[MatthewAMEL]

Greetings, all.

Went to get my track alignment today and discovered something not in the manual.

The front strut bolts are one-time use and tty (torque to yield - 180ft-lbs + 1/4 turn).

They must be replaced when changing camber.

Just a heads up to make a stop at your local dealer parts counter before you go get the alignment done.

[Ryephile]

180 LbFt plus 1/4 turn, dayumm that's a lot of torque. I was actually wondering if we'd find out if the adjustable bits would slip during track use and screw up the alignment, but probably not with that much torque.

Oh, BTW I had the dealership do the track alignment on my car before delivery. I'll go grab the sheet and scan it. It ended up with more caster than the book number, and I'm perfectly fine with that.


FWIW, the alignment feels fantastic, like a proper track car. Less tramlining than I expected, it's damn near zero. Highly recommended. I'm sure the tire wear will be amusing for around-town on these steamrollers.

[seanblurr]

How much front camber did you guys add?

That's one thing I plan on doing eventually, after talking to the MT drivers they stated the car has a slight understeer (very slight, not bad) and a bit of extra front camber would probably balance it out a bit more. What I am not sure about is how the car was set up during the MT drivers test. I can't seem to get a solid answer on alignment specs. If I had to guess, I would assume it may have already had the 'track' specs.

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by MatthewAMEL

The front strut bolts are one-time use and tty (torque to yield - 180ft-lbs + 1/4 turn).

They must be replaced when changing camber.

This is a very debated topic. Most cars suspension bolts will say that. BMR had written a big thing on this a few months back, how only if these type bolts are torqued way past spec would they actually need replacing. He said they deal with torque to yield bolts on a daily basis, and basically never have to replace them.

Take it for what it's worth...

[00 Trans Ram]

What about replacing them with some grade-8 bolts, and then using loctite?

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

I'm sure the tire wear will be amusing for around-town on these steamrollers.

I had a Mazdaspeed3 I used as a daily driver a few years back (the car that made me try autoX) and I had a track spec alignment done. It had lots of rear toe in, and wore out the inside of the rear tires down to the steel belts in like 4000 miles if I recall...they were pricy Continentals too.

[tx6g1le]

Great info Matt, thanks!

[JRL1LE]

Originally Posted by seanblurr

How much front camber did you guys add?

That's one thing I plan on doing eventually, after talking to the MT drivers they stated the car has a slight understeer (very slight, not bad) and a bit of extra front camber would probably balance it out a bit more. What I am not sure about is how the car was set up during the MT drivers test. I can't seem to get a solid answer on alignment specs. If I had to guess, I would assume it may have already had the 'track' specs.

The HP Supplement shows track alignment w/ 2.0 Neg Camber front, 1.5 Neg Camber rear. I am going to try closer to 1.0 Neg Camber rear to loosen the car up and reduce the understeer. I'll try it, then tweak it from there til I find the sweet spot for the balance I like.

[LibertyHill]

I wonder if the one-time use thing is because of threadlock applied to the bolt during manufacture? i just added fresh Loctite and reinstalled.

[NBR IPD]

I have not seen the 1LE's FE4's street and track alignment specifications in the service information or the Hunter alignment database file (Dec 2016 release). I predict the dealer service information will be updated at some point with the FE4 specs, but I haven't seen it yet.

[MatthewAMEL]

Front 'street' camber is -1.3. Track is -2.

Not a tremendous difference.

I don't daily my car much, but I'll be eyeballing the tire wear.

I've heard the debate about one-time-use bolts also. For every possible warranty issue, I am doing what GM wants and documenting it. The 4 bolts and nuts were only $20.

[Ryephile]

Here's a scan of my alignment. It ends up being just a whiff of toe-in front and back, significantly less than factory.

If you don't want to click the PDF, it goes like this:
*Front camber: -2.1° left, -2.0° right
*Front Caster: 7.1 and 7.4
*Front Toe: 0.05° In per side
*SAI = mid 16's

*Rear camber: -1.5°
*Rear Toe: 0.04 and 0.07°


Just for perspective, the toe angle ends up calculating to about 2 hundredths of an inch per side, or half a millimeter, measured at the wheel lip. Basically zero.

[JeromeS13]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

Here's a scan of my alignment. It ends up being just a whiff of toe-in front and back, significantly less than factory.

If you don't want to click the PDF, it goes like this:
*Front camber: -2.1° left, -2.0° right
*Front Caster: 7.1 and 7.4
*Front Toe: 0.05° In per side
*SAI = mid 16's

*Rear camber: -1.5°
*Rear Toe: 0.04 and 0.07°


Just for perspective, the toe angle ends up calculating to about 2 hundredths of an inch per side, or half a millimeter, measured at the wheel lip. Basically zero.

Wow. Your toe was out that much from the factory?? Makes me want to get it checked...

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by JeromeS13

Wow. Your toe was out that much from the factory?? Makes me want to get it checked...

I definitely wouldn't explain it as "that much". 0.2° is less than 2mm toe-in, which incidentally I ran 2mm per side rear toe-in on my Exige S. Yes, different car, but the LT1 isn't exactly light on power and some toe-in isn't a bad thing.

I would qualify the factory alignment as quite good. Now, if you want to talk about bad, the 1.5° total front toe-out my Abarth came with from the factory, that's too much.