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Just got a new set of tires and here are pics of the old ones. Obviously an alignment is necessary. They are wearing on the inside at the front, the back is not so bad The fronts also seem to have some 'chopped up' treads. My question is "what should the alignment specs be for simple, calm street/highway driving" ok sometimes I hammer on the right pedal around a corner or two, run through the twisties and drive slightly.... over the limit at times.
For those interested, I replaced these Michelins with BFG g-force comp 2 all season run flats. Just put them on so the jury is still out on these.
Left front- right front
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
looks more like excessive toe in to me, camber could also be too far negative... I like to set mine up with -.5 camber in front, 6.5-6.8 caster, and -.01 to -.02 toe... on the rear I try to get the camber as close to 0 as possible but it's usually hard to do that so a little negative on each side is fine and I zero the toe on the rear... I am more concerned with the car going straight at high speeds and not so concerned about taking heavy corners... this setup works great for my driving style but everyone is different and has their own preferences... it helps a ton if you have access to an alignment rack so you can play around with different settings but if not see if you can find a place that does lifetime alignments so you can take it back and have it adjusted if you don't like it... also check beforehand to see if they will set it up how you want it
The last to times I had mine aligned I told them to set it to factory spec.
No issues what so ever !
Thanks, Lou.
Mine were done at the stealership 5 or so years back so I assume they were factory spec, though who knows, they might be incompetent I might go look for the final adjustment readout from 5 years ago to see what they were adjusted to.
I don't think I hit anything hard to throw it out, besides both front wheels wore exactly the same. I'm taking it to a frame and alignment shop here in Vancouver. I was hoping to get some specs from someone to see if their tables show the same or similar numbers.
looks more like excessive toe in to me, camber could also be too far negative... I like to set mine up with -.5 camber in front, 6.5-6.8 caster, and -.01 to -.02 toe... on the rear I try to get the camber as close to 0 as possible but it's usually hard to do that so a little negative on each side is fine and I zero the toe on the rear... I am more concerned with the car going straight at high speeds and not so concerned about taking heavy corners... this setup works great for my driving style but everyone is different and has their own preferences... it helps a ton if you have access to an alignment rack so you can play around with different settings but if not see if you can find a place that does lifetime alignments so you can take it back and have it adjusted if you don't like it... also check beforehand to see if they will set it up how you want it
thanks, Neutron.
straight when going fast works for me! Good advice on the lifetime alignment. I don't have access to a rack, but I will take your advice with me to the shop and see what they say. If they give me a hard time about it I'll go elsewhere. Hey I trust you guys on the forum more than most advice I get from the shops.
When you have the feathering on the inside it usually is the toe being off. What can happen over time after an alignment is the bolt holding the camber can sometime move when going over bumps, potholes, aggressive cornering, etc. The nut on that bolt has a torque setting of 125 ft-lbs but is seldom checked when an alignment is done. Since I heavily autocross my Corvette, I torque mine to 150 ft-lbs, mark them with a paint tick and have seen them move slightly over time.
Racers replace the cambolt/nut with solid camber plates to keep them from moving. I have 1.8-camber 0 toe on my car, drive 3000 miles a year and there is only minute differences in the inside tread wear driving to events, road trip to Corvette Museum, autocross, etc.
When you have the feathering on the inside it usually is the toe being off. What can happen over time after an alignment is the bolt holding the camber can sometime move when going over bumps, potholes, aggressive cornering, etc. The nut on that bolt has a torque setting of 125 ft-lbs but is seldom checked when an alignment is done. Since I heavily autocross my Corvette, I torque mine to 150 ft-lbs, mark them with a paint tick and have seen them move slightly over time.
Racers replace the cambolt/nut with solid camber plates to keep them from moving. I have 1.8-camber 0 toe on my car, drive 3000 miles a year and there is only minute differences in the inside tread wear driving to events, road trip to Corvette Museum, autocross, etc.
Thanks, Gordy
That makes perfect sense. I think I'll find that bolt and mark it like you do, then make it a point to check it a few times a year to see if it moved. I just looked at the camber kits, and if it gets out if hand I might think of investing in one. A little pricey but cheaper than tires, I didnt know they existed, heck I didn't know how it even was adjusted till I started looking at how alignments actually are done.
Last edited by Voodoo13; Nov 19, 2017 at 09:13 PM.
combination of excessive negative camber and toe out
00-04 except Z06
front
camber -0.20*
caster 7.40* (put right side 0.30 higher to compensate for road crown)
total toe 0.08*
rear
camber -0.18*
total toe -0.02*
signed - the alignment guy
Thanks, Alignment Guy!
Seems like everyone is on the same page. I found my old alignment report and camber was -.6/-.4 and toe was 10'. Shows within factory spec but certainly not within what the concensus is here.
Something must have changed. You may have worn parts.
I couldn't get proper camber due to worn bushings. I doubt your bushings wore out that quick though.
Maybe you have worn ball joints.
Was any work done to the front suspension since the last alignment? Did you lower it since then by chance?
Thanks Rob,
The car has 86,000 miles and the last alignment was at 60, 000 miles 4 years ago. I changed the left front wheel bearing, that's the only front end work done since. I think it's the stock height, though I'm not sure, I haven't lowered it since I got it at 20,000 miles. It already scrapes the cats on speed bumps! When I take it in for alignment I'll have them check the suspension components too. Good advice!
Doug, what Michelins were they? The tread pattern looks like the Michelin Pilot AS that they discontinued around 2013 or 2014. Can you check the date codes on the tires?
I put a set of Michelin Pilot AS's, a new tire for Michelin at the time, on my wife's Acura in the summer of 2012. In about 25k miles the inside of the front tires were so chewed up cords were showing. I assumed somehow it was my fault for not rotating them as regularly as I had in the past and went online to see about finding two new ones to replace them. I discovered that Michelin had discontinued that tire and there were a lot of comments regarding how badly they were wearing. I talked to the dealer who sold them to me and he talked to his Michelin rep. They gave me a credit on a new set of Michelin Primacy tires equal to about 90% of what I had paid for them.
The dealer verified the alignment on my car was at spec and I had no issues with the new set of Michelin's I installed.
Wheel alignment
I might go look for the final adjustment readout from 5 years ago to see what they were adjusted to.
