Alignment after lowering?
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
It's always a good idea to have a 4-wheel alignment after lowering it. The factory alignment is not always spot-on and if it was marginal before lowering, it could be significantly off after.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,059
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From: AKA Harvey Mushman-I know just enough to be dangerous "Those who sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither"- B. Franklin
Senior Member
Cruise-In V Veteran
I bought my car BN last year. It has never hit a pothole or anything like that. The front tires feathered on the insides pretty bad last year (10K+ miles). Last winter I lowered the car on stock bolts. Since I brought the car back out I have called 3 different alignment shops that have been recommended to me by fellow Vette owners. All want the car for the day and will not let me wait. I call 
. In all my years I've never had anyone want any of my lesser cars or trucks for the day. If I can't wait, they can't be trusted by me. All that said, I've put a few thousand miles on this year and the tires seem to actually be wearing better than last year.
. In all my years I've never had anyone want any of my lesser cars or trucks for the day. If I can't wait, they can't be trusted by me. All that said, I've put a few thousand miles on this year and the tires seem to actually be wearing better than last year.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,059
Likes: 12
From: AKA Harvey Mushman-I know just enough to be dangerous "Those who sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither"- B. Franklin
Senior Member
Cruise-In V Veteran
FWIW- I saw that Patches posted while I was slowly typing. As a newbie I should let you know that he knows 1,000,000,000,000,000 times more than me.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
Originally Posted by madeouttaglass
FWIW- I saw that Patches posted while I was slowly typing. As a newbie I should let you know that he knows 1,000,000,000,000,000 times more than me.
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Premium Supporting Vendor
Joined: Aug 2001
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From: King George VA
Originally Posted by MiamiCowboy
Is it necessary to have the axles aligned after you lower the car on the bolts?
1. The alignment changes when you lower the car. Lowering causes the following changes:
- Front and rear camber goes more negative when you lower the car.
- Front goes more toe in, rear more toe out (due to the placement of the tie rods).
2. The stock concentric bolts are notorious for moving and when they move the alignment changes a lot. So periodic checks are probably wise. I actually mark mine with finger nail polish so I can tell quickly after each track session if they have moved and just as quickly put them back to the right spot without my alignment stuff.
As another note on alignments, the stock specs have a very wide tolerance, so I would talk over your alignment with your shop. For example, the front camber spec for the Z06 is -0.7 +/- 0.5, meaning anything from -0.2 to -1.2 is "in" spec. That is a huge range. There is a cross camber spec if +/- 0.25, but still that means your shop can put the front camber at -0.2 LF and -0.2 RF or -1.2 LF and -1.2 LF and both meet the manufacturers requirements.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 5
From: Germantown, TN
Originally Posted by Patches
Not true and I'll even post to the contrary of what I said. Mine was pretty close even after lowering but I've had buddies whose cars were way off after they lowered theirs'. It's not worth rolling the dice on an expensive set of tires for the price of an alignment though, IMHO.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,275
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From: Lake Oswego, Near Portland Oregon
Originally Posted by binkysgarage
Lowered mine on stock bolts, had too much camber and toe was off making the car fallow cracks in the road and was bad in the truck ruts.
Setting front toe to zero, or vert slight toe-in will cure darting, and if you don't have runflats, a little neg camber .5 degree, is good for cornering traction.
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,506
Likes: 0
From: N East fl
I'm taking my car in this friday, sometimes I auto-x but not often. I do run run flats when not auto-xing, so what should I tell the dealer I want? I lowered the car 1 inch plus I'm running Bilstien shocks. Thanks
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,887
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From: Havin' fun in Frederick, MD!!!
St. Jude Donor '05 '09
I lowered mine on stock bolts at about 7000 miles and now with 21000 miles on it (without realignment) there is no evidence of any abnormal tire wear (Jeeez I wish these run-craps would wear out! 
) and no abnormal handling characteristics.
) and no abnormal handling characteristics.
