My 71 Chevelle was steering like crap after I got it aligned on a Hunter and I just attributed it to the crappy tires I had on it. I bought some BFG T/A radials and it still drives like crap. Driving a long distance on the freeway is exhausting ! It was like herding a group of cats !

I searched the archives and found that the factory specs that the alignment place used are useless. The consensus for our cars seems to be the following:

1/8 – ½ degree negative camber

1/8 – ¼ degree total toe in

3.5 degree positive caster on the left and 4.0 positive on the right

Are these correct ? Any comments on a more precise setting for my car ? I have it lowered 2” with Hotchkis springs and the front end is completely rebuilt. It is used just for cruising and freeway driving – no racing.

Thanks !

Tom

I'm curious how those numbers will work,too. Just completely rebuilt my 69 El Camino's front end and was hesitant to use the stock settings.

Save your money !

The factory alignment specs don't work. I need a lot more caster. My front wheels feel like they are on ice and the car squirms all over the lane at freeway speeds.

Tom

I too would like to know the best specs to run on our A-bodies as well !! I am in the middle of a total rebuild of my front end on my 71 454 SS, and will need a front end alignment soon :D Do we have any front end specalists on this site that can pipe in with some real world specs to follow graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I did purchase the extra Camber "offset" upper control arm shafts to be able to have additional camber adjustment parameters if I need them. So do our A- bodies respond better to more positive or more negative Camber ?? :confused:

If anybody can pipe in with some real world spec recomendations, or if the factory specs are still worthy please let us know !!

Thanks in Advance; graemlins/beers.gif

ZIGGY454

I'm going to post this in the Tech section because I need to get this info so I can get my alignment done Thursday.

Look over there for the answers.

Thanks !

Tom

Here you go-real world street specs for best handling/tire wear. CAMBER equal left to right 0-3/4 negative. CASTER as much as you can get on the left-you will be limited to around 4-5 degrees positive and 1/2 degree less on the right. TOE should be 1/8-3/16" toe-in.

Denis68 is correct, neutral camber and a slight toe in for good tire wear and all the positive caster you can get for good steering response and handling..

Mine is set to -.7 camber, +4.5 caster, and 1/32 toe in. you probably need aftermarket A-arms to achieve that though.
the camber setting causes it to 'track' a little if you hit grooves in the highway, but it more than makes up for it when you take a corner!
I ran these specs on my 4th gen camaro and didn't have problems with uneven tire wear, I got 22k miles out of a set of 275/40/17 BFG KDW's, which is pretty good considering how I drove the car :D