I'm taking my 2017 GS in for front and rear tire alignment I'm asking them to take the camber out so the tires run flat to the ground. Has anybody else done this. I don't ever plan to track the car so I want to get as much life out of my tires as I can

 

I took my '18 Z06 in today for it's 500 mile oil change and had the dealer do a four wheel less aggressive alignment for the same reasons as you. There is a pretty wide window on the alignment specs and the car does come from the factory with a more aggressive alignment. i am not going to track the car and want to get more time on the tires.

 

I did the same and I get an alignment done every year. Much cheaper than tires.

 

I forgot where i read it but a guy took his z06 to firestone to have it done. if you go to the dealership it may not be as correct as firestone since the offset camber is from factory. Im curious as well I prob will never track my car. Like to know how much if nay difference in the handling makes.

 

I did this with my '12 GS. If you aren't tracking the car you will never push it to the point that you would notice the difference. It saves on front tire wear plain and simple.

 

it's not so much the negative camber that effects tire wear as the toe settings. While excessive negative camber is not needed unless you are tracking the car, some is probably a good thing if you are ever on a twisty highway. The usual culprit for tire wear is excessive toe, either toe in or toe out. Have them make sure the alignment numbers are within spec, as factory alignments can sometimes be considerably out of whack. Pay particular attention to getting the toe numbers to be close to zero, just slightly toe in on front and as close to zero as possible on rear. The other thing that is sometimes overlooked is rear caster, which is adjustable on C7s, it requires two specialized tools to measure that some dealers do not have. Make sure they have these tools and check this measurement AFTER setting the other parameters. Have the tech hand write this value on the alignment printout. It should be exactly the same side to side and be between 0 and positive .8 degrees. For reasons far too complicated for me to explain here the optimum rear caster setting is positive .8 degrees. There are threads dedicated to this issue if you want to learn more.

 

I wanted this too. I have a 2014 Z51. After getting it re-aligned, I noticed that the car started to "hunt" (slight deviations) left or right on the freeway. I took it back and the dealer said that's what C7's did when they were in "normal" alignment. I had them put it back to track alignment. Don't know if what they said was true but I didn't like the feel of the "hunting".

 

I'm getting an alignment this week and I was going to ask for a "street" alignment - but following this and other threads, if this is the result I'm not so sure. Does it have to be tight and responsive steering vs. longer tire wear?

 

I've had personal experience with toe-out wearing the inner edges of the tires, and so have other members in our club. Toe-out also tends to make the car twitchy, which might be ok for an over-caffinated autocrosser but not so good for the rest of us.

The alignment numbers in the Service Manual are reasonable if you stay in the middle of the allowable tolerance, but those tolerances are huge and an alignment can be pretty crummy but still "within spec".
The cars get just a quickie alignment at the plant, and even that will probably change with some miles We've had one new C5 and two new C6's, by 1,500 miles each of them had at least one parameter that was outside even the wide GM tolerances. I'll be taking the C7 in for a check, next week.

Also, when you go around a corner the outside wheel takes most of the load, so some negative camber will help keep the tread "flatter" for better tire life and also better handling. The inner wheel is lightly loaded and suffers much less.

 

I agree w/ Jim and Formula with regard to both camber and toe.

Track or no track, if you enjoy the car on twisty roads as I do, some negative camber significantly improves the handling. If all you do is straight lines, your tires' contact patch will be flat on the ground with 0 camber. Once you start turning left and right, that is no longer true.

I had DSC Sport do my alignment and I used their "street/occasional track" settings w/ -1.5º negative camber and +0.5mm toe. Tire wear is very even after 6K miles, as measured by a tread gauge. Having said that, I do drive on a lot of country twisty roads near my rural property.

 

Did the same. At 400 miles mine were set from -1.4 to -1.7. Had them reduce to -0.6 to -0.8 still within the Broad GM spec for a Grand Sport. One toe was in the red now all centerline, close to zero.

 

I have -0.9 degrees front camber, 8.1 degrees left/7.7 degrees right caster, and 0.08 degrees front total toe.

I have -0.6 degrees rear camber, 0.0 degrees rear caster and -0.02 degrees total rear toe on my Z06.

