When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have a 2013 I bought used with 23k miles on it with new pilot sports on it. Do all GS cars come from GM with a track set up alignment on them. The dealer I bought the car from said at 23k the goodyears run flats were worn out but worn out even across the tire. Do I need to get the car aligned?
I would certainly get an alignment every time you get new tires.
But some people say its not necessary if you stick with stock wheels and the stock sized tires.
The Goodyear tires are the ones that come from factory. Not the pilot sports. The reason why you have pilot sports is because the Goodyears don't last long.
Grand Sports came from the assembly plant with a fairly aggressive alignment, more of a track-ready alignment. This factory alignment was known to cause excessive wear on the inside edge. Combine that with the wear characteristics of the OEM Goodyear tires and most GS owners were looking at buying new tires anywhere from 8K to 15K miles.
Do a search here for "Pfadt alignment specs" and have a four wheel alignment done to their street specs. If you have the alignment done at a GM dealership, do not let them tell you the alignment is "within spec". Insist on the more moderate Pfadt numbers.
I get front and rear aligned or check the alignment every year.......so far so good. I use a street alignment that I can't find right now but is a variation of the PFADT alignment that is in many threads here on the forum......at 1600 bucks for a set of tires I want to get all I can out of them.....so far I have like 22K on my B-Stone Potenzas and they look great.....
Do any of you get the trammeling I experience ?? I think I will swap the front tires side to side to see if its radial pull, but then I get some pull one way then the other, some times straight Car was aligned but by the dealer so I don't know what to think. Wear is pretty even though, on Nitto Invos ???
Here's the set-up for your consideration.
Thanks
NSF
Grand Sports came from the assembly plant with a fairly aggressive alignment, more of a track-ready alignment. This factory alignment was known to cause excessive wear on the inside edge. Combine that with the wear characteristics of the OEM Goodyear tires and most GS owners were looking at buying new tires anywhere from 8K to 15K miles.
Do a search here for "Pfadt alignment specs" and have a four wheel alignment done to their street specs. If you have the alignment done at a GM dealership, do not let them tell you the alignment is "within spec". Insist on the more moderate Pfadt numbers.
Checked with local GM dealer and was told their alignment would be done to factory setting not Pfadt settings may have it done to Pfadt.
Do any of you get the trammeling I experience ?? I think I will swap the front tires side to side to see if its radial pull, but then I get some pull one way then the other, some times straight Car was aligned but by the dealer so I don't know what to think. Wear is pretty even though, on Nitto Invos ???
Here's the set-up for your consideration.
Thanks
NSF
Yes, I get it. The wide tires tend to track the grooves in the road.
The correct term is "tramlining" so you can google it. Here's one short article on Wikipedia that might help explain it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramlining
Yes, I get it. The wide tires tend to track the grooves in the road.
The correct term is "tramlining" so you can google it. Here's one short article on Wikipedia that might help explain it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramlining
So my alignment looks OK ??? Think I should try swapping tires side to side? or is it necessary?
Maybe its the Nittos?? It is annoying.
NSF
So my alignment looks OK ??? Think I should try swapping tires side to side? or is it necessary?
Maybe its the Nittos?? It is annoying.
NSF
I don't know off hand what the alignment specs are. I am hesitant about switching side to side even if non directional because they're going in opposite directions then and I suspect that the tires are sorta set to go in one direction now that they've been on the car. I know when I get my other cars' tires rotated, they just go front to back, not in an X-pattern. But we can't do that on the Vettes.
That article said softer sidewall tires don't have the tramlining problem as bad. I suspect it's also the low profiles we have, which effectively make them stiffer. And you with a GS have even wider tires than I have on my base (I think your fronts are the same size as my rears).
BTW ... I have Michelin PSS non-runflats and they still have the problem to some degree. My Caddy ATS and Subaru Forester don't do it, but they have narrower tires.
Last edited by RocketDawg; Jan 17, 2016 at 06:06 PM.
I did not like the Padt specs on the GS. It made mine twitchy. I used the dead center of the GM specs for FE3 suspension with just minimum negative toe. It is rock solid with no bad traits up to a speed I'm not going to divulge. Tire wear is even across the entire patch.
Every Corvette I have owned has come from the factory with a very aggressive alignment.
It ruined the tires prematurely on my '05, and I had them fix it before signing paperwork for both my '09 and '14. I also get them aligned (street neutral) at every other oil change. Some call it excessive, but no one has posted better milage on their tires than me. It's a worthwhile expense, IMO.
I have a 2013 I bought used with 23k miles on it with new pilot sports on it. Do all GS cars come from GM with a track set up alignment on them. The dealer I bought the car from said at 23k the goodyears run flats were worn out but worn out even across the tire. Do I need to get the car aligned?
The three new Corvettes we've bought all came from the factory with just plain bad alignment, not simply aggressive. Camber and toe were uneven from side to side and at least one of them was outside the very broad GM spec tolerances.
The PFADT specs on the base car are within the tolerances for GM, so a dealer should be willing to use them. I suspect the GS/PFADT is also within GNM specs. Some dealers just don't want to be bothered doing a good alignment job.
Be aware that PFADT specs show the desired toe-IN as a negative number, but 99% of the machines and Techs show toe-IN as a positive number. So if you just hand the guy the PFADT numbers and let him do it, you can end up with toe-OUT both front and rear. That makes the car twitchy.
Explain that you want neutral toe or slight toe-IN.
GS alignment question
Car was aligned but by the dealer so I don't know what to think. Wear is pretty even though, on Nitto Invos ???
