I went out to Phoenix Performance today to get an alignment and corner weight done.

Originally I was planning on going to go to an alignment shop that some members gave a thumbs up to, but then a forum member said why not go to Phoenix Performance since they have aligned vettes for SCCA T1. It didnt take too much convincing especially after I found out that John Heinricy, director of High Performance Vehicle Operations for GM Performance Division, who won another SCCA title, drove in one of Phoenix cars.

I made the 2 hour trip over to their shop and was pleasanting surprised that in the middle of no where I found a really nice building. Kurt the managing partner of the Palm PA Location greeted me and walked me around the shop (some really nice vettes were there). He introduced me to Brad who was doing the alignment and corner weight for my car. I guess Kurt knew how picky many of us vette guys are so he said I could stay and watch the whole process.

Brad was nice and although I am sure I was in his way he stopped to show me what he was doing and tell me why he was doing it. Not knowing anything about alignment, camber, toe, and caster this was very interesting stuff. During the process Kurt stopped over a few times to see how things were going.

Well 4 hours later and a quick test drive and all I can say is wow. After reviewing the initial specs Kurt said that my car was setup for left hand turns and that right turns should be hard. I didn't realize that until after I took the car a test run. Turning right was not an effort anymore, the car tracked much better, and even the 295 fronts didn't follow the groves as much.

I am now really glad that I went to Phoenix Performance instead of someone else that although may have been good did not specialize in Vettes and probably did not have a winning T1 Vette.

Thanks for the great service
Bob

 

some pics

 

Wow!

Awesome

 

Congrats

I raced gas powered R/Cs. A Serpent 1/10 scale and let me tell you something, the car was so complex to set up, by the time I was done I could have done wheel alignments for a living.... setting up a car's allignment is the most complicated thing to achieve.

Heres a link to an allignment set-up that I had and actually that was the mode r/c I had.

http://www.rccaraction.com/articles/setup.asp

 

Congrats Wicked!Eat those turns up~

 

Glad you were happy with the recommenation I knew you'd be happy with the setup.

I have Kurt and the guys do the work on all my vehicles.

Jeff

 

DITTO Kurt is one good guy and you only have to see him work on your car once to see how well he cares for your corvette. As far as I'm concerned, unless its an emergency, my car is going back to Kurt for all work or inspections that I don't do myself. He's also really good with his Hunter road force balancer. Can't say enough good things about his Phoenix Shop.

 

Thank you for all of the kind words!!! we appreciate your business...

Joe And Kurt

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "corner weighting"?

Perhaps Joe or Kurt can address my situation. A few months ago, I had new Michelin ZPs installed, and ever since my car feels "floaty" at high speeds (above 80 or so) ... the steering is really light and it just doesn't feel comfortable ... it was really stable with the stock Goodyears, even though they were worn out (and worn very unevenly). An example is passing someone on a two-lane road at full throttle (which results in high speeds in a hurry) ... it almost feels like I'm going to lose control ... not a good thing!

I had it aligned (using a machine that looks exactly like the one in the pictures) when I bought the tires, then done again about a month ago and some tweaking was done. I have a printout of the alignment specs, but he set all four wheels to the center of the C5 spec tolerances (not Z06, but the regular C5) that are in the machine's computer.

That seemed to help, but didn't cure the problem. At the time, I had all pressures at 30 psi cold, and have since reduced the pressures to 30 psi hot ... which once again seemed to help some.

I've not been too happy with the tires, but maybe my problem is still alignment. Since I can't drive to Phoenix from Alabama, maybe Joe or Kurt can tell if they think my problem might be alignment.

 

Sounds like a great place to have work on your car. You're lucky to have them in your area.

 

We are only about 12 hours ride from Missouri!!!

Stop by when you come to visit the Liberty Bell ot Independence Hall!!!

We can get you a rental car to use while your Corvette Gets pampered in our Corvette spa!!!

At any rate, thanks for all of the great writeups guys... We appreciate your support!!!

Come visit us at a race track near you... We will be at Heartland Park in Kansas in the fall...

I will publish a race schedule later this month...

Joe

 

My understanding is that corner weight is used to create a 50/50 weight distribution from front to rear, side to side and cross the car.

This distribution helps when cornering so that no matter which way you turn the car feels the same.

 

Hey Bob!

After talking with you and reading your review, I think I'm gonna give Phoenix Performance a call. I just got new wheels/tires and had my vette lowered last Monday so I need an alignment. I was gonna go somewhere locally but you've convinced me to make the trek out to PA.

 

Alex I thought my car was ok until I went there and saw the specs.

Now I am sure that any place would have told me that my car was out of spec, but would have any place known how the 2005 SCCA Winning T1 car was setup or how much out of the GM recommended specs that I could get away with on the street and on the track?

I feel anyone can hand me a piece of paper that says this is your specs and this is what we adjusted them to based on GM recommendations, but I wanted to know more and Phoenix is the place for that.

 

Bob, now that your suspension is precision calibrated how much does your fat azz throw off weight distribution when you sit in it

 

funny you mention that. I got there and they asked my weight then later I see them adding weight to driver side of the car.

Basically I was about 10+ rotors. I wanted to take a pic and say that is me, but I forgot.

alex is probably 5 rotors.

 

Very funny!!!

 

Are you guys getting a specilized race type alignment?
I need an alignment now plus i want to have it lowered, do they do street or stock setup?
im not racing(yet) so maybe im misinterputing the thread about whats necessary.
According to Mapquest im 94 miles away(from the Gravel Pike location) is that the correct shop locale you guys went to?

 

Kurt can do both street and track setups. He can be reached by phone at 215-679-2232, although this weekend he is going to Summit Point for some first hand experience!!!

Thank you for all of your support... We appreciate your trust and confidence in us!!

Joe

 

Ok thank you, weekdays are better for me, I'll give them a call