Maybe I've been spoiled by owning several foreign cars with McPhereson Strut front ends that seldom needed front end adjustment.

I have a set of Perrelli PZero-Neros that feel awfully good still but with only 20,000 miles, they have worn so unevenly, they will have to be replaced at probably 25,000 miles. The regional tire/repair chain put them on for me, and did an alignment back then. About six months ago I started having mystery slow air leaks, in both front tires, but not the rears. Each time I took the wheels off and searched for the nail and or cut that could be leaking, I found nothing. I bought the tires through the Tire Rack.

I took the fastest leaking one to another branch of this chain, and they said that the wheels had been mounted improperly with hammer on, conventional balance weights, and that one of these had started a leak. They were somewhat taken aback when I told them that they had mounted and balanced them then.

They also told me that I should have my alignment checked every 6 months to keep my wear even. The left front is very worn on the outside edge, almost no tread left on the outer 1.2", while the right looks like too much toe in with the same kind of wear pattern on the inner most band of tread. The car does not pull to the left or right, it seems fine while driving.

Do they sound like they are giving me good information, or is it possible they are trying to take advantage of the fact that they are one of the few outfits that can handle wheels that large?

Could they have aligned the front end and forgot to tighten it up?

What is the book on how long a Corvette C5 will normally hold a good alignment?
How often should they be checked?

I put <10,000 miles on a year on this 6 speed coupe

I do admit that I did replace my front spring a year ago, about 10,000 miles back. Also, I did unbolt the upper control arm bolts to that job. Recently, while putting on C-6 Z06 shocks I also undid the upper a arms again.

I marked things the best I could, but honestly, it seemed like there wasn't a lot of play at those big bolts anyway, it seemed pretty tight up there.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Bluemill

 

any time that parts of the suspension are removed, the alignment should be rechecked...

The amount of time between alignments will vary based on driving conditions (rough roads)

once a year/ 20,000 miles ( or when replacing tires/suspension parts)would be about right to check the alignment in my opinion

I have been doing alignments on vehicles for over 10 years now, and alot of techs are "lazy" and will only set the toe.

I have done several alignments after they have been aligned at other shops and have seen the type of work that some techs do.

they should be able to see the prexisting tire wear that you have on your tires, and use that as an indicator when adjusting your alignment.

c5's are very easy to align, everything is adjustable, make sure that the tech is doing their job.



if you have any questions, post up the alignment printout and I can tell you if it is "right" or not.

 

Thanks Tommy,

It sounds like this is your specialty. I will bring my car into a different place to have it checked and I will post the results to see what you think.

Best,

Bluemill