I want to align my car with autocross specs. Anyone change it for street driving themselves?

 

I drive to my events, so wanted something in between. I use the settings in the moderate column.
http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c5/too..._alignment.htm

 

Thanks Al.

I am looking to conserve my A3S03 Hoosier with a bunch of camber. I am thinking of adding the shims back on the upper arms myself after each autocross.

 

We used to have a C-3 competitor at local events that changed his alignment at the track when he changed his street tires to the race tires and wheels. He had two sets of shims packs marked for the proper A arm locations. The packs were tack welded so that they would stay together. He just jacked the front end up , loosened the bolts, swapped shims , tightened and away we went with a couple of degrees more camber. The rear camber was adjusted with adjustable bottom screw links that the positions were marked on. Took him about 30 min total. More trouble than I want, but entirely do-able for the dedicated racer with a double duty street / track car.

 

I used to have two locations marked on the suspension adjustment points. One for street and the other for race. I didn't bother changing the rear. I just had it set for race and the rear tires seemed to wear fine. However, I found out that changing the suspension between two sets of marks will not get you back to where you started from. The C5 has too much play in the lower A Arm cams so you will not get the camber or toe you think you are getting.

What I do now is use a racers camber gauge that I bought for $40, a 6 ft level that I use to set up my points in the garage and then I set my camber and toe before I go to an event. I didn't bother leveling the car front to rear only from side to side. It takes me about two hours to set the front since I have to drive around the block after every adjustment to make sure the suspension settles properly. I set toe by placing a wooden plank against each front wheel and holding them in place with some old brake rotors. Then I measure the distance between the front wheels on the front and the back side of the wheels to determine toe in. Because of the angles (.1 degrees) and the fact that the hypotenuse of the triangle (about 20 inches) I am working with the measurements are in 32" of an inch so I have to take my time with them using my ruler that only measures 16" of an inch. However, since I started doing this myself the car has become a lot easier to drive on the street. No matter who aligned it before I always had tire wander over pavement seams with the run flats. Now those days are history. For a little guidance on how to get started go to http://www.vettenet.org/align.html . The instructions are for a C4 but with some modification you can apply them to any car.
Bill

 

Thanks for the tips Bill!!

 

Bill: Could you give me your specs? I fight the wander over ridges in the road and I would be curious as to what your settings are that take care of that issue?

 

Any of you guys that had your car aligned to the ZO6 spec, did you notice a major increase to the cars response and handling?

I just installed the 295/30/18 rears and 265/30/18 fronts and lowered the car 1". I am bringing the car in for an alignment and want change alignment spec to the ZO6. I am not as concerned about tire wear as I am max. handling. What can I expect?