Alignment Help Thread

[Rob@WretchedMS]

and after he's done with the alignment, but before the heads are pulled off, release the steering lock, wiggle the steering back and forth a bit, and recenter the wheel, then verify that the toe is centered on the screen.

[caverman]

Look what just showed up on my doorstep.

All I can say is WOW! these bolts are a hell of a lot bigger and thicker than the OEM ones.

Alignment is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I'm going to take in the suggestions on getting the steering wheel straight along with the different camber suggestions from Pete. Hopefully that'll fix me up because this steering right now is killing me. I drove the car last night and all I do is find myself fixating on how it's steering funky right now.

Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well tomorrow.

[terry_b]

Went back into Firestone before work today... I was thinking they might be a bit resistant to re-doing the alignment but the guy was like "no problem, it should be done right". Now my wheel is dead center and the car goes straight! I definitely know how you feel man, with the wheel crooked it just wears on you that it's crooked.

Those are some sweet bolts! And Pete, thanks for all the tips. Currently I don't notice anything with the toe being close to 0 so I'll just leave it alone until the next alignment (Pedders bushing install? )

[caverman]

YES!!!! My car is finally back to normal (if not better now)!

I wanted to post my findings in case someone else runs into a similar issue.

I took my car to get aligned again but this time with Pedders camber bolts in hand. I also explained to the alignment tech weird way it's been driving and we both thought it was something loose but neither one of us could find it. He even took it for a ride and came back to agree that something was wrong. I was there with him when the looked over everything by grabbing both front and rear suspension parts and tugging on them for looseness...still everything seemed good. Finally he thought to start the car and have someone watch underneath while he moved the steering wheel. BINGO!! the whole steering rack was moving. We could only get it to move under load of the car. You couldn't get the rack to move at all by hand.

So, next step was looking at the steering rack bushing that I had replaced. I ended up having to leave the alignment shop at that point without any alignment so I put in a call to Pete on my way home. A little while later he called me back and I explained everything to him. He said it almost had to be the strap that holds the rack down. Now, mind you I had never touched that side of the rack. I eventually got it over to my dads shop and sure enough....I was able to un-screw the bolts by hand. How the got loose I have no clue but they did. So, I took out the bolts, applied some locktite, and put them back. That fixed 95% of the problem. My steering wheel was now barely crooked and I still had the camber bolts so I went back to the alignment shop this morning.

After explaining all what happened to the tech I gave him the camber bolts and had him install them. Funny thing was that he couldn't understand how they were going to help. I think because they look so similar. So, once he got one of the OEM bolts out I held up the two bolts and showed him the difference. Still he seemed skeptical but it was my dime to put them in.

Well, then he got them in and started to actually align the car. He immediately came back and said "Very cool".....those bolts really do work. He then started ranting about how much better the were. He commented probably 3 times on how much better over stock the worked and then he had way more than enough adjustment for my car (which is lowered about 1.5").

He ended up only charging me $20 extra for the camber bolts and extra time he spent on it. $90 out the door. Smoking deal for me.

He didn't get it 100% where we wanted but he spent a good 30 min just on the alignment part and got me into a lot better specs. He couldn't quite get the rear toe where we wanted to though.

BIG THANKS!!! to Pete for taking the time to help me find the problem. I'm also a firm believer in the Pedders eccentric bolts! I know they aren't cheap but they are hell of lot better quality and if I can get a better alignment that help keep down the wear on my tires then they'll pay for themselves eventually.

I've only driven it for a little distance but it sure seems to really handle better. I feel like the car feels lighter. It might be in my head or maybe it's been riding so bad lately and not it's not but either way it really feels great right now!!!! Time to get to another Auto-X event.

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Hi all, new 1LE owner!

I've searched but couldn't find an answer on best road course alignment for an all-stock 1LE with the factory Goodyear F1 Supercar G2's. I may soon pick up a second set of wheels with slicks, so I'd like the alignment to be a compromise between the Goodyears and slicks. This car handles so damned good, I'm not sure if I want to mod anything other than an aggressive track alignment and high temp brake fluid! I may change my mind later, but this is where I'll start.

