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fellow Corvette owner at work told me this. Should i be concerned? I put about 5000 miles on a year
tks Ted
"I have a friend with a Grandsport, which has the same wide body and tires at the Z06. He noticed when driving that the steering seemed to fight a little. He checked with the dealer and the suspension has the Camber adjusted with an 8 degree difference than stock. This is good for track, but will wear out tires sooner. Just an FYI, he had it changed to stock and they charged around $190."
It's a common issue that cars come from the plant with either very aggressive alignments (mine did) or alignments simply out of spec. If you've been driving the car for thousands of miles, have had no issues, and haven't had rapid or uneven tire wear then you may be one of the lucky ones who's good to go. If you haven't put enough miles on it to tell (I'm not sure if you've already put 5k miles on it or simply plan to), then I suggest getting the alignment checked.
fellow Corvette owner at work told me this. Should i be concerned? I put about 5000 miles on a year
tks Ted
"I have a friend with a Grandsport, which has the same wide body and tires at the Z06. He noticed when driving that the steering seemed to fight a little. He checked with the dealer and the suspension has the Camber adjusted with an 8 degree difference than stock. This is good for track, but will wear out tires sooner. Just an FYI, he had it changed to stock and they charged around $190."
There is something wrong with your statement. The camber can be varied from about zero to - 2.5 to -3 degrees. I don't think anybody has been able to get over -3 if they did it wasn't by much. 8 degrees is not impossible but it would take somebody actually purposely setting that way which GM didn't do since it would require more shims behind the upper control arms than they install and setting a ridiculous cam setting on the lower control arm.
Not sure what your friend meant by the steering fighting a little. The car has wide tires on it and it will pull into ruts or track road irregularities even with a street alignment.
Typically the alignment on the car as delivered from GM varies between -1 and -1.2 degrees camber front and rear which isn't a track alignment. GM recommends -2.0 degrees camber for a track alignment.
There is something wrong with your statement. The camber can be varied from about zero to - 2.5 to -3 degrees. I don't think anybody has been able to get over -3 if they did it wasn't by much. 8 degrees is not impossible but it would take somebody actually purposely setting that way which GM didn't do since it would require more shims behind the upper control arms than they install and setting a ridiculous cam setting on the lower control arm.
Not sure what your friend meant by the steering fighting a little. The car has wide tires on it and it will pull into ruts or track road irregularities even with a street alignment.
Typically the alignment on the car as delivered from GM varies between -1 and -1.2 degrees camber front and rear which isn't a track alignment. GM recommends -2.0 degrees camber for a track alignment.
Bill
thanks Bill, I just picked it up two weeks ago and it had 2000 miles/1 owner. I would assume the dealer did an inspection and checked alignment before I bought it. I have not noticed any steering issues. I drive about 3000 tops a year and the tread wear looks ok. I don't track and don't think the previous owner did. The average mpg was 22.6 which may indicate someone who doesn't push to hard. I had 16 mpg on the z51 stingray I traded in
thanks Bill, I just picked it up two weeks ago and it had 2000 miles/1 owner. I would assume the dealer did an inspection and checked alignment before I bought it. I have not noticed any steering issues. I drive about 3000 tops a year and the tread wear looks ok. I don't track and don't think the previous owner did. The average mpg was 22.6 which may indicate someone who doesn't push to hard. I had 16 mpg on the z51 stingray I traded in
would NOT azzume dealer checked alignment at all - personally, would ask they do just to ensure there are no problems
just installed new tires (4S's) and wheels today so I took it to the dealer for alignment. Guy I bought the car from put 7400 miles on the car and only one set of Cup 2's. Said he ran mostly in track mode for the exhaust sound. I run in Touring mode and set the exhaust to track sound. Car felt great (rides smoother) leaving the shop but I have yet to get on it and really see if it handles any different
.
On some roads it's like a roller coaster.. These wide tires don't fit in the standard path that has been indented over the years, it wants to walk up and down the ruts. Sport steering is better than tour.
On some roads it's like a roller coaster.. These wide tires don't fit in the standard path that has been indented over the years, it wants to walk up and down the ruts. Sport steering is better than tour.
I agree.
I keep everything in sport except the exhaust which i always keep in track.
I have 5900 miles on my car, never checked the alignment but the tires "look" good.
I'm gonna replace the tires next spring anyway, going with continentals.
The stock setup when new eat the insides on all four tires. I had it realigned to as neutral as possible now I get even wear on all four. I just turned 77,000 miles and to align for track to me is just nuts for the miles I travel. Frankly the car in a neutral stance handles perfect.
My front tires are totally chewed up at 8,400 miles, down to the cords on the inside. Matter of fact, one tire was eaten through and went flat. the outside treads still had 1/16.
This is with zero track and mostly highway distance miles. I believe my camber was only -1.15 or so. They reset to "spec" of .06.
My front tires are totally chewed up at 8,400 miles, down to the cords on the inside. Matter of fact, one tire was eaten through and went flat. the outside treads still had 1/16.
This is with zero track and mostly highway distance miles. I believe my camber was only -1.15 or so. They reset to "spec" of .06.
I have nearly 12k miles on my MPSC tires and they still have about 2 to 3 32nds left across the tire. A proper alignment can get decent tire wear on these cars.
07-07-2017, 01:14 PM
Z06 Suspension and tire wear
