alignment bolts slipped?
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 1
From: Port Charlotte FL
alignment bolts slipped?
I had my car aligned not even a year ago at the chevy dealer to C5 Z06 specs. I have barely used the car over time, and I've been noticing that when going in a straight line the steering wheel is still turned to the left a bit. My tires are completely ate up to the cords from uneven wear with less than 5k miles on them, and man am I pissed! I'm sure the dealer won't give two craps about the alignment, and I know I didn't hit anything in the road... What causes this to happen?
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 1
From: Port Charlotte FL
It seemed okay at first, the wheel wasn't 100% straight when going down the road, but it didnt pull or anything. Seems to have gotten much worse over time, and now I doubt they would even give me the courtesy of a discount on the alignment! 
Pro
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 714
Likes: 251
From: Grand Island, Florida
As I recall, the ZO6 alignment specs. are different than mainstream C5's due to the fact that they are tracked and raced in various forms. I am sure someone who is more familiar with the Z than I will jump in, though to help clarify. Even if this is the case and the toe-in or camber is adjusted for Z's, your front tires shouldn't wear nearly as quickly as noted. Normally driven, Z06's do seem to have abnormal wear to the front, but nothing like what you are experiencing.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,640
Likes: 83
From: . New York
Not an expert, but I have read that if you align a coupe to specs that would be appropriate for autocross (not sure if the spec you had done for the Z06 would be the same) you will definitly wear the crap out of the tires in no time with regular street driving.
I dint catch where the wear is occurring? Is it just the front, just the back, both, center on the rears, inside/outside on just the front?
Not knowing how the car is used, those of us who like to press down on the long skinny pedal do find that the centers of the rears wear quite quickly (thats pretty normal and doesnt mean over/under inflated, its just a function of a wide tire and a lot of tourque).
If you have a coupe, and do mostly street driving, you may want to consider just having it aligned to original specs.
I dint catch where the wear is occurring? Is it just the front, just the back, both, center on the rears, inside/outside on just the front?
Not knowing how the car is used, those of us who like to press down on the long skinny pedal do find that the centers of the rears wear quite quickly (thats pretty normal and doesnt mean over/under inflated, its just a function of a wide tire and a lot of tourque).
If you have a coupe, and do mostly street driving, you may want to consider just having it aligned to original specs.
Last edited by Jistari; Feb 25, 2009 at 06:35 PM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 1
From: Port Charlotte FL
Thanks for all the input guys, the front right tire is worn the most. Its almost down to the wire, and whats left of the tread on the inside is all "cupped" looking. The front left tire probably has 50% more tread left and is wearing normal.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,283
Likes: 16
From: Katy Tx
Z06 specs would give more camber and if those wheels have a deeper offset, they would contribute to wear on the inside edge...were they on the car when it was aligned?.. have you lowered it since the alignment? What tires are they? Thats still awfully low miles for that kind of wear - likely a bad alignment to start with - did they give you a printout showing the before and after specs?
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Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 1
From: Port Charlotte FL
thanks guys, they gave me a print out of the specs and everything looked good at the time.
I'm running Nankang NS II's which should last at least 15,000 miles... I haven't lowered the car since then, and the front is worn on the outside. I honestly haven't hit anything with it to knock it out of alignment, so I was wondering what happened?!?
Oh by the way, the same tire that has been wearing out faster is the one that also snapped a wheel stud last week... This thing is beyond out of specs!
I'm running Nankang NS II's which should last at least 15,000 miles... I haven't lowered the car since then, and the front is worn on the outside. I honestly haven't hit anything with it to knock it out of alignment, so I was wondering what happened?!?
Oh by the way, the same tire that has been wearing out faster is the one that also snapped a wheel stud last week... This thing is beyond out of specs!
Last edited by 1sickz51vette; Feb 25, 2009 at 08:02 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 5,011
Likes: 508
From: Hilton NY
If one of the nuts loosen on an a-arm adjusting cam bolt the adjusting cam can move to a different location. Last year the rear lower passenger side loosened allowing the front of that wheel to point outward which caused some dangerous handling, the back of the car wanted to turn right and dog tracked. Some aftermarket kits are designed to prevent this from happening since the round cams are relaced with square blocks that won't rotate. I plan to torque all the a-arm nuts after the car is aligned and mark them so that if it handles bad again the marks can be checked.
