[Guest]

I have noticed that the front tires on my 95 9C1 are wearing on the inside(275/40/17s on Impala wheels).....I know...big suprise! The specs that the front end shop gave me are as follows:

Camber 0
Caster 4.3
Toe 0
Cross Camber 0
Cross Caster 0

According to the specs that I found on here:

Front Camber -0.25
Front Caster 4.00
Front Total Toe 0.00
Front Cross Camber N/A
Front Cross Caster N/A

It appears that I need to change the camber and caster....is this causing the inside wear? Also, I have seen posts that I need .5 cross caster and that I should have 1/16" toe-in. Is the toe-in figure total toe-in or each side? I want to be sure that I get this done correctly this time. TIA

 

[Guest]

Looks like a toe issue. If the toe is at 0 when sitting, the tires will pull out slightly under speed. Anyone can do an alignment; not too many can do one right!

 

[Guest]

What VIN guy said....if anything, you'll see better tire life (and a bonus of better handling) with a slight bit of negative camber. However, fix the toe issue first!

 

[Guest]

Watch your tire pressure...keep atleast 35 in them and set your frt camber to 0 and the toe-in to .003"IN per side(total .006).
GM issued a service bulletin about accelerated tire edge wear/excessive negative camber about 3 years ago.If the shop you go to has HUNTER alignment equipment,the updated specs are there.I have a 96 SS with 37,000 miles on this set of tires and use the updated specs as a guideline(and I am an alignment tech at a Chevy dealer)appx 19 yrs
make sure your idler arm and/or centerlink is not worn or the alignment will not be accurate.I had to put 1 on mine about 3 mos ago (69000mi)

Good luck with it,sorry for the LOOOOOONG post....I hate seeing anyone get jerked by an alignment/tire shop.

 

[Guest]

so overall a front alignment setup should look like this for daily driving with minimal "spirited" driving?

Front Camber -0.25
Front Caster 4.00
Front Total Toe 0.006"

And, how do you check the idler arm and centerlink to see if they are OK?

A big front end swap is upcoming hopefully as early as this weekend.

Dropped spindles, SS springs, Monroe SS shocks and ZQ8's

Should hopefully be a major benefit from the cut front springs and stock shocks that I've been running for so long.

 

[Guest]

Yes, that should work.

If you're running SS wheels (or wider) in front, you might wanna re-think those drop spindles....

 

[Guest]

If your alignment guy is cool with it, sit in the drivers seat and have it aligned. your body weight will change those specs too

 

[Guest]

And after he's finished inspecting stuff, when he lets the front end down, make sure it's really down, not all bound up on the bushings. Then he'd end up dialing in an alignment at a ride height an inch or two higher than the car really has. Pointless, and a big problem, considering our car's camber curve. I'm sure this effects the toe, also.

 

[Guest]

Excellent points, 406impala and Kevin. And I suspect those points are the reasons behind most of the folks who have THOUGHT they were putting in those listed specs and end up getting bad tire wear