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Be careful of potential sticker shock...my local dealer charged me $300 for a 4-wheel alignment on my new GS...and that was only after knocking $50 after I was a wee bit upset over the charges. Service manger was like "we had to do it 5 times to get it right"
Admittedly, as much my fault for not asking first and assuming the standard $89.95 covered Vettes. Still bitter over that and other things that went wrong on that visit...won't be going back to that dealer.
That $300 covered the special corvette tax charged corvette owners by the dealers.
"A VERY important point to consider is the C7 is designed to be a very high performance car. I'm not certain why people buying a car like a C7 would not be ultimately wanting an alignment which compliments/exploits the performace oriented design goal of the car. Tire wear should be a distant second or third metric... IMHO."
Probably because many owners like me will never track their car or drive it anywhere near its capability. Nearly all of my driving is around town or on highway trips. The car will never see high speeds because there is nowhere to do that except a track.
Wow. Mine was done by Corvette certified mechanic at a Corvette dealer.
That means absolutely nothing. Do yourself a favor and do a C7 Z06 forum and General forum SEARCH on the word "ALIGNMENT". Most "certified" techs are clueless. There is noway he's doing the rear caster and only charging $109. I'll bet you an adult beverage.
MANY forum owners have argued with "certified" techs on the rear caster issue. It's just incredulous they are so ignorant about such an important performance AND safety issue/setting.
Again, MOST dealers don't even have the proper tools even though they are dirt cheap. They will lie to you saying they did it thinking you don't know what you're talking about. MANY, MANY horror stories to read about if you do a Search.
"A VERY important point to consider is the C7 is designed to be a very high performance car. I'm not certain why people buying a car like a C7 would not be ultimately wanting an alignment which compliments/exploits the performace oriented design goal of the car. Tire wear should be a distant second or third metric... IMHO."
Probably because many owners like me will never track their car or drive it anywhere near its capability. Nearly all of my driving is around town or on highway trips. The car will never see high speeds because there is nowhere to do that except a track.
Just to point out the obvious, the speed the car snapped at in the video is not considered by most people to be "high speed".
The speed limit on the road where it occurred is 55 MPH and car snapped/spun without throttle application on a dry and dust free road at 64 MPH.
I had my new GS aligned after running over something in the rain. They aligned it with my weight in the driver's seat. I remember the shop owner complaining that they had to buy a very expensive piece of equipment to do the job correctly.
Just had mine aligned today at Hendrick in Cary. They reported that the front camber was off slightly, rear was OK, they made a the correction. Cost was around $155.00.
I'm a little leery of having someone other than a Corvette dealer perform an alignment. Hendrick in Cary NC is a top 20 dealer, so they see a lot of C7s.
Just had mine aligned today at Hendrick in Cary. They reported that the front camber was off slightly, rear was OK, they made a the correction. Cost was around $155.00.
I'm a little leery of having someone other than a Corvette dealer perform an alignment. Hendrick in Cary NC is a top 20 dealer, so they see a lot of C7s.
Come on man, we're talking about CASTER, not camber. ANYBODY can set camber, that's the whole point!!! Read the thread, the important setting is REAR CASTER!!!
They DID NOT set this VERY important setting and only charge $155!!!
I had my new GS aligned after running over something in the rain. They aligned it with my weight in the driver's seat. I remember the shop owner complaining that they had to buy a very expensive piece of equipment to do the job correctly.
LOL, too funny. And dealers and automotive shops wonder why the majority of them are despised. As stated earlier, they are LIARS.
The recommended tools needed to set rear caster on a C7 are:
However, many C7 owners including myself refuse to spend $732 so we buy a iGaging or Wixey AngleCube for $29 off Amazon. Does the exact same thing.
Going this route the needed tools cost $211!
A good number of Chevy dealers have actually told owners who've purchased their car from them if the owner would spend his own money on the needed tools they align per the factory alignment procedure.
We've had three previous new Corvettes, and every one of them had at least one parameter that was outside even the very wide factory specs.
Taking the new 2017 in soon, "uh, it pulls to one side".
However, many C7 owners including myself refuse to spend $732 so we buy a iGaging or Wixey AngleCube for $29 off Amazon. Does the exact same thing.
Going this route the needed tools cost $211!
A good number of Chevy dealers have actually told owners who've purchased their car from them if the owner would spend his own money on the needed tools they align per the factory alignment procedure.
You can't make this **** up...
Rick
Yes!
Ask your GM dealer if they have these. I waited until my dealer had them to get my alignment.
