So long story short I hit a curb really hard and knocked out my camber and needed to replace the L/F and L/R tires. Anyway, the L/F tire is angled in at the top, obviously the camber is out. Specs called for -0.8 to +0.8 and I'm at -1.3. Of course this probably means I bent something in the suspension. The performance of the car is overall okay as is now, no noise, no adverse steering or braking affects, and probably won't wear any of the tire out any more but of course something out of spec like this could cause further damage elsewhere throughout the vehicle.

Any sort of recommendations here? I'm basically lost...

Please save the "Hey pay attention" comments because really it isn't necessary this is the first and only "pay attention" mistake I've made with the car so no lecturing..

 

are you lowered at all? im on sportlines and have ~1.4* of negative camber on both front tires

 

get an alignment done and have a peak to see if anything got bent. if nothing is bent then correct your alignment and have fun driving safely. and yes i'm well aware **** happens

 

Well I had the alignment done when I replaced the two tires. It's funny I hit the front tire but somehow the rear got a sidewall puncture so that one was gone. The front was okay but a chunk of the sidewall was gouged out so structurally speaking unsafe. I replaced those two, did an alignment in the process. Now they put the news to the rear (did this at Mavis) and they had this whole reasoning behind it written out which made sense reading it. I'm not mechanic so really what do I truly know I just always thought the newest tires went to the drive wheels. So anyway they did this alignment and gave me the results. Apparently GM doesn't provide specifications for camber adjustment and this isn't the only place to have told me that either. I've done a few alignments (I live in NYC this **** just happens) having rotating the tires once and having them put on and the same thing. I had an issue with the rear sub-frame that the dealer replaced due to previous owner. So because GM doesn't specify I guess Mavis or anyone else won't go to adjust the camber, which I still find whatever but plausible still.

Also the car is 100% stock not lowered at all. Tires are Pirelli Nero Zero 215 45 r18.

I think it's the cross camber that's messed up. I have the sheet here but no means to scan and post so I'll do that Monday at work when I have that capability so you can all see.

 

Take a picture of the sheet.

Where's Maven??? He'll know.

 

That's the thing I don't even have my camera with me or any that'll suffice to do the task so I'll really just have to wait until Monday or when I go home tomorrow I could try to hook up the old scanner my brother used to use. Perhaps that could work.

Check that...

Got a photo coming

http://www.forsakenoutlaw.com/temp/DSC00705.JPG

It's a big pic like 2000 px wide so just open the link

 

hmmm

 

Obviously take into account I didn't look behind the wheel or anything in there and I didn't really ask them to do it either but that's neither here nor there. I don't think I'd see it anyway unless it was something obvious and I certainly wouldn't say okay repair it either. I actually dropped the car off and came back. Because of the snow it took like 4+ hours with all the work they had to do there and I couldn't wait so I dropped it off and went back. They did everything else fine though so...

 

You're gonna need to get it in the air to check your wheel bearings, then start looking for bent stuff.

Warren

 

Okay. That screen that you are showing appears to be an adjustment screen. As opposed to the actual specification screen. Even though everything is green on that screen (except cross camber as you pointed out) that tells us very little about the whole car. it does show us is that the Left tire is within spec, and leaned almost all the way in, its .7 to the negative of center which means it should in theory be at -1.75degrees. Which is okay. The right tire is green too, but its .60 to the positive side of center, which means its actually at -.45 and simple math gets a 1.3degree difference between them, or our "cross camber", the max cross camber is .75degrees, so thats why its in the red. ANYWAY...................

Youre RIGHT FRONT tire needs to get some more negative camber, it needs to be pushed in at the top a MINIMUM of .6degrees in order to get things in the green and better, it really should be as close to the left as possible. i dont like to see more than .25 cross camber, and since your right side is undamaged supposedly, this is just a sign of a lazy tech imo if this is your final adjustment.

 

Basically the curb was on the driver's side so that tire took the impact. It's angled in at the top while the right tire is pretty straight. So why would I be pushing in the right tire to correct the left side rather than correcting the left side.

 

Well the reason I recommended pushing the right side in was because it should be undamaged, so it may be easier to get the adjustment needed, and have both sides closer to each other and get proper cross camber.

The left side is leaned in, nearly to the max spec. This extra camber wont hurt a great deal, other than slightly more inner edge tire wear than less camber would create. Its perfectly acceptable and actually rather desirable as far as handling goes.

If you really want to get into it, BOTH sides need to be adjusted, and by nearly the same amount. The right side needs to lean in by .60degrees, and the left needs to lean out by .70 degrees.

 

Interesting. I don't really know much about camber and toe and wheels when it comes to performance I'll admit. Based on this specification on the sheet though could there be damage to th suspension? Could there be axle damage?

 

Friend of mine suggested it might be the lower control arm but, of course, we want to get it up on a jack and take off the tire.

 

Its not actually out of spec except for the amount of difference between the left and right sides. Why didnt the alignment shop set it to withing spec?

 

Good question. I guess they said "Hey it's in spec that's fine," which is definitely BS IMO.

 

Take it back, have them fix it, problem solved.

 

And he really does mean slightly, both of my fronts are set to -.6 and I dont see any feathering or anything on the inside of the tires, Mine has been riding on that alignment setting and those tires for about 25k now.

 

The suspension is nice and stiff in the front still, thankfully so who knows. A friend of mine with a WRX suggested that there are elements within the suspension designed to crumple a little bit to absorb the impact rather than it being transmitted to more sensitive parts. Who knows really what's going on underneath, maybe it just needs to get jacked up and looked at but the alignment kind of annoys me a little. Apart from not having time to take it back until after January, I even spoke to my uncle and cousin who do a lot of car things and they had the same issues with Mavis that they never align it to center they just get it in specs. Annoying. I have to find a place to take it to that will go to center because to hell with Mavis if that's their MO.

 

Well whether they align to specs or align to preferred center, doesnt ,matter......the cross camber is out....thats what RED means on the readout.

 

Indeed.