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How Does Your C7 Track Down the Road

12810 Views 50 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  GTB/ZR-1
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
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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.
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Where's the rear caster number?

Hint, it won't show up on the rack readout, it's done with a separate tool attached to the rear hub. It's part of the special C7 tool kit.
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