OK I Looked at a lot of posts on this alignment deal......... that the GS comes aligned as a track car and the tires wear quickly.

Assuming that is true.....what I can't determine is this still applicable to 13 model or did GM do this for the early GS models only????

Seems if this is the case........ and I see lot of folks saying tires were replace under warranty......GM would have switched to a street alignment????

Thanks!!

 

Don't touch the car until you're absolutely sure you want alignment changed. Your handling will suffer. Many folks have done it early on, and regret it later. Plus quite a few of those folks didn't get the job done right. GS manual cars are even worse to predict, since the tread depth of the outer portion of the G:2 tires is shallower. I have 3,500 miles on my '12 GS, and still have more tread depth on the inside. Will leave my car alone, unless I note more than 2/32s bias after a few thousand miles between inner and outer tread depths when I eventually switch to Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I'm at least 10K miles to get to that point. I don't go often to the mountains, but when I do, I drive aggressively in the twisties, most likely evening out any extra wear on the insides. So why neuter the car only to find out I'd be getting the same mileage now due to excessive outer tread wear?

That's why you should wait until you drive a few thousand miles, reminiscent of your overall driving conditions/style, and then make an informed decision. Good luck.

 

A GS Manual, which I have has a different alignment then an auto???? Why would manual vrs auto matter?

 

I don't know; good question. But there's nothing official. Maybe the ones that are more aggressive from the factory are manual GSs with F55, like mine, since those come with extreme-summer rubber (G:2s), vs the regular max-summer F1s on other Vettes. Issue is GM's spec has ridiculously wide tolerances (like the rest of the car, including engines, I'd guess): -0.45 +/- 0.60 for all C6s and GSs. So GM could go from +0.15 to -1.05 on the camber, and be within specs. Z06s and ZR1s have a lot more aggressive base numbers (-1.0 and -1.2, I believe).

If you don't have the G:2s like I do, you can measure tire wear better. Measure it when new, and keep track of it. Also depends if you like to have fun in the twisties every once in a while. And high-speed stability. If you're going to drive like a grandpa all the time, then you might want to change it. Good luck.

 

According to AllDataPro, auto and manual use the same specs.

 

Greg, contact your local tire/alignment shops...they often offer a free alignment check & you can promise them your business when tire replacement time comes later on.

I'd also take their alignment readings w/ a grain of salt...I've gotten varying aligment readings from 2 different shops on the same day(!), so accuracy depends on the technician setting up the equipement.

I found out who the best guy in my area is (takes his job seriously) to get checked after my Mich Pss's get installed.

 

I think you will get a lot of different answers on this. My 2013 GS came from the factory with -1 degree of camber all around, zero toe on the front, 1/16th inch toe in on rear. I was wearing the fronts slightly on the outside, and rears a fair amount on the outside as well. New alignmient increased the camber to -1.25 degrees all around. So far it looks good. I believe most are decreasing the camber? So I believe it will vary greatly depending on the car and how it is driven. I would watch the tires and have the alignment changed accordingly.

B.T.W. I am an agressive driver and do some track days.

 

My '12 GS came with the same specs as the above post and is exhibiting the same wear pattern F&R. 8800 mostly highway miles and the rears have .125" (1/2 of the original) tread on the outside and .175" inside. The .050" wear difference due to the toe according to my mechanic. Fronts still have 80% of tread. I'm not changing anything at this time because the car has "1 finger" steering at high speed. When the time comes for new, higher wear rated, tires I will keep a close eye on wear the first couple thousand miles and go from there.

 

Thanks JC!

Here is my experience. 2011 GS with G2 tires. Exactly one year ago at 4400 miles I had it aligned as the left front inside edge was chunking and the others were fine. I used the PFADT street numbers and set the front cambers to -0.7 and the rears to -0.5. (stupid me, I do not remember the original OEM settings nor I had measured the thread depth at that time so my whole premise can be out the window) After driving additional 3000 miles I noticed that, although the wear patterns were even, all my G2's had 6/32 nds on the inside and 4/32 nds on the outside. It other words, I was wearing the outsides faster and the car needed more negative camber. This all depends on your roads, and driving style. Mine is very little straight roads or highways but lot of low speed city driving with lot of right and left turns and stop lights. Naturally I am putting the outsides to more of a task with constant turning and cornering. So at 7400 miles, I took it in (not the dealer of course but someone who is willing to do what I want) and got the car re-aligned. However it is also fair to say that this guy had warned me about this tire wear reducing alignment last time, he had wanted to give me more negative camber but I was adamant so he had humored me. So this time I listened we have set up the alignment the way he wanted and the way his machine showed/suggested to be true, in my case I now have -1.0 fronts and -1.2 rears. That is really FE4 settings (ZO6) or the high OEM limits for the FE3 we have with FXA (275 front tires) . But the beauty about this settings, I have my original car back which I loved so much. Gone is the under steer, turn in is immediate the car feels planted and solid. Heck with the tire wear, this is the aliment I am keeping unless I am showing cords in few thousand miles.

So JC is correct, keep an eye on your tires,unless you are seeing some wild wear patterns don't touch it. Not one setting is applicable to all. It depends on how and where you drive the car. PFADT street setting is good for an average daily driver who does quite a bit of straight HWY driving, but our cars do like more negative camber due to the design geometry of the suspension and also the tires (especially G2's)

Last but not least, it all depends on your priorities. I want the best street handling possible, that might sacrifice some tire life, but in my case, it might actually help. The jury is still out on that, the telling will be the next 3000 miles, see if it improves, gets worst or evens out the wear.