My car is a 50/50 track/street car, not a daily driver. It's priority is the track. I'm okay to sacrifice some additional tire wear on the street with the payoff of better handling at the track. The Camaro's maiden voyage is on July 20-21 at Thunderhill.

There's a local performance alignment shop that is exceptional. They are recommending a lot of camber in the front, and stock camber in the rear, to solve the Camaro SS's understeer problem. Well, the 1LE has already reduced understeer significantly as compared to a stock SS, and they have no experience with a 1LE. So this is new territory for them. Here's what I'm thinking for the stock 1LE:

Front:
Camber: -1.9 to -2.1 degrees
Caster: 8
Toe: 0.2

Rear:
Camber: -0.9 to -1.1 degrees
Toe: 0.2

If anyone knows the stock 1LE alignment specs, that would also be useful.

Feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks!

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by Orange Crush 1LE

Hi all, new 1LE owner!

I've searched but couldn't find an answer on best road course alignment for an all-stock 1LE with the factory Goodyear F1 Supercar G2's. I may soon pick up a second set of wheels with slicks, so I'd like the alignment to be a compromise between the Goodyears and slicks. This car handles so damned good, I'm not sure if I want to mod anything other than an aggressive track alignment and high temp brake fluid! I may change my mind later, but this is where I'll start.

My car is a 50/50 track/street car, not a daily driver. It's priority is the track. I'm okay to sacrifice some additional tire wear on the street with the payoff of better handling at the track. The Camaro's maiden voyage is on July 20-21 at Thunderhill.

There's a local performance alignment shop that is exceptional. They are recommending a lot of camber in the front, and stock camber in the rear, to solve the Camaro SS's understeer problem. Well, the 1LE has already reduced understeer significantly as compared to a stock SS, and they have no experience with a 1LE. So this is new territory for them. Here's what I'm thinking for the stock 1LE:

Front:
Camber: -1.9 to -2.1 degrees
Caster: 8
Toe: 0.2

Rear:
Camber: -0.9 to -1.1 degrees
Toe: 0.2

If anyone knows the stock 1LE alignment specs, that would also be useful.

Feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks!

1LE OEM



The shop is on the right track.

Front Camber -2.2
Toe 0.00 is better than OE, but 0.25 per side out is much better than stock.
Caster is good, but not adjustable on the 5th Gen with slotting the radius arm bolt holes and using Pedders eXtended Range Eccentrics.

Rear Camber 1/2 the front camber i.e. -1.10
Rear Toe IN 0.10 per side Total Toe 0.20

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Thanks JusticePete, that's just the info I was looking for!

[RBL]

I have a 2010 ss on stock suspension with just trailing arms. 275s in the front 315s in the rear. What would be the best setup I should go with for a street car that almost never sees the track?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by RBL

I have a 2010 ss on stock suspension with just trailing arms. 275s in the front 315s in the rear. What would be the best setup I should go with for a street car that almost never sees the track?

Follow the Aggressive Street

[camaro34]

I'm looking to realign my car, I am going to autocross maybe once a month and don't want anything too aggressive because I drive this car every day. I have BMR trailing and toe arms and pedders bushings. Any ideas?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by camaro34

I'm looking to realign my car, I am going to autocross maybe once a month and don't want anything too aggressive because I drive this car every day. I have BMR trailing and toe arms and Pedders bushings. Any ideas?

Aggressive Street

[RBL]

Thank you sir

[lakersftbl69]

Hi I have a couple questions. soon I will be installing my fe4 sway package and 1.25 lowering springs and bushings from pfadt the bushing are from bMR. I will be putting new wheels also. Fronts will be 20x10 275/40r/20 and rear 20x11 315/40r/20. This car will not see the track it's driven in the summer only on nice days. My question is what would pfadt recommend for an alignment and when I install my sways what would be the best setting to use. Thanks for any help!

[lakersftbl69]

anything? anyone?