I just had my car lowered 1" and was told that is should be aligned. While I can understand that is it really required or suggested?

 

Yes, it is certainly suggested. Required - not necessarily, but how soon do you want to have to replace your worn out tires because the alignment was out? Get it done.

 

Anytime you lower a car you increase negative camber and toe changes. Plus, factory alignments are done very quickly on the line and just in the ranges. I would get the car aligned.

 

Typically, corvettes already have some negative camber in the factory specs, so if lowering adds to the negative camber, you may end up with excessive and premature wear on the inside of your tires. Back in the C6 years, I had a 2010 Grand Sport that required tire replacement @ 12,500 miles due to excessive negative camber. This taught me a lesson, so that I negotiated a no charge 4 wheel alignment after 500 miles when I purchased my '13 427 Convertible, which still had original tires @ 22,500 miles.

 

I lowered my car and had it aligned. I looked at the before and after numbers and the difference was negligible. It would probably been fine. 3 out of the 4 corners were still within spec. But it's always a good idea to do the alignment.

 

What's the going typical rate, $$ for a 4 wheel alignment at your Chevy dealership on the C8? I'll be lowering my car when I swap out brake pads shortly.

Thought I'd check to see what others are paying for the alignment before I make an appointment so I know if they are in the ball park.

Thanks !

 

On the C6's the primary reason for tire wear was not so much the negative camber, but too much toe causing the tires to scrub. I run a track alignment on my C6Z with 1.8* negative camber front and 1.2* negative in the rear and still get 20K miles out of the performance tires because the toe settings are near 0, just slightly toe-in to give good tracking down the road.

For those of you that don't track and really don't pull near 1G in your cars, you should get an alignment that is tire friendly, with 0.5-0.8* negative camber and the recommended minimum toe-in settings. The C8 track recommended alignment for the front is ~3.0* negative which is likely to wear the tires more heavily but also improves grip and overall car balance at the edge of the performance envelope.

 

You have 3 choices::

a) ignore the issue and see if the tires last and see if you like the way the suspension operates
b) get it aligned (which will make the tires last) and see if you like the way the suspension operates
c) get it corner weighted and aligned which will give you the feeling of a rear race car, properly setup.

 

I’m just glad I have a great shop to go to. You wouldn’t think much by looking at the place but it’s defiantly full of race driving guys. It’s amazing how many places can’t or even won’t do a true accurate alignment. An alignment is about safety also.

 

You didn't need to negotiate the 500 mile alignment. It was offered free from GM.

 

What? So if I lower my new C8 my dealership will realign it if less than 500 miles? Even if I lowered it?

 

yes and get corners 'weighted' or balanced. If you go to trouble of alignment, it doesnt hurt to check the corners. It generally up in the air anyway

 

Thanks for that, Just like C7 huh, need to get the alignment or else the tires will be ruined quick. All my previous car that I purchased new I never gotten alignment unless I hit/ran over something.

Did you by any chance find out about that?

 

As suggested, it cannot hurt. More of a concern would be who would do it correctly.

 

I work at a dealership ( not Chevy) and when we lowered my C8 to the max we put it on the Hunter Alignment Machine and the specs were still all within the factory tolerances. There was no need to adjust anything.

 

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My issue with "Within Spec" is you can drive a truck through the GM allowed camber spec! That's all Vettes not just the C8. C8 camber is "acceptable" and will show Green on a Hunter Alignment Machine if it's between about +0.1 and -1.1. Was the same range for my 2017 Grand Sport where the rear camber spec was -0.5 to -1.7 degrees. Had mine checked at 450 miles and the rears were about -1.6, close to max. With those wide 335 section width tires thought excessive as I don't Track. Had adjusted to my desired value of -0.8.

Brought my C8 in at about 450 miles and provided the tech with the bottom Table as to my desire. Turned out all 4 cambers were just slightly above the spec centerline and I said leave it. One rear toe was out (in red) and that was adjusted. BTW if you want a "free alignment check" at between 400 and 500 miles after the suspension bushings etc have settled- DON'T ASK FOR THE FREE CHECK! They is no such thing! Just say car feels like it's pulling slightly to the right! Fact is a narrow 2 lane road has built-in road camber to shed water and all cars will pull slightly to the right. The dealer must put on the warranty slip submitted to GM, "Customer says car pulling slightly to the right!" If you want it adjusted to closer to centerline or wherever with the GM standard (NOT TRACKING) alignment spec offer the tech a $20 tip!!

 

When I get my performance cars aligned, I give the tech the exact specs that I want for four wheel alignment. He gives me a printout of before and after.

 

Amen! I’ve lowered 5 of mine and have tracked 3 of them. More concerned about proper alignment for track use so got mine checked twice yearly. Never has the car been out of specs.

 

If you tracked 3 of them and the alignment was a track alignment, then you were out of spec as the track negative camber alignment goes well beyond the factory alignment specs. To my knowledge, GM had not published "recommended track alignment specs" prior to the C8. I could be wrong, but certainly never saw any GM recommended track alignment specs for my C6Z. Aftermarket recommended sure, but not factory recommended.

 

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The need for C8 Track alignment was not doubt driven by the suspension as well as the mild ~0.5 camber alignment set to offset the small amount of understeer built into the car near the limit.

As Tadge said, his "biggest fear" when designing the C8 was the oversteer issues with a 60% rear weight car. He said his dad drove his Porsche aggressively and he (Tadge) was well aware of the oversteer issues it had. Considering Tadge age, his dad's Porsche was no doubt of the same era as my 1967 modified Corvair with Plus 1 performance tires, headers etc. Even with parallelogram type rear suspension (changed from swing axle in 1965) you had to learn how to deal with oversteer. If exceeding the corning speed and going off the road both Corvairs and Porsches racing in SCCA had to counter steer like Tony Stewart is in the pic below in his dirt car. Had a fraction of a second to get it right or you were off the road, rear first!

Most drivers, even skilled racing FE Corvettes had to learn the difference and react accordingly. The average driver never did! As Tadge said, it took Porsche decades to get a 60+% rear weight car to be a good handler. They had to get it right the first time! They did.

Yep the aggressive Track setting of negative ~ 3 degrees front and ~ 2.5 degrees rear is no doubt needed to offset the "safe" handling built into the C8 for the average driver and create some oversteer when racing.