Wheel Alignment - Review and tips

[Mbar]

I took my car to a race shop for an alignment. My goal was to get -2.0 in the front as this is my daily driver and I was worried about ride comfort and steering 'wondering' with the -2.5 option as seen in the owners manual (removing bolt from the strut tower - similar to Camaro ZL1 1LE - See attached Pic) .
Sadly we could only get -1.6 in the front which I find odd. Even my non 1LE Camaro SS was able to reach -2.0 . I wonder if the tech was doing something wrong, like not loosening the bolts enough. No issue with toe (total 0.1 front and rear).
Did anybody do an alignment on their CT4?
Thanks for your help!

 

[shiftdown]

1.5 will save you faster chamber wear on your front tires, so it's not all terrible. What was the front camber at before the alignment was performed?

 

[strohw]

I took my car to a race shop for an alignment. My goal was to get -2.0 in the front as this is my daily driver and I was worried about ride comfort and steering 'wondering' with the -2.5 option as seen in the owners manual (removing bolt from the strut tower - similar to Camaro ZL1 1LE - See attached Pic) .
Sadly we could only get -1.6 in the front which I find odd. Even my non 1LE Camaro SS was able to reach -2.0 . I wonder if the tech was doing something wrong, like not loosening the bolts enough. No issue with toe (total 0.1 front and rear).
Did anybody do an alignment on their CT4?
Thanks for your help!



View attachment 8773

He was doing it wrong. These cars adjust near the wheel hub, not the top strut mount. There is a bolt that you loosen that allows you to rotate the hub. 1.5 deg negative camber is the standard alignment for these cars.

If you're looking for -2 then the shop will have to probably take off the wheels a couple of times to get it right.

 

[jwolf99]

Not sure how different the alignment is on the 4BW vs 5BW, but @poor-sha posted a really good video on the 5BW alignment

 

[Carguyshu]

i believe the bolt that gets added is so you can easily fine tune camber settings by using the bolt as a stop. if you're doing what poorsha did b/c your car at max is right in the right place then the bolt isn't needed

 

[Mbar]

He was doing it wrong. These cars adjust near the wheel hub, not the top strut mount. There is a bolt that you loosen that allows you to rotate the hub. 1.5 deg negative camber is the standard alignment for these cars.

If you're looking for -2 then the shop will have to probably take off the wheels a couple of times to get it right.

Looking at the 5BW video makes me wonder if the 4BW also use a spline bolt that you have to hammer out. The alignment tech definitely did not tap it out, he just loosened it.

 

[Mbar]

1.5 will save you faster chamber wear on your front tires, so it's not all terrible. What was the front camber at before the alignment was performed?

Before alignment both front and rear were minus 1.2-1.3
The toe is very easy to adjust in this car …if you have a lift…

 

[strohw]

Looking at the 5BW video makes me wonder if the 4BW also use a spline bolt that you have to hammer out. The alignment tech definitely did not tap it out, he just loosened it.

I just had my wheels off a couple of weeks ago and can confirm the 4 uses the same setup as the 5. If you watch the posted video you can walk your alignment guy through it and you'll be set.

 

[poor-sha]

Correct. The thing that took me a bit to figure out is that the bolts are like wheel studs. You remove the nut and then press (or hammer) them out - the heads don’t turn because there are splines under them.

 

[Mbar]

Correct. The thing that took me a bit to figure out is that the bolts are like wheel studs. You remove the nut and then press (or hammer) them out - the heads don’t turn because there are splines under them.

Update: I followed @poor-sha video and it applies to the 4BW as well. I banged out the top bolt and just released the bottom nut. I was able to get around -2.0 in the front. The 4BW has another option on the shock tower ( similar to ZL1 1LE) to achieve additional -0.5 which I won’t use since it’s my daily driver.
Thanks for all your help!
And now to try and re-adjust my toe

PS- 4BW doesn’t have the optional bolt hole that helps to fine tune the camber.

 

[Mbar]

2nd update:
I took the car for an accurate alignment on a Hunter machine. It turns out my front camber is -2.6L & -2.1R
I find it interesting that I was able to get so much negative camber without even using the “camber plates” at mentioned in the owners manual ( see above post #1).
I’m sure this alignment with the proper toe and rear camber of -1.7 will be good on the track. My only hope is that I did not screw ride comfort for daily driving. I could care less about inside tire wear. It will even out after one track day.

 

[TRTL PWR]

2nd update:
I took the car for an accurate alignment on a Hunter machine. It turns out my front camber is -2.6L & -2.1R
I find it interesting that I was able to get so much negative camber without even using the “camber plates” at mentioned in the owners manual ( see above post #1).
I’m sure this alignment with the proper toe and rear camber of -1.7 will be good on the track. My only hope is that I did not screw ride comfort for daily driving. I could care less about inside tire wear. It will even out after one track day.

i drove mine for a couple weeks on the recommended track spec after a track day and I miss it. it didnt't sacrifice much in terms of ride. But I think youre right about the -2.0 up front would be sweet spot for daily fun/acceptable wear.

 

[Mbar]

i drove mine for a couple weeks on the recommended track spec after a track day and I miss it. it didnt't sacrifice much in terms of ride. But I think youre right about the -2.0 up front would be sweet spot for daily fun/acceptable wear.

I agree. The car handles so much better with the correct alignment. I will dial mine a tad back , since -2.6 in the front L is reducing ride comfort a bit.
I will report back after getting everything ‘perfect’.

