Sensitive Steering

[mrvette]

I don't believe you have 7 degrees of caster, usually with shimming the arms to the max you can not get more than about 5* or so. Any mroe reuires offset arms, shafts or other tricks. Don't you people get a print-out from the aligment bench?

YES< but that depends on the machine and calibration of same.....I don't trust any of it,....up in the Wash DC area I had a great place to go align a car at, older brother of a friend of mine....the guys there knew as much or more about front ends and alignments than GM.....

down here in Florida....quite the OPPOSITE....to the point of me learning how to do my own shit in MY garage...took some attempts and some daze to figger it all out even with directions....worth it....

I can NOW check this shit in a flash on any vehicle in MY garage....

NOW I know you going to laugh.....one of my favorite guys at the alignment shop up north.....he could walk up to any car, and stand at the various wheels, look straight down, and to the back, all around the car....crazy, I KNOW, .....but with playing this shit myself, I started doing it.....

call me nuttzzier than a fruitcake.....i'ts true....you CAN see the worst of the problems right off the bat....

not swearing to degrees of accuracy...but any problem is easily spotted....

:hunter::crutches:

 

[Dirtbuster1]

I don't believe you have 7 degrees of caster, usually with shimming the arms to the max you can not get more than about 5* or so. Any mroe reuires offset arms, shafts or other tricks. Don't you people get a print-out from the aligment bench?

After 6 hours on the alignment rack that day at 100F, a printout was the last thing on my mine. In hindsight I wish I had printed one out. I was just plain wornout, & hurting from fight with the trailing arm shims. The use of the rack was free, but 6 hours of torture wasn't worth it. 100 dollars looks good compared to all of that work, but I get to say those might words " I did it myself ".:suicide:

 

[mrvette]

I don't believe you have 7 degrees of caster, usually with shimming the arms to the max you can not get more than about 5* or so. Any mroe reuires offset arms, shafts or other tricks. Don't you people get a print-out from the aligment bench?

After 6 hours on the alignment rack that day at 100F, a printout was the last thing on my mine. In hindsight I wish I had printed one out. I was just plain wornout, & hurting from fight with the trailing arm shims. The use of the rack was free, but 6 hours of torture wasn't worth it. 100 dollars looks good compared to all of that work, but I get to say those might words " I did it myself ".:suicide:

My sympathy, 15+ years ago I had my local vette shop do the rebuild and alignment, heard too may horror stories....so got the whole thing redone there...frame back to tires...

 

[MYBAD79]

Around here (Orlando) are not many who actually know what angle is called what and what the entire alignment is about... at the alignment shops here you typically find so called "alignment techs" who turn a tie rod until the light turns green... when you ask them for example what they set the camber to they just stare at you like a deer in the headlights.

paid $150 for my alignment back in 2004... they worked on the car for almost three hours. They dialed in too much caster for my taste but that's just that I don't like it, nothing wrong technically.

 

[SmokinBBC]

I don't believe you have 7 degrees of caster, usually with shimming the arms to the max you can not get more than about 5* or so. Any mroe reuires offset arms, shafts or other tricks. Don't you people get a print-out from the aligment bench?

Back in 2002 I took my first vette in for an alignment after getting a quote on the phone and the guy saying "no problem". When he sees it, he says sorry, rear is going to cost another 150. I got a read out and it was "within specs". They only did camber on rear. This was a Goodyear tire shop.

Since then, I've been doing my own.

Front is +3 castor, -1/4 camber and 1/32 toe.

Rear is -1/2 camber and about 1/8 toe. (Toe was darn close so I haven't touched it).