[Winter’SS]

I have a 2021 Camaro 1SS 1LE with 32k miles. I just got brand new OEM tires and naturally wanted to get an alignment to make sure the tires wear correctly. I’ve always had an issue where the car pulls very slightly to the right, brought it in to dealerships endlessly and techs would tell me everything is fine and they don’t notice it. Anyways, a Cadillac Dealership in Fort Worth, TX was able to get me in same day. Service advisor was extremely nice and state the tech was the best when it came to alignments.

He does the alignment and shows me how much my toe and camber was off and the where the specs are now. He said the tech test drove it and noticed the slight pull to the right. And I finally felt relieved that a tech felt the slight pull I was noticing. (Especially at high speeds). So he said he was going to reset the computer that centers the car or whatever. Finally everything is done and immediately when I get past 60 MPH I notice the steering is ultra sensitive (responsive) and when I accelerate or get up to higher speeds the car is swaying side-to-side so much that it almost feels like I’m losing traction constantly when accelerating. The car felt completely unstable and I called the service guy and he said to bring it back. He reassured me that he wanted to keep the vehicle and get everything resolved to where the vehicle is back to normal and not pulling to the right. And he even set me up with a loaner.

I’m still worried since it’s Cadillac (I know it’s still GM). Can anydoby come up with any ideas of what might have happened?

[GXP08jrf]

Brand new tires can frequently feel "greasy" on the road surface for up to the first 100 miles or so. Give the tires a little more time to "settle" and reassess.

The greasiness is not on the surface, but the various components within the tire carcas setting in following being loaded for the first time...

[Winter’SS]

Originally Posted by GXP08jrf

Brand new tires can frequently feel "greasy" on the road surface for up to the first 100 miles or so. Give the tires a little more time to "settle" and reassess.

The greasiness is not on the surface, but the various components within the tire carcas setting in following being loaded for the first time...

Oh I know what new tires feel like. I had already put about 100 miles of “spirited” driving. The issue I’m describing made the car feel completely different. Each acceleration I was being pushed left and right at the same time to the point where I felt unsafe. Cutting right or left would make the car feel wobbly. I know what the car felt like on the new tires at 100 mph+ and the way it felt after leaving the dealership was extremely different.

[Msquared]

This isn't a tire problem: it presumably wasn't doing this before they aligned the car! What specs did they actually set it to, front and rear? It sort of sounds like they cranked a shitload of toe out into the rear. Or maybe the tech forgot to tighten one of the eccentrics and so one toe or camber adjuster is moving around as you drive it.

Camber could be advised differently depending on how you plan to use the car, but you should be aiming for between 0 toe up front and 1/32-1/16" toe in at the rear. I don't know enough about the steering centering reset to say if this could be an issue. Either way, it shouldn't matter that it's a Cadillac dealership: every car they make plus the ATS is/was based on this same platform, so it should look familiar to them. Get the alignment specs and lets go from there.

[Winter’SS]

Originally Posted by Msquared

This isn't a tire problem: it presumably wasn't doing this before they aligned the car! What specs did they actually set it to, front and rear? It sort of sounds like they cranked a shitload of toe out into the rear. Or maybe the tech forgot to tighten one of the eccentrics and so one toe or camber adjuster is moving around as you drive it.

Camber could be advised differently depending on how you plan to use the car, but you should be aiming for between 0 toe up front and 1/32-1/16" toe in at the rear. I don't know enough about the steering centering reset to say if this could be an issue. Either way, it shouldn't matter that it's a Cadillac dealership: every car they make plus the ATS is/was based on this same platform, so it should look familiar to them. Get the alignment specs and lets go from there.

So I’m familiar with the street and track alignment specs for camber, toe, caster etc. and they set it all correct on paper. I specifically asked for a before and after and they delivered that. I can’t remember the exact numbers (unfortunately they were in my glove box) but on paper they were in range and actually they were more specific than previous alignments where they just got it in range at a random number and left it. Dealership just called me and stated that the rack they used to align it was off and the alignment they performed ended up screwing up the numbers a lot. They used the second rack and performed two more alignments and stated the car is good to go. Two techs drove the vehicle and stated they got up to 80 MPH and it felt good but I will find out tomorrow morning if that’s true or not.

[Msquared]

Sounds like a reasonable explanation and that the service dept stood behind their work and took care of the problem. Best wishes that it's all good when you pick it up.

[Winter’SS]

Originally Posted by Msquared

Sounds like a reasonable explanation and that the service dept stood behind their work and took care of the problem. Best wishes that it's all good when you pick it up.

Thanks brother. I’ll let y’all know what happens and if they fixed it.

[NG329]

I agree that the issue may be tires.

Where are your pressures set at and what are the temps at in your region?

[3.8TransAM]

0 toe up front.
-1.5-2.5 camber up front
-1.5 in rear camber
0.10 total toe rear



That should fix all of it right now


Zero toe will eliminate unnecessary tire wear due to camber up front and the hint of toe out in rear will help the rear straigthen a smidge quicker coming out of turns.

[Katech_Zach]

If its pulling, I would have them check thrust angle. You can have perfectly symmetrical toe with your rear thurst angle being off, and it will do all sorts of weird things.

[NYblack1le]

Originally Posted by Katech_Zach

If its pulling, I would have them check thrust angle. You can have perfectly symmetrical toe with your rear thurst angle being off, and it will do all sorts of weird things.

X2. I had the same issues after an alignment. Brought it back to the shop and the thrust angle was way off.

[Msquared]

Thrust angle will not cause a pull. It would cause the steering wheel to be off center, though.

[Winter’SS]

Just to clarify. I got this issue resolved. As I said, the rack they used to do my alignment was not calibrated correctly so although it was showing that my alignment was in my range for camber, toe, caster, etc. - they actually screwed up the alignment even more. Luckily their second rack shower the correct numbers and they were able to align it properly and get it in range. Unfortunately they left my car on E with 25 miles left in the tank, and still were not able to print out the numbers of where my actual alignment numbers… so I was not very happy. Talked with the service manager and he put $20 in the tank and attempted to get the numbers but was unsuccessful. The advisor tried to make me feel good by saying “So basically you got 3 alignments for the price of 1” and I laughed my ass off thinking that’a pathetic that you think that’s a good thing. Anyways. It drives straight and was in range when I brought it to Chevy. Thanks everyone for the help