 

[Mbar]

3rd update (way overdue) :
Daily driving on the track alignment performed with the above video methood (5BW / 6th gen Camaro SS/1LE) significantly degraded the comfort of daily driving. I could feel every imperfection on the road , small pot holes would feel 'bigger' and the steering 'wondering' was pronounced. I drove the car on the track alignment for 2 months and could not be happier when I put it back to stock alignment! (front camber -1.6)

Going forward:
1. I will never use the above method for the 4BW, as it was insanely difficult to bring the front camber back to stock alignment. You basically have to lift the front, take off the wheels , loose the bolts, gamble how much to reduce the camber, re-tighten the bolts , put back the wheels, lower the car only to find out that you didnt reduce the camber enough. The correct way to do it with the 4BW is following the owners manual (same as screen shots above), which will move you back and forth from stock to track back to stock camber without guessing.

2. As track season is approaching again at the east coast, I'm debating if I should run the car with stock alignment (in my case -1.6 / your car might have anywhere from -1.2) on the track (this is not my main track car and only sees 2 weekends per year) , or try to see if the owners manual method feels different when it comes to daily driving.

One thing for sure - track alignment feels way better when you drive hard. Rotation is better and understeer is reduced.

 

[strohw]

I'm confused when you say you won't use the above method but use the owners manual. As you mentioned in post #10, you have to adjust both the steering knuckle and the top strut mount to get max chamber. So I'm not sure how you're just adjusting the strut to get track camber?

Personally, I ran with just the steering knuckle maxed out all summer. It gave me about -2.1 in the front. The rear chamber on track spec was 75% of the front so I ran my rear at -1.6.. At these settings I couldn't tell a difference in road quality at the 3 points of change, street then track then street. On the last change back to street I did have more tire noise but that's because I was at 13k miles for the tires. These chamber settings didn't effect tire wear for me either.

 

[Mbar]

I'm confused when you say you won't use the above method but use the owners manual. As you mentioned in post #10, you have to adjust both the steering knuckle and the top strut mount to get max chamber. So I'm not sure how you're just adjusting the strut to get track camber?

Personally, I ran with just the steering knuckle maxed out all summer. It gave me about -2.1 in the front. The rear chamber on track spec was 75% of the front so I ran my rear at -1.6.. At these settings I couldn't tell a difference in road quality at the 3 points of change, street then track then street. On the last change back to street I did have more tire noise but that's because I was at 13k miles for the tires. These chamber settings didn't effect tire wear for me either.

Originally I just adjusted the steering knuckle as shown by @poor-sha on post #4. See pic attached. On this method, you do not use the "camber plates" as shown in the owners manual (shown on post #1).
You can (and in my opinion should) just do the adjustment of the 'camber plates' and get the max negative camber you need. Then, when you are done with the track alignment: jack the front, move the 'camber plates' back to their original position (the springs that you punched in will pop back in their place) and you are back to street camber. Clearly you will need to adjust the toe as well after.

I might have a different butt-dyno , which felt the increased harshness. I wonder if using the 'camber plates' method, create a different change in the suspension geometry which has a different effect on the ride.

As for 5BW - I believe they have to use the method @poor-sha presented (the 5BW owners manual do not mention the 'camber plates').

 

[strohw]

Originally I just adjusted the steering knuckle as shown by @poor-sha on post #4. See pic attached. On this method, you do not use the "camber plates" as shown in the owners manual (shown on post #1).
You can (and in my opinion should) just do the adjustment of the 'camber plates' and get the max negative camber you need. Then, when you are done with the track alignment: jack the front, move the 'camber plates' back to their original position (the springs that you punched in will pop back in their place) and you are back to street camber. Clearly you will need to adjust the toe as well after.

The information you provided in post #10 noting the knuckle can get you out to about -2 and the strut adjustment is needed for the next -.5 is how Miraz described it to me at a track day. He came up and asked how I liked the car and we talked a little bit about the suspension and what I was set at. He mentioned the numbers you originally gave, roughly -2 and -.5 as what you'd get for each change. Unless when you're saying just move the chamber plates you mean leave the knuckle maxed out and just adjust the strut to get the extra -.5 for track days?

 

[Mbar]

The information you provided in post #10 noting the knuckle can get you out to about -2 and the strut adjustment is needed for the next -.5 is how Miraz described it to me at a track day. He came up and asked how I liked the car and we talked a little bit about the suspension and what I was set at. He mentioned the numbers you originally gave, roughly -2 and -.5 as what you'd get for each change. Unless when you're saying just move the chamber plates you mean leave the knuckle maxed out and just adjust the strut to get the extra -.5 for track days?

Good questions. I had a couple of correspondence with @Mirza Grebovic on this subject as well. This is what I understood -
With the 4BW you have 2 options to create more negative camber in the front:
1. Use the owners manual instructions (punch the holes on the strut tower, or as a call them 'camber plates'). This will bring you right away from stock front camber to about -2.4
2. Use the method @poor-sha showed in his video. This method will get you to (with 4BW) around -2.0 .That's the method I used and was not so pleased with.

 

[hrdboiled]

Good questions. I had a couple of correspondence with @Mirza Grebovic on this subject as well. This is what I understood -
With the 4BW you have 2 options to create more negative camber in the front:
1. Use the owners manual instructions (punch the holes on the strut tower, or as a call them 'camber plates'). This will bring you right away from stock front camber to about -2.4
2. Use the method @poor-sha showed in his video. This method will get you to (with 4BW) around -2.0 .That's the method I used and was not so pleased with.

I'm going to try the owners manual "camber plate" instructions this weekend before autocross. Couple questions. Did you have to remove tires before doing this method? How did you push the strut assembly inboard? I've Never done this before. Any other tips would be appreciated.

 

[Mbar]

If you do the owners manual method you do not need to take off the tires. You do need to jack up the front of the car. Once you punch in the ‘camber plates’ holes, somebody will need to pull the wheel assembly away from the car.