GUNNER Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Does anyone know what the Alignment specs are for 2004 Silverado? I would like the exceptable range. Mainly I am looking to see if you can get some negtive camber in the front end. I think the range is (-.025) - (.75 for) camber is this correct? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Camber is between -.2 and................. I forget. +.5 maybe? I have everything at home - I can get them if you want. I'm running +4.5 caster, -.2 camber, and 0 toe, after leveling out the truck from side to side the best I could. The wheel is now nice and "tight" feeling, and it's sweet in the corners. A little twitchy on uneven/bumpy sideroads. I'm still having problems with my torsion bars (torsion bar rates?) and the weight distribution of the truck. I'm looking into aftermarket torsion bars now. With the factory specs, it seems as though GM wanted this truck to lean from the factory. There are two conflicting specs with the alignment. Each wheel wants to lead - one with caster, the other with camber. It doesn't make any sense to me. Its recommended to run from -.5 up to -1.5 camber in the fbodys. I wanted a little performance, but I wanted to keep it within spec so I'm not toasting tires too often. That's why I went with -.2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black04SS Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 What's the factory specs on the 04 SSS ? WP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNNER Posted July 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 I think the added negative camber would help alot sure there may be some added tire ware, but I think the benefits would outway that and with good tire rotation even that should be negligable. Also, it will just plain look better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 I'll have to dig up the factory specs, and hit up a friend of mine... he used to be a front-end guy at a shop for a number of years, and they have an "unwritten spec" that the aligment guys shoot for when looking at the factory spec-ranges. I'll report back in a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 Okay... I actually made a mistake, -.2 isn't the low side of camber. I'm really not sure why I thought that. It was about 2am when I scrapped together the specs I'm running now, so I must have just not been thinking clearly. I've got four alignments in the last 20K miles, I've got three spec sheets here. For some reason two papers out of the same shop show different numbers for camber. Here are the "common" specs I have: LEFT Camber: -0.6 to 0.4 ** Caster: 3.1 to 5.1 Toe: -0.03 to 0.08 RIGHT: Camber: -0.6 to 0.4 ** Caster: 4.1 to 6.1 Toe: -0.03 to 0.08 Cross Camber: -0.5 to 0.5 Cross Caster: -1.5 to -0.5 Cross SAI: NA Total Toe: -.05 to 0.15 ** The "oddball" Camber specs I have are -0.4 to 0.6 for each wheel. I was told (and demonstrated with two of my alignments), that when an alignment guy see's these specs, he's going to shoot for about 1-degree (give or take) above the lower Caster spec. As you can see, they're not the same range, so they won't be even. Caster will cause the vehicle to pull to the side that is more negative, so it's going to have a drivers side lead here. I made another mistake in my other post - the only actual "conflicting" spec is Caster. Two of my alignments, they gave me more positive camber on my passenger side wheel... Camber with the higher positive number, will make the vehicle pull to that side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A2Blue Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 marc_w thanks for that update - it has helped educate me. This info does jibe with what I've been told, w/ respect to the cross-caster difference. For several years, and several different GM vehicles, I've been told that the "official" GM line on alignment specs is to have the front end automatically "compensate" for road crown, thus less caster on the driver side vs passenger. Don't know about most of drivers here, but I'd really MUCH rather have it set the same and do my own road crown compensation. Also, perhaps someone can educate me more, but why would it be advantageous to set toe to anything but 0 (zero)? Am I right about negative camber being when the bottom of the tire is inward, rather than the top? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinisterSS Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 Here's all the terminology in a graphical format Wheel Alignment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 A2Blue: Road crown and GM - Yeah, I forgot that I was told that by these last alignment guys. I DEFINITELY AGREE, that GM shouldn't do this. It's the main reason why I've been so fanatical about how much truck rides (I thought they were doing crappy jobs) - the roads around here change from 'on camber' to 'off camber' all the time. Even the passing lane and the slow lanes on the highways have opposite camber. I've been told: Toe-in helps with straight line stability with the cost of tire wear. (good for those high-speed run guys) 0 toe has the least tire wear, but the tires will have the tendency to follow cracks or grooves in the road. I do notice this with my truck, it's not bad at all. Nothing like a bad alignment job. Toe-out is really only used for road-course work, and has to do with the turn in time, or something like that. Even then, it still sounds like it's a personal preference thing. Toe is supposed to get more technical too - I hear that tire pressure can change toe. I have no idea how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 That's a cool link, Sinister. It took me a while to figure it out - I had that friend of mine making hand motions trying to describe everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A2Blue Posted August 2, 2004 Report Share Posted August 2, 2004 Marc_w and SinisterSS, thanks for that info and link. I do appreciate it. I see I was wrong about the camber + vs. -. I certainly agree a bad alignment can really ruin your day - more than once I've had to take a vehicle right back and get them to change it! (not the SS) My SS roles pretty straight, but it does compensate a llittle for the road crown as we've discussed. I was also told by the dealership service if the alignment is set under the "unofficial" first 7500 mile free alignment period, they will set it to factory specs. BTW, I was told that this 7500 mile period re-alignment is not automatic, but at the dealer's discretion. Unless I see some unusual tire wear (so far none at 5K miles), I'll likely leave it and maybe when it's on mi nickel later, I'll have it set w/ little or no cross caster difference. Thanx again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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