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I am taking my 2017 Z06 (Z07pkg, M7, Michelin PSS runflats) in for an oil change and want to get the alignment checked. I have read a number of posts about various set ups...... can someone give me the specs I should have them adjust to (including camber). I want the car set up for the best ride & tire wear for STRICTLY street use, I drive in TOURING mode most of the time, no WOT or street racing. I would like to be able to just give them the specs and say "set it up like this"! If anyone can help me I would appreciate it.
Posted in many, many threads. Regardless, I did the "Search" for you....
You should go with the Street/Occasional Track. Are you certain your shop knows how to do the rear caster?
THANK YOU..... I knew I had seen it but was unable to find this with a search...... thanks again for the response. I am going to talk to the service manager tomorrow, they have ASSURED me that they have an identified CORVETTE team that does full alignments regularly..... I'll be sure before I let them do anything
...they have ASSURED me that they have an identified CORVETTE team that does full alignments regularly..... I'll be sure before I let them do anything
Good luck with that - particularly the VERY IMPORTANT REAR CASTER!!
Make sure you specifically tell them that you would like the pre and post alignment REAR CASTER.
All the other measurements are measured digitally and printed out on a sheet they can give you after the alignment. It will show the "before" and the "actual" (meaning the "after") specs for everything except rear caster!!!
Make sure you tell them you want them to write down the before and after rear caster specs on the sheet.
BTW - DSC has recently put out a new alignment spec sheet. All the alignments now have the front caster to be 7.5°
and there's a Full Track spec now as well:
Last edited by BEZ06; Aug 9, 2017 at 04:32 PM.
Reason: added BTW
The numbers provided for the street alignment are within GM's specs. However, you also want them to narrow down the tolerance applied to those parameters. GM specs a +/-0.6 degree tolerance on front camber. That means your front camber could range from -1.8 to -0.6 and still be considered meeting those specs provided. You need to make sure they know you want the numbers as close as possible to what you specified.
The numbers provided for the street alignment are within GM's specs. However, you also want them to narrow down the tolerance applied to those parameters. GM specs a +/-0.6 degree tolerance on front camber. That means your front camber could range from -1.8 to -0.6 and still be considered meeting those specs provided. You need to make sure they know you want the numbers as close as possible to what you specified.
Bill
I have asked DSC multiple times, in various threads and PMs, to provide a tolerance with their alignment specs. Giving a hard value is nearly impossible to ask an alignment shop to hit without spending a ton of time fine tuning, especially when they are used to GM or other OEM loose tolerances. Some tolerance needs to be added to their spec sheet. They used to have a tolerance to the front caster, but now is just a hard value, same as all other measurements. This is just the Engineer in me....
Good luck with that - particularly the VERY IMPORTANT REAR CASTER!!
Make sure you specifically tell them that you would like the pre and post alignment REAR CASTER.
All the other measurements are measured digitally and printed out on a sheet they can give you after the alignment. It will show the "before" and the "actual" (meaning the "after") specs for everything except rear caster!!!
Make sure you tell them you want them to write down the before and after rear caster specs on the sheet.
BTW - DSC has recently put out a new alignment spec sheet. All the alignments now have the front caster to be 7.5°
and there's a Full Track spec now as well:
Got mine done last week after stock run flats were replaced . Before and after
I have asked DSC multiple times, in various threads and PMs, to provide a tolerance with their alignment specs. Giving a hard value is nearly impossible to ask an alignment shop to hit without spending a ton of time fine tuning, especially when they are used to GM or other OEM loose tolerances. Some tolerance needs to be added to their spec sheet. They used to have a tolerance to the front caster, but now is just a hard value, same as all other measurements. This is just the Engineer in me....
If you've asked multiple times and they've not provided I'd say it's probably not going to happen. I think providing "sloppy" tolerances is what allows garbage alignments like what's provided by the factory. I'm not sure there is any upside for them to do anymore. They developed the specs for in-house use and the specs suit their needs.
I'm grateful they've provided what took them MANY hours of extensive, expensive testing to develop to the group for all to benefit. Very generous. I'm an engineer and have no problem using my own judgement to let my tech know if my alignment is not acceptable.
From: Supporting the Corvette Community at Abel Chevrolet in Rio Vista, CA 707-374-6317 Ext.123
St. Jude Donor '08
If the OP is strictly driving this car on the highway and never aggressively than I would back the DSC settings down a little. To really maximize tire wear, I would not go over -1.0 camber on any corner. We've had many customers still wear the inside edges of their tires with more than -1.0 camber.
BTW, getting all corners exactly to what settings you want can be done by a capable mechanic in less than 2 hours. Obtaining a hard number on each corner should be considered a must if you're paying for an alignment. "Green and go" alignments might be acceptable for a pickup truck, but not a C7.
If the OP is strictly driving this car on the highway and never aggressively than I would back the DSC settings down a little. To really maximize tire wear, I would not go over -1.0 camber on any corner. We've had many customers still wear the inside edges of their tires with more than -1.0 camber.
BTW, getting all corners exactly to what settings you want can be done by a capable mechanic in less than 2 hours. Obtaining a hard number on each corner should be considered a must if you're paying for an alignment. "Green and go" alignments might be acceptable for a pickup truck, but not a C7.
Well said and is exactly the point I was trying to make above without speaking for Mike and TPC/DSC.
Knowing Mike I'd wager his response would be there is no tolerence, the numbers are the numbers. They take a LOT of time on alignments they do on the race cars they service as well as the street cars they do. They charge more than most but you get what you pay for, specifically, alignments that have no variance from set numbers.
Once you introduce acceptable tolerances you often end up with positive settings on one side of the car and negative on the other...
I still say that if you want to minimize tread wear on the street, the camber and toe-in need to be zero or very close to zero.
Otherwise, you will still see significant wear on the inside tread.
Alignment help
