Trust the seat of your pants

[dredgeguy]

I have been going through issues with my car not feeling planted. Have 114,000 miles on her. I recently had the steering rack rebuilt by Turn One, last fall Phil put in all new SuperPro bushings as well as new wheel bearings and tie rod ends. Phil told me to wait 2 weeks so everything settles and then get a 4 wheel alignment. Had the alignment done at a reputable shop and still did not feel planted. Now starting to doubt myself....is it just in my head.....am I expecting too much from a 32 year old car? Maybe I am just used to my daily driver Volvo S60-R that handles like it is on rails? The only thing left would be tires. I have Michelin Pilot Sport 2's and two have a late 2017 date code and 2 have a 2019 date code. Car is garaged and plenty of meat on the tires. Before I buy the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4's, I took the car to Heritage Chev in Owings Mills, MD. I had been at a Corvette car show at that dealership last fall and met the Corvette Service Consultant Stephanie Spindler and the 30 Year Corvette Master Sean Lewis. Had a great talk with them at the show and Sean told me he used to work on the ZR-1's back in the day and to let him know if I needed any help that Wazoo could not do. I called and made an appointment and Sean took the car out for a drive. On the first sweeping curve I hear Sean say "WHOH"! Something is wrong for sure. We go back to the shop and he starts checking all the suspension components and zeros in on the trailing arms, said sometimes they lock up but all checked out good. He said let's check the alignment.....the rest is history. 4 wheels pointing in 4 different directions. He said go get some lunch, give me an hour and a half and I am going to get you fixed up. All I can say is now the car feels like new and handles the way a Corvette should. The lesson to this story is trust the seat of your pants, if it does not feel right, it is not right! Don't know what happened with the previous alignment, guy had a bad day, machine calibration was messed up...who knows but glad to pay the $330 for an hour of diagnostic plus 4 wheel alignment rather than $1400 for new tires.

[efnfast]

Glad you got that sorted out Charlie.

[A26B]

Charlie,
I had the same problem. Two different recommended, "supposedly good" alignment shops. Car was just not right. I put the ZR-1 up on my 4 post lift & used a couple of good, straight 2x4's to check alignment of front/rear alignment. Answer was obviously not correct. Rear camber, front alignment, front camber & toe all needed adjustment. I thought I must be doing something wrong.
So, I proceeded to do what I thought it needed, thinking it couldn't be any worse. The result of my shadetree/2x4 alignment turned out to really stabilize it. I never took it to another shop. Probably not as good as it should be, but I never experienced any abnormal tire wear or handling issues. Go figure, fancy machines w/questionable techs vs 2x4's & bubble level & tape measure.

[Mikey]

Charlie,
I?m not one for litigation, but I would have sued the first shop if they set my alignment the way yours was set. Did you get an alignment sheet print out from them? That is so bad I don?t even really understand how it was drivable.
Bad tires will fail to grip leading to spinning tires or sliding tires. It?s a lot different than fighting to keep a car on the road which is just about what you must have been having to do.

[dredgeguy]

The first shop has a great reputation for selling quality tires at great prices. They also do a road force balance and I was told they do a good alignment but no joy here. I will let the owner know. I should have seen the signs, the tech who did the alignment insisted that he had to drive the car into the bay and then he says it will not start. Told him to push the clutch all the way to the floor but he says again still no start. Then I told him to get out and proceeded to start my car and drove it inside. I should have just driven away..............anyhow, just happy to have it back!

[Z51JEFF]

Originally Posted by A26B

Charlie,
So, I proceeded to do what I thought it needed, thinking it couldn't be any worse. The result of my shadetree/2x4 alignment turned out to really stabilize it. I never took it to another shop. Probably not as good as it should be, but I never experienced any abnormal tire wear or handling issues. Go figure, fancy machines w/questionable techs vs 2x4's & bubble level & tape measure.

I do my own alignments for the time being,I just keep an eye on tire wear. If I can't get it right the. I'll take it somewhere,I just hate anybody touching my cars. I bought a set of very expensive alignment plates for the next project. I e had my Z for 17 years and it's only been to the alignment shop once and that one time even though there are flats on the tie rods the hack just grabbed a pair of Channel Locks and used those to hold the tie rod from spinning while he tightened down the nut😡

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

While I always try very, very hard to not be critical of the work of others, this is almost unbelievable.

All four wheels marching to the beat of a different drum at the same damn time.

Charlie, you are blessed indeed to have found a professional and competent individual, who had the right training, equipment, skill, and willingness to get it done and done correctly.

I would have to agree that it must have been a handful to drive, especially when driven with some steam.

Very glad 246 continues to be a blast!

You, your family and that car all stay well!

Marty

[dredgeguy]

Thanks Marty, it got exciting going around some sweeping corners at speed. That shot of adrenaline when you think it is going to spin out or slide, well makes you pay attention. #246 is alive and well. Hope you are enjoying retirement. Give a call when you are available, love to catch up.

[CA-Legal-Vette]

It?s always difficult to balance unreasonable expectations against seat of the pants feel. I went through the same thing with my C3. Found a guy who really knew his stuff that aligned it years ago. A couple of years back I was on a hilly and winding road and it scared me. I looked at mods to reduce the spring weight and maybe coilovers to increase the rebound rate. Turned out one of the camber adjusters in the back had come loose.