Here are photos when my rear tires had 25,000 miles on them. I now have around 38,000 miles on them(3/32" tread remaining) and will replace them next spring.

162 at Talladega, 145 on crowned two lane roads, and high g's at the Tail of the Dragon, etc. Runs straight as an arrow at all speeds.

 

I just got back from hundred mile ride in my 2017 GS after having the front and rear alignment set for the street. Personally I think it's 100% improvement in ride quality. I have absolutely no problem with tracking and I actually feel the car is more planted with all the rubber on the road. When I make a tight corner now the front tires don't skip across the road like they used to. I had a 2015 Mercedes SL AMG 65. I absolutely loved the way that car went down the road and now I feel my Corvette could match it. I couldn't be more happier with the change of the driving dynamics.

 

Tire looks great! Hope I can come even close!

 

Looks like good smoking tires at this point. No point in leaving tread on the old tires.

 

First, no matter what the settings are from the factory and no matter what the guy in the shop tells you, NO C7s come from the factory with a track alignment. The Track Alignment is outside of the limits of the factory alignment specifications.

Most of the cars come from the factory some where in the -1 to -1.2 camber range. The track alignment recommends -2.0 camber which is a hell of a lot more.

Here is what the dealership and all of the independent shops use to set your alignment.



Notice the front cross camber setting which is .3 degrees. They actually specify more negative camber on the passenger side of the car than on the driver's side but that is overcome by a tolerance of =/-0. 6 degrees on the camber and cross camber settings. Basically front driver's side camber can range from +0.4 to -0.8 and the front passenger side camber can vary from +0.1 to -1.1.

That means if you take your car to any shop they can do a green and go and you could end up the driver's side having +0.3 degrees camber and the passenger side could have -0.3 degrees camber and the alignment would be certified as being in spec. because the alignment machine shows green on its display and printout.

Here are the recommended track alignment settings from your owners manual:

Front (per corner)
Caster: +7'0 degrees
Camber: -2.0 degrees
Toe: 0.005 degrees toe in

Rear (per corner)
Caster: 0 degrees
Camber : -2.0 degrees
Toe: 0.005 degrees toe in
Thrust Angle: 0 degrees

It also tells the mechanic to apply the standard tolerances shown at the top of the factory service manual chart. That means front camber can vary by +/-0.6 degrees from -2.0 degrees.

If you want an alignment that gives you good tire wear or great track handling you need to go into the shop with your choices and when they can't reach them easily be willing to compromise on them to some extent.

The biggest wear issue with the way the cars come from the factory is with the negative camber they usually don't have enough toe in. Negative camber with toe out will kill a tire.

Wide tires, some negative camber and toe out can cause some interesting wander on the roads. Increase toe in and the wander reduces quite a bit. Positive camber can also reduce wander and that is one of the reasons it was used on the early cars since they were driving on deeply rutted dirt roads.

Bill

 

IF I go into a shop and tell them to set the alignment for street use, will they know what I am talking about. Most would just watch the alignment machine screen and when it falls with in green they are good to go. What should numbers be, is the chart above good for street alignment or not. I would like to have the correct numbers to give the tech and expect them to be there. Thanks

 

You're right. They will plug the specific car into the alignment machine and it will tell them if it's within the very broad GM spec!

First I used the table for a Grand Sport, used the +- tolerance shown in the chart (camber is +-0.6 degrees for all wheels) and gave them a sheet of paper with what I wanted between -0.6 to -0.7. Note their is a difference in the specified front camber left and right to compensate for your weight. Took about 30 minutes.

If you just say check alignment, you're right as long it's with the wide spec it will show Green!

 

I have a 2015 Z51 and do not track the car. When I get new tires I'd like the car set up so that the tires achieve maximum life. From what I have read on this forum the factory specs might provide ranges that are too wide to necessarily achieve my objective.

Can someone please provide the best wheel alignment specs for street driving (aim and tolerance) for each parameter? The tolerance needs to be something that can be reasonable achievable by the technician.

 

Take the spec sheet above and zero out the camber, leave everything else alone and you'll be good.