[USCANAM]

I probably have close to 1/2 million miles on Corvettes which were C3, C4, C5's. I put over 172,000 miles on the C5.

I'm very familiar with suspensions and alignment, as on all the cars that I road raced, I have the manual equipment for alignment and I did them.

It was apparent with my 2015 C7 it was pulling very slightly to the right when on the right side of the road, and it would track straight when on the left side of the road. Because of the crown of most roads, the car should pull slightly to the left on the left side. In most cases, unless there is more crown than normal, a well set up car should track straight no matter what side of the road it's on.

With a 4000 mile trip planned, I called my dealer and said that on the way out on my trip, I would like to stop there and have the alignment checked. He said fine.

With car loaded, I stopped in and then they told me that because I only had 325 miles on the car, GM would not cover an alignment until the car had 500 miles on it and the suspension had a chance to settle. Finally with the stipulation that if the car started to pull the other way after it had accumulated more miles, I would have to pay to correct it.
I agreed, and it went on the alignment rack.
They found the left caster was off 1/2', and made the correction. This seemed in my mind enough to correct the problem.

5 miles from the dealer I was on the Interstate and on my way to Florida.

Soon became apparent that the car was pulling to the right no matter what side of the road I was on. Soon began to wonder if my wrists would hold out for 4000 miles of this.
Also became apparent as the miles accumulated, that sometimes the car was just fine, then it would return to the right pull even though the crown appeared to same in all cases.
For example, once I reached I-75 in Florida, car was perfect, but a few miles before it was not.

All my race cars were 4 wheel independent, and the most critical adjustment was the fact that the rear had to have toe-in, or it would be unstable. Am beginning to wonder if I might have this problem.

My questions are;
1. How does your C7 track? My C5 didn't seem to care, it would track straight unless the road was grooved from the 18 wheelers, and the wide tires did not like that
2. Has anyone experienced my problems, and was it corrected?

I'll be back home next week and am looking for information to pass on to the dealer, who by the way to this point had been most co-operative.

BTW, when the car was tracking straight on I-75, yes, it is a much better handling car than the C5.

Thanks
Jack

 

[Mobius]

Soon became apparent that the car was pulling to the right no matter what side of the road I was on. Also became apparent as the miles accumulated, that sometimes the car was just fine, then it would return to the right pull even though the crown appeared to same in all cases. For example, once I reached I-75 in Florida, car was perfect, but a few miles before it was not.

The only conclusion I can draw is that different road surfaces lead to differing vehicle response. To me this is not surprising.

Do you have a Z51 with mag ride?

My questions are;
1. How does your C7 track? My C5 didn't seem to care, it would track straight unless the road was grooved from the 18 wheelers, and the wide tires did not like that
2. Has anyone experienced my problems, and was it corrected?

I did a 2,000 mile cross-country trip over the summer to MA (mostly on Interstate 80/90) and had no issues. I don't have your level of experience with Vettes, but I have logged around 700,000 miles across a spectrum of vehicles. There was nothing to indicate that alignment was off for my C7.

I hope you get everything squared away to your satisfaction soon.

 

[mjw930]

Mine tracks pretty straight but when it isn't tracking straight it has a slight wander to the right. I hesitate to call it a pull as it doesn't require much wheel input to remain straight. It is very road dependent.

I had my alignment checked at 1600 miles and it too had a slight caster issue on the front. What they didn't do (I watched) was correctly check the rear caster. The C7 is one of the few IRS cars with a rear caster spec in addition to the camber and toe. Rear camber and toe were within spec though not matched perfectly side to side. I called them on it and they insisted it was perfectly fine. The dealer isn't going to spend the time to get the readings to the precise spec, they go by +- spec and call it good as long as the machine shows green on all readings. Toe is mistakenly only read as total toe, not side to side dependent and I know mine is off slightly in the rear though total toe is correct. I believe the rear caster is slightly out of whack based on the way the car tracks but I'll need to take the time to have a heart to heart with the dealer or see if I can find a local shop that has the proper rear caster gauge and hub adapter. The level of arrogance by most mechanics is absurd. On more than one occasion I've heard comments about how I'm just being a hard ass and couldn't tell the difference regardless the setting. Many a dealer and independent has lost my business over the years.

