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My 2017 C7 Zo6 is about to roll 90,000 miles later next month. I am planning a 2000+ mile trip but need some info on alignment specifications.
At the moment the car is setup with track alignment so I am replacing tires every 9000 or so miles. The last set of fronts corded at 7000 miles.. I think something might be worn out in the front suspension as I have never so much as came near a curb.
Can someone help me come up with a hybrid type of alignment. Something that is half street half track?
Track alignment will cord the inside edges of the tires. I try to get my Camber down as close to "0" as I can when I get an alignment to get the most miles out of my tires.. Caster won't hurt but toe will murder your tires if not set accurately. I have almost 39,000 miles on my tires and this is my second set of OEM summer tires. My first set corded me by surprise and I needed tire right away for a trip and I could only get the summer tires. I think I got 17K out of the first set and this set is not showing any unusual wear as of today.
Not sure, this what my dealer (very good dealer) has it set up.
I am not tracking the car but drive it hard on a local back road every Friday and Saturday. I don't mind putting tires on it every 10,000 miles but 7000 is a bit much. I am open to trying a less aggressive alignment which is why I am asking.
Um, driving it hard on curves will pretty much negate any idea of getting good tire mileage. 10K is still a short life but 7K is just rubbing the rubber off the tires and no alignment will help.
The corvette comes with track alignment. If you took your car in for alignment, they would follow GM Alignment specs which is for the track. The alignment is cambered in at top so your wear will be on the inside of your tires.
If your not tracking the car, you need a “straight up alignment “ that’s the language I use to have my car alignment. Straight up for minimal tire wear for street. Good luck!
Tell the dealer you want the alignment specs set for the FE1 suspension not FE6 or FE7 which is what your car came with. FE1 specs are for great tire wear and so so performance handling. FE6 and 7 are for performance handling and lousy tire wear.
You need to find a alignment shop with a caster tool.Talk to the guy about the specs you want.The Dealers will only put you in the Machines Green.Unless your fortunate to know and trust a particular teck.
For better tire wear there is a chart on a couple posts down on the journey I went threw trying to get a decent alignment.Link provided.
Not to confuse with a lowering thread.Lowering doesn't matter the specs matter. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-settings.html
I will try to be a little more exact with the specs.
2019 Grand Sport with 15,500 miles. I had the alignment re-set at 1650 miles. Your ZO6 is "probably" set at about negative 2.0 ( -2.0) camber in front. Setting the front camber at negative 1.0 ( -1.0) will give you much better tire wear and still retain the handling you expect from a Corvette.
Following is the settings from the alignment shop I use and tire wear is consistent across width of the tire.
Front:
Camber -1.0
Caster 8.0
Toe 0.01
Cross Camber 0.2
Cross Caster -0.5
Total Toe 0.03
Rear:
Camber -1.0
Toe 0.02
Total Toe 0.03
Thrust Angle 0.00
The car does not come from GM with a track alignment. The alignment is set up for spirited driving but isn't anywhere near the track alignment that is called out in the OM and various GM TSBs. A lot of dealer personnel BS Customers by saying the car comes with a track alignment when it doesn't.
Did the dealer say they adjusted the alignment to a track alignment before giving you the car? Or did one of the service people blow smoke up your butt about the car coming with a track alignment?
The cars come from the factory with about -1.0 degrees camber front and rear. You may see it vary a tenth or so from that with one wheel at -0.9 and another at -1.1 degrees camber. The track alignment called for in the OM is -2.0 degrees camber at all 4 wheels. It would be interesting to look at the alignment sheet to see what the dealer set the alignment too.
Here are the GM street alignment settings (track alignment isn't covered in the service documentation):
Z06 non Z07 is FE6 and Z07 is FE7.
For tire, mileage knock off 0.2 degrees of negative camber so front would become -0.4 and -0.7 degrees camber and rear would drop to -0.8 degrees camber. Set total toe in at front to +0.05. Leave rear at stock recommendation.
Zero camber on the front will not give good tire life or good cornering performance. The outside edges will wear early at 0 camber. I would want at least -0.5 camber in front and if you do drive aggressively, closer to -1.0 deg. 0 deg camber on the rear would be OK, but not optimal if you drive aggressively. I would suggest at least -0.5 deg in rear.
Shorter post.Proper specks.Good luck getting them.It's been posted in the past that the Stingray works better on the wide body's for better tire wear.
That would be the top values.
GM stock alignment is not a track alignment; it is a lazy spec which when done will still lead to inner cord wear. If you are just driving hard on the street, a true street alignment is what you want. You will not push the car hard enough in the street to make a street alignment not worth your while. As previously stated, get the camber, and toe close to 0 as much as possible with the rear probably enjoying 0.05 in toe in as when you push it a bit it will go to 0 naturally.
Caster within default spec is nice, but I think you can run the DSC caster recommended and get a bit more handling feel out of it.
So I had mine aligned with specs that Bill D. has posted or at least real close. The problem that I have now is the 305-35-19 Nitto 555r2s are rubbing on the rear of the wheel well opening. The tire is setting pretty far back in the well and rubs when I hit a very minor bump. It used to be centered so is this a toe issue since it appears there is no rear caster adjustment, at least it doesn't show up on the alignment sheet. Yes the car is lowered on bolts but was centered when I lowered it. After lowering it, no alignment yet Same, no alignment yet
Last edited by 99vetteran; Jul 4, 2021 at 06:59 AM.
^^^
There is rear caster adjustment on the C7, and requires some different tools to measure and set. A normal alignment machine can't read rear caster, and the tech needs to write the before/after numbers on your sheet by hand.
Apparently the shop that did your work didn't know that and made a mess of things. I'd be looking for a better shop, even if I didn't get my money back from the first people.
If you are told there is no rear caster, they probably messed up. Rear caster is measurable and adjustable and should not rub even when lowered unless slammed and trying to corner at max grip like on a track.
I know we needed the gauge but I took it to a different shop and we took about 2.5 hours to get this as close as possible, a lot of measuring but its pretty dam close to where it was centered from the factory. after he had pulled the caster into the center. I'll remind you it was over an inch back from center. first picture in my garage with stock 285-35-19s This is with the 305-35-19s also with the 305s. It was so jacked up that I was at a 3 day race over the 4th weekend that the drag radial was rubbing inside the fender well on the launch. I will post that picture once I upload it. Worst alignment I've ever seen and what the new tech found was not what was on the alignment sheet from the other shop that did the original alignment. this is the inside of the drivers side rear fender liner. You don't want an alignment like this. I was already entered in the weekend event and even though I knew something was not right I had to go anyway and this was the outcome.
The car drives awesome when I did some launches on the street with the 305 drag radials it was planting the tires perfectly straight and going back and looking at the tire tracks I really couldn't ask for much more.
Last edited by 99vetteran; Jul 5, 2021 at 07:05 PM.
Help with alignment specifications
