I just picked up a 2016 C7 Z51 and the Chevrolet shop foreman told me the alignment comes factory set for the track and if I drive it on the street the inside of the front tires will were out much faster. He has a lot of corvette experience. He told me if I was going to be mainly driving on the street, which I am, I should have the caster changed so the inside of the tires wold not wear out so fast.

I know there is a lot of experience on this forum. I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts and knowledge as to whether I should have the alignment re-set. He said I could get maybe close to 20,000 miles on the tires if I changed the alignment.

 

Absolutely correct. If you are a "street" drive like me, have the alignment set as close to "0" camber as possible, with just a slight toe. The car will still have a little negative camber when you are in it. I ruined several sets of tires in the past, before I learned this.

 

 

Think I'm gonna call ******** on that one. I have a '16 Z51 and just eyeballing it it is near zero camber front and rear. No unusual tire wear at 7,000 miles.

 

If this is a fact - juanvaldez thinks it isn't - do base vettes have an unbiased alignment setting - i.e. not set up for tracking?

 

If you look in the owner manual you will find the more aggressive track setting.

Just put a level on the rears, almost zero. I have been considering having it aligned closer to track setting because I autocross the car.

 

At 26,000 miles on my original tires my tire guy says I have about 10,000 more miles remaining in my tires... so, I'm with juanvaldez on this one.

I did change the alignment on all my previous Corvettes (I have more than 600,000 miles in Corvettes), but have not found it necessary on my '15 C7.

 

Thanks for the information. I really do not want to have it re-aligned if not needed.

 

So, if this is so...... what about NON Z51 cars? We have a BASE Vette. Anyone know if that is set differently, more street friendly?

 

It's not a Base Vette it is a C7 Stingray. I get upset when I hear owners referring to their cars as base like that is some sort of a discount or cheap car. There have to be a million people who would love to own a new Corvette but know there is no chance. Young children who stop playing baseball when you drive your stingray past the ball ground. I have purchased new Corvetts in the past that were no way top dog and I never felt badly or demeaned my car. In 1971 the only options my coupe had were power steering and power brakes. Loved that car.

I drive a Z51 and believe me I can afford a Z06. No point I love my car.

I'll get off my soap box and you take pride in your ride.

 

I have plenty of pride in our 10th Corvette. I was only trying to distinguishing it from the Z51 suspension set up. Several of the most recent Vettes have been on the high end of choices...... This is NOT about that.

 

There is no difference in alignment settings on any of the non-Z06 suspensions. See chart below originally posted by Zymurgy:





It seems to me there have been very few alignment discussions here in C7, certainly not like there were in C6 over the years. I think the factory settings aren't too bad for tire wear but may possibly be improved a little with fine tuning. My opinion only.

 

Gm allows an alignment under warranty as long as it's performed before 1000 miles?(or somewhere in that neighborhood). Drive it for a while to let the suspension settle then take it in and tell them you've noticed some unusual wear and would like the alignment checked and set to the 0 camber setting.

Make sure you get the printout of the before and after readings. They should be all in spec when done. The readings on the printout you get should match the chart above unless there have been some recent changes in the factory settings. It has been my experience that the factory settings were not always in spec. It's worth a check just due to the cost of the tires.
Enjoy the car!

 

Would this chart apply to 2016 models?

 

That's old info. See post #8. Left front is now -0.02
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...r-base-c7.html

 

All of 'em are set up at the factory with alignments for street driving.

The factory alignments are notoriously....hmmm....shall we say, within spec!!

The problem is...the factory specs are so w-i-d-e that they can be within the broad +/- values and be "within spec".

When you get an alignment, don't tell them "put it within the factory specs", tell them exactly what you want.

Here are the Service Manual specs, and they are for a STREET alignment:





In the Owner's Manual there are alignment specs for "Competitive Driving":

One thing that is VERY DIFFERENT with the C7 than previous Vettes is that the REAR CASTER needs to be adjusted during an alignment!!

The rear caster should be adjusted to 0 degrees, but there is a very wide +/- spread that will allow the left and right to be significantly different, and that is completely unacceptable.

The rear caster should be adjusted to 0, but it's probably even more important that both sides are equal. There is some bump steer/roll steer with rear suspension compression/rebound. As the suspension bounces up and down it can cause the toe to change and input slight rear wheel steering, and if the left and right are different it can cause a very uncomfortable darting of the rear end - and if the left and right are different you could have a different reaction from aggressive left or right cornering.

The rear caster probably isn't too much of a concern for street driving, but if you'll be tracking the car you definitely want it set up with 0 degrees both sides, and some of the track hounds have been setting it up with a little positive rear caster, and up to +0.8 degrees will keep you within the specs. A couple of performance shops have determined that the positive rear caster gives a better "toe curve" - not so dramatic toe change with suspension movement.

Bottom line - the factory alignments are STREET alignments - and the factory specs are VERY WIDE. The Owner's Manual has track driving recommendations. Don't forget to have the rear caster checked and set to 0 degrees. Get them to give you the rear caster settings on your alignment results sheet.


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https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c7-z06-discussion/4042562-dialing-in-negative-camber-using-a-laser-temp-gauge.html