In the last 10 years the ONLY dealer in the Central Florida area that would align my cars to the EXACT spec was the Porsche dealer. Coincidentally the mechanic that does all their alignments is also an autocross addict who I got to know at PCA events. He actually aligned the car with 1/2 tank of fuel and me in the drivers seat, the proper way to perform an alignment on a performance car. Too bad they won't do the Corvette..... If it wasn't such a hassle I would consider purchasing the hub adapter and gauge so I could pick my own shop but I doubt GM would sell me the rear adapter.

 

[USCANAM]

Do you have a Z51 with mag ride?

No, we just have a lowly LT1 !!
Thanks for the input

 

[USCANAM]

If it wasn't such a hassle I would consider purchasing the hub adapter and gauge so I could pick my own shop but I doubt GM would sell me the rear adapter.

Thanks Mark.
I have a caster/camber gauge and a machine lathe that I used to make adapters for all my cars.
If in the long run, it comes to that, I will.

The way I do my cars is similar to what the Formula 1 cars do.
Using trammel bars front and rear that attach to the car, and strings connecting them on the out edge of the bars, you build a perfect box around car. Then by taking measurements from the string to the rims, you align toe in and toe out.

You can also do this using jack stands to hold the strings making sure you find the perfect center of the car and adjust strings accordingly.
Jack

 

[abshapiro]

Jack -

I suggest rotating the front tires (i.e., left-to-right and right-to-left side)

I had this very annoying experience also. Just for the record, I have a C3 sitting in the garage, which I bought new in 1972, so I also have a lot of driving experience. The C7 had a right drift. Not a pull. Just like your experience, if I drove on the left side of a crowned road the car would drive down the road straight for a longer distance. At 700 miles I had it aligned. Stilled had a right drift. Then the mechanic rotated the front tires (i.e., right wheel to left side of car and left-to-right). This still had a drift but less. Then after another 200 miles the car started to aim straight. I also have a very accurate tire pressure gauge (+/- 0.1 psi calibrated). The tire pressure is set to 30psi.

Art

 

[USCANAM]

Jack -

I suggest rotating the front tires (i.e., left-to-right and right-to-left side)

I had this very annoying experience also. Just for the record, I have a C3 sitting in the garage, which I bought new in 1972, so I also have a lot of driving experience. The C7 had a right drift. Not a pull. Just like your experience, if I drove on the left side of a crowned road the car would drive down the road straight for a longer distance. At 700 miles I had it aligned. Stilled had a right drift. Then the mechanic rotated the front tires (i.e., right wheel to left side of car and left-to-right). This still had a drift but less. Then after another 200 miles the car started to aim straight. I also have a very accurate tire pressure gauge (+/- 0.1 psi calibrated). The tire pressure is set to 30psi.

Art

Thanks Art
I have experienced the same results with a sedan. It worked, and they could not tell me why.
I don't think our tires are directional, are they? Raining here right now in sunny Florida, will check later.
If wheels are exchanged, the TPM would have to be adjusted.
This is probably the next thing I will do.
Thanks again
Jack

 

[abshapiro]

Jack -

Tires are not directional and C7 TPMS computer is smart to re-adjust automatically. My hypothesis is that the rubber used on the C7 tires can take a "set". Drive a few hundred miles after tire rotation.

Send the rain to California, we really need some. You're probably getting more rain in Florida over a few hours than we have had all year.

Art

 

[Buzz]

I usually take my new car straight from dealer to an alignment shop and have them align it for the way I drive. Corvettes have a nasty habit of wearing the insides of the front tires down much more than the outsides because they think we are all racers. When I readjust them for normal highway driving, i usually can squeeze 25,000 out of a set rather than the standard (for me) 21,000 or so......fwiw

 

[USCANAM]

Jack -




Send the rain to California, we really need some. You're probably getting more rain in Florida over a few hours than we have had all year.

Art

Gladly.
Actually, the reason I've put so many miles on my Corvettes was because for almost the last 20 years I've been coming to Florida for a week in the Fall and Winter to play in baseball tournaments.
Never once did my C4 or C5 fail me. Each trip would be around 4000 miles.
Reading some of the trouble posts, I hope I made the right decision getting the C7.
One decision I made was to apply the KISS principle, therefore I have a pretty vanilla LT1.
The miles will tell
Jack

 

[jsvette]

Jack my non-Z51 Stingray tracks straight at all speeds (ie: 'hands off' straight down the road without having to correct drift) and has from new to current.

