Wheel Alignment Specs

[Devin]

Hey there everyone, I’ve done my basic alignment using a Hunter system and have quite a bit of experience doing them. What I am essentially looking for is a discussion or experience comments on the specs you used (mostly for street use) and tire wear. If you have an Active Power chassis, even better but don’t think the different replicas will be drastically different. I have used both the 2005-6 GT specs as well as the Corvette C5 to compare specs but I’m using Prothane bushings on all the control arms which would drastically change the flex compensation in the alignment specs from a stock rubber suspension. In the end, only time and experience will tell me if other adjustments will be needed but want to start with something close.

I am using a manual rack for steering with a front sway bar only at this point and have set the ride height for all four corners to about 4.8in (122mm) which is very close to the original spec. Right now front is at 0 Total toe/-.1 degrees camber/ -2.3 caster and rear is 0 total toe/ -.2 degrees camber.

Anyone have theirs I can compare to? What has worked for you?

Devin

 

[Julian]

I took my specs from the ERA manual and they have worked well, it drove like a pig when I first got the car and I spent a lot of time dialing it in and also replaced the shocks on all 4 corners with heavier springs.
Front: Caster +6 deg. +/- 0.5 deg.; Camber 0 deg. +/- 0.25 deg., Toe-in 0.5 deg. +/- 0.1 deg.
Rear: Caster +7.5 deg. +/- 1 deg.; Camber -1 deg. +/- 0.125 deg.; Toe-in 0.4 deg. +/- 0.1 deg.

Julian

 

[Devin]

Thanks for your insight Julian. Are you manual or power steering? From what I remember (I’ll have to look again when I get back home) on my Cobra replica, the manufacturer recommended 2-3 caster for manual steering vs 6-7 for power steering. So I’m a little concerned about it darting if I’m on the forward part of that at 2.3 caster now. I do have 245mm wide tires up front and will take your experience and dial a bit more total toe for both front and rear in before my first drive.

 

[Ole Nylende]

You will have to do a bit of testing here but generally toe in will eat tires, toe out will in many cases make the vehicle "darting".
In my experience the best toe is 0 or just a touch negative, but not much as this will eat tires.
Camber also depends on alot of things, basically you will have to test and see tire wear over time or evaluate them on trackdays. Generally i would guess somewhere in the area of -0,5 to 1 deg negative is a good starting point.

Also bear in mind that this is a narrow car which generally can cause issues with the wear on the road surface, you will be riding a bit out of the path others drive. This can also cause some sort of "darting" feel.

 

[Julian]

Thanks for your insight Julian. Are you manual or power steering? From what I remember (I’ll have to look again when I get back home) on my Cobra replica, the manufacturer recommended 2-3 caster for manual steering vs 6-7 for power steering. So I’m a little concerned about it darting if I’m on the forward part of that at 2.3 caster now. I do have 245mm wide tires up front and will take your experience and dial a bit more total toe for both front and rear in before my first drive.

Manual steering and I work out! My ERA is a wide body with 10.5" wide front tires, so the caster helps with the tendency to tramline, but does create for heavier steering effort at parking lot speeds. My wide body Pantera was the same with stock 3.5 degrees caster which I increased to 7.5 degrees to make ti more stable at speed.