Alignment
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 12,502
Likes: 3,628
Around $150, since they need to do all 4 tires.
As for shops, the car has a steering wheel sensor that needs to be taken into account, and most shops do not have a way to read the sensor to make sure that the wheel is straight with the tires straight. Hence Active handling uses this sensor, so really want it to be reading zero when the front wheel are straight. Myself, I just take my Tech II for the shop to use when doing an alignment, since there tire machine does not have such.
As for alignment, if you are just street driving the car (not hard corning it all the time) want to have it aligned to pfad street specs.
The standard OEM alignment is set up for harder corning, and if not pushed hard enough in the corners to wear the tires evenly, will cause the inside of the front tires thread to wear faster than the outside of the tires with the OEM alignment.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ent-specs.html
As for shops, the car has a steering wheel sensor that needs to be taken into account, and most shops do not have a way to read the sensor to make sure that the wheel is straight with the tires straight. Hence Active handling uses this sensor, so really want it to be reading zero when the front wheel are straight. Myself, I just take my Tech II for the shop to use when doing an alignment, since there tire machine does not have such.
As for alignment, if you are just street driving the car (not hard corning it all the time) want to have it aligned to pfad street specs.
The standard OEM alignment is set up for harder corning, and if not pushed hard enough in the corners to wear the tires evenly, will cause the inside of the front tires thread to wear faster than the outside of the tires with the OEM alignment.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ent-specs.html
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 3,554
Likes: 1,097
From: Ex DPRK, now just N of Medford, OR
Depends where you are (area labor rates?) and where you go (dealer? gas station?)...
Standard labor time for an alignment might be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours.
But depending on how close it was when it came in, and how meticulous the tech is, they might knock it out in 15min
Most tire shops will do a really cheap alignment. Sometimes they'll even take the time to get things right, but mostly not
Ask for a printout of the readings before and after. Unless something is bent, there's no excuse for the the L&R readings to vary by much. Getting them even isn't that difficult, within 0.2* should be easy on a Corvette.
If you care how the car drives, try to find a performance shop, and be prepared to pay a little extra.
Many of the newer machines have the capability to recalibrate the steering angle sensor.
Too far off topic to get into here, but unless the relationship between the steering wheel and the steering rack had somehow changed, I never found the need to recalibrate one...
Standard labor time for an alignment might be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours.
But depending on how close it was when it came in, and how meticulous the tech is, they might knock it out in 15min
Most tire shops will do a really cheap alignment. Sometimes they'll even take the time to get things right, but mostly not
Ask for a printout of the readings before and after. Unless something is bent, there's no excuse for the the L&R readings to vary by much. Getting them even isn't that difficult, within 0.2* should be easy on a Corvette.
If you care how the car drives, try to find a performance shop, and be prepared to pay a little extra.
Many of the newer machines have the capability to recalibrate the steering angle sensor.
Too far off topic to get into here, but unless the relationship between the steering wheel and the steering rack had somehow changed, I never found the need to recalibrate one...
Racer
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 494
Likes: 125
From: Burleson TX
$150 @ Trackworks in Ft Worth. They set the car up to my driving needs, mostly street with a few HPDE events. They also took the 660whp into account and compromised between rear traction and cornering. The pfad street specs are great to give to the inexperienced corvette alignment shop so they know what they are aiming for.
Racer
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 427
Likes: 124
The $99 specials you see advertised will only get you front toe in checked/ adjusted, which for most cars is all that is required. But with cars like Corvettes, the full independent rear has a lot more adjustments, and the precise nature of our suspensions make them more sensitive to all of them. This is especially true with the higher performance versions like the Z51/GS/Z06/ZR-1 which have even wider tires and were intended for track use from the factory. Granted, you usually don't have to mess with caster and camber as it doesn't creep much over the years, but if you've never had it done, its worthwhile having an alignment specialist or better yet, Corvette specialist, go through it. Most places will give you the before/after print out, but there is "in spec.", and then there's "IN SPEC", and I've seen factory alignments that were pretty wonky. Depending on how you drive should dictate which specs you go with - track, aggressive street, commuting, etc.. A proper 4 wheel alignment can easily take several hours, so with the average shop rate around 125/hour, $400 or more would not be out of the question for me.
Last edited by Ratboy; Jan 1, 2022 at 12:47 PM. Reason: typo
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 3,554
Likes: 1,097
From: Ex DPRK, now just N of Medford, OR
The phrase "Meeting Acceptable Industry Standards" is an important one.
A commercially acceptable alignment is one with all the angles within factory tolerance, which can be quite wide.
On most aligners, the numbers in red are out of spec, the ones in green are in.
Most techs are paid by the job, so the faster they can complete the task, the more they earn.
All readings are green? Fly it out the door! Never mind that it does U turns when you let go of the wheel...
Wheel alignment is one job that is usually worth paying some extra for. Or perhaps a healthy tip to a tech willing to take extra time to get things right.
A commercially acceptable alignment is one with all the angles within factory tolerance, which can be quite wide.
On most aligners, the numbers in red are out of spec, the ones in green are in.
Most techs are paid by the job, so the faster they can complete the task, the more they earn.
All readings are green? Fly it out the door! Never mind that it does U turns when you let go of the wheel...
Wheel alignment is one job that is usually worth paying some extra for. Or perhaps a healthy tip to a tech willing to take extra time to get things right.