 

[Chip]

Jack; I have seen that other owners have had similar issues fitting your description. Several had faulty tires, while other found that a more "exacting" wheel alignment was required. If I recall correctly, more than a few had to have their front ends aligned more than once to get the issue rectified. Make sure it is, or is not, a tire only issue before chasing the alignment fix.

 

[USCANAM]

Jack; I have seen that other owners have had similar issues fitting your description. Several had faulty tires, while other found that a more "exacting" wheel alignment was required. If I recall correctly, more than a few had to have their front ends aligned more than once to get the issue rectified. Make sure it is, or is not, a tire only issue before chasing the alignment fix.

Thanks for all the help.
I think, based upon the forum replies, that at the end of the week we have about 1700 miles to cover for the trip home. I'll try to keep track of when it decides to pull, and what the road conditions were.
When home, as suggested, I will swap the front wheels and drive for a couple of hundred miles to see if this helps.
Will post results in a few weeks
Thanks again
Jack

 

[RCjr]

Almost 5k miles and tracks like on rails.

 

[USCANAM]

Here's an update so far with my tracking problem.

Car now has about 3800 miles on it and still pulls slightly to the right most of the time.

On the trip back from Florida to Massachusetts I experienced temperatures from 75 to 25 degrees. That did not affect the tracking.

My wrists were getting sore from holding a left correction on the steering wheel.

I feel it was a dangerous situation since if you took your eyes off the road for 5 seconds to push something on the info panel, you would change lanes because the correction feel was constantly changing. Not fun on I-95!!

I was so pissed that I arranged my arrival back to New England so I could stop in at Paul Masse Chevrolet in E. Providence R.I. before I got home.
Being tired after 1600 miles of not so comfortable driving probably did not tend for me to be totally pleasant when I walked into the service department.
They suggested that I take a technician out for a ride, but I gave him the FOB and told him to drive the car since I wanted the weight to be as it was for me.
When he returned he said the car drove fine. THEN I took him out for a 15 mile drive and demonstated how the car would drift right even when in the far left lanes. This was done during rush hour,, and I think he got the message.

They then asked me what I would like done, and I showed him the forum posts about exchanging front wheels, which they did. In all fairness, I said I'll give it 200 miles before we do anything else. Have done about 60 of the 200 miles and no change yet.

I have met Paul Masse, and his Vice President and General Manager Scott Wellington, and have been assured that the matter will be corrected, even if it takes some calls to Bowling Green. Scott especially has taken a special interest in solving the problem.
As they are one of the largest Corvette dealers in the North East, I feel confident that we will get the car "riding on rails".

As for the rest of the car, I found the seats not quite as comfortable as the C5 because of the lack of "wiggle" room, but changing the angles of the seats periodically helped.

Averaged 66 mph over 1600 + miles and got 31.6 mpg on the return leg. Gas mileage would have been better had it not been so cold.
Tires started out at 28 pounds the morning that it was 25', but soon went back to 30 as they warmed. Tire temp gauge said tires were "warm" even when it was 28' out!

I will totally love this car once it is fixed!

Will update later
Jack

 

[Boomer]

So you had to take the guy out for a ride before he could see the problem even though he just drove it. I wouldn't have suggested a solution. Good trip report. Drop it off till its fixed.

 

[jsvette]

Jack, sorry to read of your continuing issues on tracking. When you say your wrists were getting sore I would like to suggest you change your driving mode to "tour" if you are not in that at the current time. The steering requires far less effort in Tour than in Sport (and Track) until it gets fixed.

 

[USCANAM]

Jack, sorry to read of your continuing issues on tracking. When you say your wrists were getting sore I would like to suggest you change your driving mode to "tour" if you are not in that at the current time. The steering requires far less effort in Tour than in Sport (and Track) until it gets fixed.

Dang Jeff
Wish I had known that before I left on the trip. Would have gladly given up that start off roar!!
Thanks
Jack

 

[rdslon01]

More "pull right" problems... This is so disheartening.

 

[jsvette]

Dang Jeff
Wish I had known that before I left on the trip. Would have gladly given up that start off roar!!
Thanks
Jack

Jack, you could have still had the 'start off roar' if you had set your NPP to be always open (that is not associated with the Drive Mode), and then could have set the drive mode to Tour and had the best of both worlds