installing zo6 wheels on bfg kd 275/45 f and 295/35 back on a 2000 c5 is their special aligment specs for this :confused:

 

275/45? Bad. 275/40 - good. 275/45 will rub in front.

Just tell them 02+ Z06 alignment wanted.

- C5B

 

First - How do you intend to drive the car? Highway cruising, Autocross? Road racing or drags? Each of these different driving activities uses a different alignment requirement to optimum performance.

To ask for Z06 specs is a really broad brush, actually most C5s that come in for alignment already fall into the broad Z06 spec range.

Let me know how you drive and I'll give you some more specific setting targets.

IMHO As far as tires, I think that a 275/45 is too large of a tire for the front of the C5, and more specifically it is too tall and too large for that size rim for optimum handling. I would recommend a 265/40.

FYI - I align more than 4 C5s each week and have been setting up race suspensions for over 20 years. Most of my racing experience comes from road racing.


[Modified by C5stein, 1:01 PM 3/25/2003]

 

Absolutely true. I just ASSumed that he wanted a decent compromise between handling, cruising and tire wear..... which I believe the -.70 camber offers. I, myself, didn't see much disadvantage in a 275 since I don't race the car that often.... first time was on Friday up at Buttonwillow - and I think did fine for 1st timer :) My actual settings are those of the Z06 PREFERRED specs (+/- .05).

Bad thing to assume. Apologies :)

- C5B

 

No appology needed.

Hey C5B I know you.

You had that beautiful grey coupe, parked on the end next to the black Z06 from Santa Monica on Friday.

I was in the Black number 3 parked on the other side of him. :thumbs:

Yup, we had a blast :party:

 

Yep, that was me :yesnod: I did have a terribly good time on Friday. I will definitely attend another gathering after I finish installing all of the mods I have on the bench right now :) Still waiting for ARP head studs before I can install the heads/cam.

Were you the one that had the rear hatch glass smashed by some punk? That is so wrong. I hope that b-pillar repair comes out nice.

Anyhow, I do feel that the delivery of GOOD information is key to the success of the forum. My suggestion to just go with Z06 settings was premature. It's always good to have a more knowledgeable gent watching over things :yesnod:

:cheers: :cheers:

- C5B

 

:cheers: info i dont race the car just normal street driving for every day use once in a blue moon the drag strip maybe but i whant the car to preform. also do you have a better tire or other sugesttions :confused:

 

I would stay with the standard (not Z06) alignments for this application.

 

It is NOT my intention to step on anyone's toes, but to say "Set it to Z06 specs" or "use standard specs" is too broad of an answer. I.E. The total front toe "Standard" spec is from .28 degrees toe in to .12 degrees toe out (Z06 specs are the same with respect to toe). On Front, Camber "Standard" is .3 degrees positive (leaning out) to Negative 0.7 degrees (leaning in), that range alone can kill tire wear and still be withing specs. The Z06 factory spec range is from -0.2 to -1.2. So you can actually have a setting that meets both specs, so to say "Z06 setting" or "Standard " setting isn't telling an alignment tech very much at all.

If we keep our focus on Z06 spec range, then you need to know that there is a big-BIG Difference between -0.2 and -1.2.

Going back to the question asked and using what I have learned aligning Corvettes almost every day, I would recommend that a street driven, highway cruzin', occationally raced C5 on Street tires likes 1/8 degree toe in in the front, 1/8 degree toe out in the rear. You will be happy with 6 1/2 degrees caster . I would set your front Camber at 1/4 Degree negative and the rear Camber at Zero. Your tires will last much longer than going nuts with a ton of negative Camber and the car will still handle well.

For you others looking for higher cornering forces on the street and are willing to give up some tire life, I would limit front Camber to -3/4 and rear at - 1/2. Road racing, autocrossing, drag racing and race tires all have different setting from the above suggested settings.

I hope this answers your question.

Sincerely,
Mark

 

C5stein, would like your opinion, for a more agressive street track setting, wouldnt alittle front toe out, for better turn in and rear toe in, for forward bite be a better setting for a heavy powerful car ie Corvette?

 

FlamerF1,
IMHO and in GM's opinion, and in the opinion of most of my racing fraternity, I would have to say "Absolutely not". In my 20 plus years experience, we have tried almost every concievable suspension settings oncars ranging from Low horsepower formula Ford Continentals to V8 power Lotus sports racers to IMSA GTP Porsches & Nissans and especially C5 Corvettes. Not one of them in my recollection, went faster on a road race course consistantly with toe out in the front and toe in in the rear.

More time has been spent discussing and trying to figure out why than you can imagine. He is our most popular theory:
The goal is to create the least dynamic rolling resistance while creating a stable handling platform. Not "pushy" & not "Loose".
Most of the time when you are driving, you are not on the brakes.
The rolling resistance of the front wheels dynamically causes the front wheels to toe out. If you start with toe out it only gets worse as speed increases or brakes are applied. So we start with a touch of toe in.

On the other hand, the rear wheels are driving the car forward and the forces of acceleration and cruise will cause the the rears to toe in, so we start with a bit of toe out. If you look at GM's specs for a C5 they agree with this line of thought. C5s are a good handling car and don't really need the old "bandaides" of the past of running toe out up front. Toe-in in the back does make the car more stable in a high speed corner, but the same can be accomplished by getting back on the power sooner (which would cause the rears to want to toe in) without robbing power by starting with too much toe-in.

When I set up a car, and the person isn't used to running toe out in the rear, we start with zero toe. Then we add 1/16 of toe out untill we reach a max of 1/4 total toe-out or until they got uncomfortable or slow. Which ever came first.

Hope this helps.