sure someone will chime in with max allowable toe. :cheers:


[Modified by tempest, 10:22 PM 5/11/2004]

 

None of the alignment settings on a Vette are a "massive" job. You need to find a real alignment shop. Also sit in the car while they do it. Makes a (small but noticable) difference.

 

I run my toe at Zero on the street, and an autocross it's 3/4in out, a lot, it helps the car turn in.

BTW Here's a good page on aligning the car yourself.
http://www.vettenet.org/align.html

 

Tnx 4 the help guys - that link is good as well :)

One thing i just noticed tho - i swapped my front and rear tyres over to c if it was my front tyres or wheels that r the source of a wobble i still have.

Well turns out it is the tyres - but wierdly when i swap the front and rear wheels the car handles pretty strange - sort of feels nervous and floaty at the front.

The wheels r 1 inch wider from the back - but tyres r the same size - and i think some`s been though this b4 and said that it won`t change ur alignment - its only something u have to take into account whilst actually doing the align job.

So is this likely just because my newer better tyres from the rear (now on the front) r making the handling sharper - and maybe not suited to the toe out i needed with my older more worn tyres which were on the front b4 ?

Ill try some toe in 2morro and c if it makes a difference.


:seeya

tnx again

Dom

 

Wide front wheels are great for racing but on the street they tend to "trolly track" - follow ruts in the road more than narrower wheels. It's a trade off.

When I first felt it I thought something was wrong - almost like a brake pull. It's the main reason earlier c4's had 9.5 in. front rims & went down to 8.5 in front rims. Complaints from the "majority" of Vette owners - who drive to the grocery store/golf course/night spot. These complainers never have set a tire on a race track.

So GM dumbs down the basic car & adds high perf options like z51 suspension. I guess that's ok, but if you are not the original owner you may get a car set up for the boulevard not the track.

That's when upgrades start

:D :D

 

Kewl that`s just what i was trying to explain how it felt.

So with 9.5 on the front and 8.5 on the rear - which is how the previous owner had it setup - it`ll b pretty scary!

Well I get my new Kuhmos 2morra for the front - so i guess the wheels will be going back the way they`re supposed to - wish i had 9.5 all round though :rolleyes:

Tnx for the info,

Dom

 

OMG! :eek:

Was he thinking it was front wheel drive drag car!

 

You can buy 2 rims & run 9.5 all around. A hot setup for autox (the top guy in A stock runs 9.5 with 275 tires all around.) Also you get to rotate them front to back with this setup.

Make sure the offset is the same & correct front & back. :flag