Alignment specs

[1bad79]

79 cutlass poly bushings,s-10 brake/knuckle conversion, stock replacement tie rods and center link,monte Carlo ss steering box,Astro van steering shaft, stock ride height with all new springs. I'm going to do an alignment this weekend what caster,camber and toe in do you guys run or do most of you just use the stock specs? Some "fun" driving but no track time whatsoever thanks

 

[UNGN]

More caster than the factory specs is better for a car that sees a lot of high speed highway use. The car will track straighter and the steering will have a firmer feel. Factory is like 2 to 5 degrees, I'd rather have 5 than 2.

Negative camber reduces understeer (front end plowing), but too much (less than about -1 degree) wears the inside edges of the tires, -.5 degrees would be fine. More than +.5 and the outside edges of the tires will wear in corners (and handling will suffer).

For toe, 1/16 of inch in is good.

Before you get it aligned, make sure the steering wheel is straight with the flat on the steering gearbox input shaft up. If the flat on the gearbox and wheel are at different angles, remove the wheel and respline it on the shaft so the flat is up with the steering wheel straight. This is important to remove slop on center if the wheel is not centered to the box.

 

[motorheadmike]

I went with 3.5* caster, -1.25* camber, and hair of toe in (~1/16"). It has really good road feel for stock stuff, the XH steering box really helps.

FWIW, I have never been one to fuss about tire wear over improved handling.

 

[UNGN]

FWIW, I have never been one to fuss about tire wear over improved handling.

Me neither, until I check the tires and the inside edges are cords.. then I back off on the negative camber... but before that, I enjoyed the negative camber. Inside tire wear meant that I just wasn't taking enough corners fast enough.

 

[pontiacgp]

I have 1° negative camber and notice no uneven tire wear.

And check the place that is doing the alignment. Alot of places don't know how to do the caster and camber adjustments. One shop that specializes in all years of Corvettes told me my GP has no caster adjustment and another alignment shop quoted me an hour on each side to do the camber in addition to the regular charge to do the toe adjustment which they call an alignment. One other place told me I needed a shim kit that was $145 after they had the car on the lift and inspected it.

 

[UMI Sales]

Here's what we have found to work good on these cars. Depending on the components you have you may not be able to get to this.

Camber -1/2 deg.
Caster (drivers side) +5 deg.
Caster (pass. side) +5.5 Deg.
Toe In 1/16" Total

This is an aggressive Street Performance alignment that won't wear tires.

Craig

 

[motorheadmike]

I have 1° negative camber and notice no uneven tire wear.

And check the place that is doing the alignment. Alot of places don't know how to do the caster and camber adjustments. One shop that specializes in all years of Corvettes told me my GP has no caster adjustment and another alignment shop quoted me an hour on each side to do the camber in addition to the regular charge to do the toe adjustment which they call an alignment. One other place told me I needed a shim kit that was $145 after they had the car on the lift and inspected it.

Before I did the alignment on the wagon I robbed all of the shims out of the parts cars and cleaned them up. To get the settings posted above I maxed out the range in at the rear bolts and had very few in the fronts. It took a long time to sort it out - I use a Longacre camber/caster gauge with the spindle nut adapter. This is much more cost effective than sending it to a shop for a "performance alignment" only to find out that they want more money because it is an involved process (I made that mistake once).

 

[liquidh8]

Here's what we have found to work good on these cars. Depending on the components you have you may not be able to get to this.

Camber -1/2 deg.
Caster (drivers side) +5 deg.
Caster (pass. side) +5.5 Deg.
Toe In 1/16" Total

This is an aggressive Street Performance alignment that won't wear tires.

Craig

And those are specs I had written down to use on my wagon.

Thanks for all the information guys.

 

[pontiacgp]

Before I did the alignment on the wagon I robbed all of the shims out of the parts cars and cleaned them up. To get the settings posted above I maxed out the range in at the rear bolts and had very few in the fronts. It took a long time to sort it out - I use a Longacre camber/caster gauge with the spindle nut adapter. This is much more cost effective than sending it to a shop for a "performance alignment" only to find out that they want more money because it is an involved process (I made that mistake once).

I have used that gauge and toe plates and if done properly they are great to set the alignment. The race team has folded and I'm getting lazy so instead of buying the equipment I did manage to find a good shop for the alignment who does it for $100. This shop knows what to do and they start of making sure the set up is square before they start any adjustments. If I do change any parts I set the toe with the string method before I bring it in since I am usually on my own

 

[fleming442]

I've been playing with a Fastrax gauge today since the local shops just want to take my money for centering the wheel an setting toe. The caster was +1 & 1.5 driver/passenger and the camber +.25/-1 when I started. I got it to +3.25/3.0 and -.75/1.0. A quarter of a degree seems like a gnat's *ss to me. What do y'all think? I'd hate to dick it to death (I'm good at screwing up like that). Should I call it good?