Those 2 special caster tools are supposed to be at all Corvette authorized dealerships. If not they are available to get on loan from GM. They need to go to the GM Special Tools website, then log on to the GlobalConnect link. The tools will be overnited to dealer & returned after use. I believe in the beginning ('14 models) only some dealers (high volume) could order C7s but that changed with the '15s & on so they all "should" have these tools. But still the above procedures do work even if not know by dealer. Google "GM caster tools for C7".
There is a myth the cars come with a track setting but they don't. If you are going to track the car GM recommends a setting that is much more aggressive than the way the car comes from the factory. Camber is typically twice the factory setting.
I don't know what way out means when somebody says that about their alignment as the tolerances are quite wide. From what has been posted most Z06s come in somewhere around -1 to -1.2 camber. That setting is within spec and not way out.
Here are the C7 alignment specs from the Factory Service Manual:
Z51 will have FE3/FE4 suspension and Z06 will have FE6/FE7.
As you can see a left front camber of -1.2 is right on the edge of the spec and a right front camber of -1.2 is .3 deg inside the edge. The .3 deg difference between right and left more than likely compensates for driving on the right side of the road crown as the car will pull toward the side with the most positive camber.
Bill
I really appreciate it when people speak with data. Thanks Bill
I had to replace my front tires at 17k due to pothole damage. They were heavily worn on the insides.
Be advised that on a new tire the inside groove is ½/32" shallower than the middle and outer grooves (outside groove if you've rotated your tires). I'm talking about the three wide grooves, not the thin ones. Mine were approx. 6.7/32" inner and 7.2/32" mid-outer when new, measured on my not-too-precise $3 tread-depth gauge. Verified this on a new car at the dealer. Wear has been consistent and very low so far, so I won't be checking the alignment on mine.
Just had mine aligned today at Hendrick in Cary. They reported that the front camber was off slightly, rear was OK, they made a the correction. Cost was around $155.00.
I'm a little leery of having someone other than a Corvette dealer perform an alignment. Hendrick in Cary NC is a top 20 dealer, so they see a lot of C7s.
I took my 15Z to Hendrick's City Chevy in Charlotte in March of 2015 to get the track alignment done. The denied any knowledge or rear caster being adjustable and the need for any special tools even though they are clearly called out in the factory service manual.
I doubt the Hendrick Dealership in Cary is any better. Same management same problems.
For the record the tech said it was not far off. Attached is a copy of the results. Why is the "specified range" different for camber on the right front v the left front. They are both in line but why the difference?
For the record the tech said it was not far off. Attached is a copy of the results. Why is the "specified range" different for camber on the right front v the left front. They are both in line but why the difference?
...
Post #8 has a copy of the official specs, and they are indeed different in left-right camber.
The most common explanation is that the difference is to keep the car from pulling to the right when driving on a cambered road surface.
On our 3 previous Corvettes, I had left-right camber set equal, if it pulled right it was not enough for me to notice.
Come on man, we're talking about CASTER, not camber. ANYBODY can set camber, that's the whole point!!! Read the thread, the important setting is REAR CASTER!!!
They DID NOT set this VERY important setting and only charge $155!!!
Does a base Stingray (non-Z51/GS/Z06) just a base Stingray, does it have this same issue of REAR CASTER adjustability??
For the record the tech said it was not far off. Attached is a copy of the results. Why is the "specified range" different for camber on the right front v the left front. They are both in line but why the difference?
Since no one answered your question, two reasons. One is to compensate for you sitting in the car and the other is the normal road camber.
Second thing I note, re "alignment being way off" from the factory is look at the broad range in the GM spec!
Brought my Grand Sport in to have an alignment check at 400 miles, after the suspension settled. The dealer could have just put in on the alignment machine and said, all but one toe was within spec! That took 5 minutes to fix. (GM will pay for an alignment up to 500 miles on a new car. Some dealers will do it with more mileage. Suggest, so they have something to put on their report to GM requesting to be paid, saying car pulls slightly to the right! Actually all cars often do, due to road camber!)
However I don't Track and wanted optimum tire wear. The car camber was on average -1.4 degrees on all 4 tires from the factory. All pretty close and within spec. Good for tracking but not for tire wear. I hand made a table and asked to have it set on the other end of the spec. Considering the different front right/left it averaged -0.8 degrees. The tech spent ~45 minutes making the required adjustments. I was watching from outside the alignment rack bay and he invited me in to look at the Hunter display as he made the changes. Told him there would be a tip and I appreciated his efforts. He centerline all toes.
GM will pay for one free alignment on all new cars. I had my local Chevy dealer check the alignment on my 2015 at 4K miles, and it was way off. They adjusted it for free. I had them recheck it at 10K miles and it was still good. I now have 25K miles on it and front tires are good, and look like they have another 10K left on them!
