I posted this over in the Regional area to get specific shop recommendations and am posting it here just to get some more feedback....

I posted here (on my Regional Forum) a couple of weeks ago to get recommendations on alignment shops. I've checked with a few and am getting price quotes around $175-$200. Most of these are racing shops.

I just put new front tires on my '06 coupe (Michelin PS2 A/S Plus ZP's). I got 35,000 miles out of the stock GS2's but I could have gotten more since they wore more heavily on the inside edges (standard for the factory alignment as I understand). My intention is to get a more neutral alignment so the fronts wear more evenly on this set of tires.

My question is, do I need a race shop (and race shop prices) to accomplish this or can a more run-of-the-mill shop do just as good a job? Will a regular alignment shop get very close to a particular spec (I've run across neutral Pfadt specs on the Forum) or will they just stop at being within wide tolerances like the factory spec?

Also, what should I expect to pay for the type of alignment I'm looking for?

 

I had new tires installed myself and went to a local Tiresplus that had an in ground alignment machine. Since my car is lowered it was important to find that machine. I told them what specs i wanted and I stood there and watched to make sure they did what i asked. Plus, they give you a print out when you are all done. If you have the specs you want and let them know what you want it, I dont see a reason why they would care.

I paid $85 for the alignment. Good investment due to the cost of the tires!

Your quotes seem rather high to me but I have never used shop like that.

 

Mine was done by a corvette specialty/race shop for a similar price. I also had a four corner balance done with the alignment. I found that the general alignment specs given by Chevy are so broad that it's helpful to have a Corvette specialist find out what kind of driving you do and then narrow the specs to configure your ride for what you want.

 

I did the same but used Pfadt specifications for the alignment.

 

What are the specs for a street driven car?
thanks

 

http://www.pfadtracing.com/blog/wp-c...-alignment.pdf

I used their street alignment specs when I aligned my car, and am very happy with it so far.

Andy

 

I guess the answer to your question depends on what you expect out of the car, and what you think is reasonable to pay for it. I always have liked to do things "right" on my cars, and alignments are no different.

First you need to have a goal. It sounds like you really are after better tire wear. To me, 35K miles on a set of sports car tires is great. I'd be content getting half of that on my car, but I'm not easy on tires and enjoy driving the car as it was made to. If you want better life out of them you could reduce the negative camber, but that will also reduce cornering grip.

You could also do a performance alignment, like the "street" settings listed in that Pfadt link I posted. These settings will make the car handle better, but will probably result in equal or worse edge wear than factory settings. This is what I have on my car, and I am not seeing any abnormal edge wear yet. Both inside and outside look very even.
You could also just have it aligned to factory specs. You would be amazed at how far off these cars can be from the factory. There is a wide tolerance, and the car might be within spec but far from perfect.

I'm a technician that does alignments (as well as everything else between the bumpers) and have access to a very nice Hunter alignment machine. When I bought my 2008 Z51 with 8k on the clock, I aligned it myself. Everything was technically "within specification", but left much roof for improvement. The thrust angle was off, the front toe-in was excessive, etc.

With that it mind, your car will definitely benefit from a proper alignment done by someone who knows how to work on your car and is willing to take the time to do it right. It takes time to really dial in these cars, as I've done both my C6 as well as a friend's C5. I spent a couple hours on each car. The shops that are charging $200 for an alignment are doing so because of the time they invest to make it as good as possible. A worthy investment no matter what specs you choose to go with

Andy

 

The more I read on this the more confused I get. The way I understand it it's the factory camber settings that are likely the cause of the inner front tire wear, yet the middle of the factory specs call for about half the camber of the Pfadt specs. I've read on other threads that for good tire wear we should shoot for nearly neutral camber (-0.1) which is at the outer limits of the broad factory specs and makes intuitive sense but then why wouldn't Pfadt be calling for that? I do notice that Pfadt is now labeling their street recommendation as "Performance Street" rather than just "street" or "pure street" which may be part of the reason.

At any rate, I'm still a bit up in the air regarding what specs to use for strictly street use and even tire wear.

 

As you got 35k miles out of your last tires I'll guess that you aren't out pushing your car hard around corners. You can easily run near zero camber (<0.5) and zero toe and feel no difference in the handling. You might want to have slight toe-in (0.1 deg) F&R for increased stability but for legal speeds it's not an issue. Caster of around 6-7 deg. will be more than enough. Zero thrust angle. Settings the same side-to-side. Back when I paid for alignments they were $80-90.

 

Thanks for the specs.

 

Yes, thanks dbratten, that's a big help.

 

With 35K miles on your tires, that's real good. If the car handles good and doesn't pull to one side or the other I personally would let it alone. A lot of things could go wrong when the car is in the shop. Don't do maintenance when it is not needed.

 

Here you go:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...alignment.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...eg-camber.html

Many opinions out there...............

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I now have an appointment at an alignment shop. From my research here and elsewhere I have a good idea of what specs I should end up with. According to the guy I spoke with on the phone they'll ask questions about how I use the car and develop their recommendations. I think I'm now armed with good information which will allow me to determine if their recommendations are reasonable and to work intelligently with them.

Thanks again.