Rear offset is off
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 128
Likes: 0
From: Belcamp MD
Rear offset is off
Ill post some pics in the morning to help but I have a question regarding my rear wheel offsets.
I just put aftermarket wheels on the 98 vette with 3" lips and my rear driver side sticks out at least 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch more from the quarter panel then on the pass. side. I guess with the stock wheels sitting in more I never noticed the difference.
I tried to swap the wheels to see if it was an actual wheel issue but no problem there. Is it possible that my actual rear end is off, and if so is this something that can be corrected. I stopped by a local chevy dealership today and the tech took a look but said that the rear pretty much couldnt move so he thought it was a wheel issue.
The car was in a rear end accident about 4 years ago where the pass wheel hit a curb hard enough to do damage to the stock wheel. Is it a chance that the collision pushed the end out of line?
Thanks for the help!
I just put aftermarket wheels on the 98 vette with 3" lips and my rear driver side sticks out at least 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch more from the quarter panel then on the pass. side. I guess with the stock wheels sitting in more I never noticed the difference.
I tried to swap the wheels to see if it was an actual wheel issue but no problem there. Is it possible that my actual rear end is off, and if so is this something that can be corrected. I stopped by a local chevy dealership today and the tech took a look but said that the rear pretty much couldnt move so he thought it was a wheel issue.
The car was in a rear end accident about 4 years ago where the pass wheel hit a curb hard enough to do damage to the stock wheel. Is it a chance that the collision pushed the end out of line?
Thanks for the help!
Last edited by Rclynch82; Sep 25, 2010 at 11:18 PM. Reason: photos
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,003
Likes: 89
From: Indy IN
Most of these cars are not built square. It is very common to need to move the subframe to square it up so that you can get the proper negatve camber in the back if you are racing the car. Often whenaligning the back end you can only get - 1 degreeon one side and -2 degrees on the other, when the subframe is centered you can get -1.5 on both sides. I've seen as much as 3/8 of an inch out before so I guess it could be as much as a half an inch.
You need to lower the rear subframe a bit and use a die grinder to move the hole in the frame so that the alignment pin sticks into to move the subframe to the right place and square it up. Not a big deal.
You need to lower the rear subframe a bit and use a die grinder to move the hole in the frame so that the alignment pin sticks into to move the subframe to the right place and square it up. Not a big deal.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,724
Likes: 23
From: Minnesota
Mine is similar, my driver side wheel sticks out like .5" more than the passenger side. I noticed this when I put my 18x12 thin spokes with a 5/8" spacer. The driver sticks out, the passenger side does not. Weird for sure.
Last edited by reactor2; Sep 24, 2010 at 11:44 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,365
Likes: 1,818
My 04 has the drivers side sticking out about a 1/4" more than the passenger side. There was a lengthy thread about this problem with several approaches to trying to correct the problem back a few months ago. I believe they never succeeded in changing things to make both sides equal. If I can find the thread again I'll post a link to it.
Here is the thread I remember:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...the-other.html
I found a couple of others about this issue and they also had no resolution for a precise fix. Seems there are small improvements that can be made but nothing significant to address say 1/2" of difference.
Here is the thread I remember:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...the-other.html
I found a couple of others about this issue and they also had no resolution for a precise fix. Seems there are small improvements that can be made but nothing significant to address say 1/2" of difference.
Last edited by 8VETTE7; Sep 25, 2010 at 12:44 AM. Reason: Added link
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,365
Likes: 1,818
Based on your photo's that is at least 1/2" of difference. Alignment might change it an 1/8th at most.
Comment. No offense but with tires out that far (right or left) you are going to sand blast the paint off the rear quarters. I'm not a big fan of splash guards but it's that or constantly repainting the rear quarters. Look at the C6Z06 guards which require a lot of work to customize to the C5 rear quarters or I have read that Lewis 5 Motorsports now makes prefit guards. Apsis also makes them but they are NOT inexpensive.
I just looked on the Lewis 5 web site. They do have rear splash guards for the C5. Difficult to find on their site and I don't think they are a Forum vendor so I can't post a link to the page. Cost was $139 plus shipping.
Comment. No offense but with tires out that far (right or left) you are going to sand blast the paint off the rear quarters. I'm not a big fan of splash guards but it's that or constantly repainting the rear quarters. Look at the C6Z06 guards which require a lot of work to customize to the C5 rear quarters or I have read that Lewis 5 Motorsports now makes prefit guards. Apsis also makes them but they are NOT inexpensive.
I just looked on the Lewis 5 web site. They do have rear splash guards for the C5. Difficult to find on their site and I don't think they are a Forum vendor so I can't post a link to the page. Cost was $139 plus shipping.
Last edited by 8VETTE7; Sep 26, 2010 at 12:08 AM. Reason: L5 info
