Hi, I have a 1965 Corvette Coupe. The rear castor angles have changed, despite a recent wheel alignment, with the left wheel leaning in 40mm at the top, and the right, 20mm.I have recently had the rear spring reset. Should I be looking at the trailing bushes, or can the rear spring cause this problem.
Country: New ZealandMake: ChevroletModel: CorvetteYear: 1965Engine: 327 Already Tried: Reset the rear spring. Set the Strut bars, and replaced the bushes, and had a wheel alignment.
Welcome to Just Answer Just to clarify... you are talking about caster and not camber correct?
Sorry, Camber angle.
okay that makes more sence incorrect installation of the rear shock
The shocks have not been touched during any work done in the rear, they are working well and bushing is in good order.
Explain in detail please its not adding up. Why was it aligned?
I replaced the front springs, and reset the rear spring. The front body height changed considerably and the front camber was way off. As the rear height had risen a bit as well, I did the wheel alignment.Since then I have traveled about 1500 miles, and despite no apparent changes when checking, the camber on the rear wheels has steadily changed. If both wheels were the same, I would accept the increased ride height in the front, and settling of the reset rear spring as the main problem, but as the left side is near twice as far out as the right, I am at a loss as to what the probable cause might be.
Normal driving conditions? Or corvette driving conditions?
Normal. With wife in the car. Scenic Central Otago roads. Great driving and magic touring roads, but not hard driving.
Have you inspected wheel bearings? Easy way is to Lift each side and wiggle. Make sure the brakes isnt on! Although block the front wheels. Associated with this is usally a low moaning sound while driving. It highly possible, touring would wear more then highway I would thank. When checking, there should be zero movement in either direction.
I will check that in the morning and get back to you. Thanks
Yeah Pleaselet me know
Hi Jacob, I have checked both sides, with the car raised and sitting on axle stands, and can find no movement in the wheel bearings at all. With the car in this position, wheels suspended, a re measure of the wheel from square to the concrete floor, has the left wheel 8mm (5/16 inch), in towards the diff at the bottom of the rim, and the right wheel 4mm(3/16 inch),in at the top of the rim.Does this mean anything, and would it relate to my original problem?I have rechecked everything under there and can see no evidence of strut rod movement, or anything out of place. RegardsKevin
It really comes down to if the rear end has camber adjustments or not. If it does then its a simple adjustment any alignment shop can do. If not, then you will need to pretty much rebuild the 55 somthing year old rear end.
It does have camber adjustment via the rear lower strut rod, but I do not see that it could have shifted, since the last wheel alignment. Also with the wheels so close to square when they are suspended, does not explain why they are so far out when the car is on the ground. I have traveled over 10,000 miles in the vehicle before putting new front springs in, and getting the rear spring reset, and it is only since then that I have encountered this problem.
You just explained it all!.. The camber adjustments have to be done with full weight of car on the wheels. Its a hard adjustment to get right becasue you have to use special straps that are hardly ever used. The camber was adjusted with wheels suspended, and after adjusted the bolts obviously where not tightend to the correct torqe causing them to fall out of adjust ment. This should be cover under warranty thro whoever did the origanl aligment.
Sorry, I put you wrong. The wheel alignment was done with the car sitting on its wheels, it is only now that I have it up on stands to check the rear wheel bearings, and have re measured it, that I have observed, when suspended, the camber is a lot less than when on the ground. I mention this as I would have thought they should have maintained a similar camber throughout their full length of travel.
No they will not maintain same camber, some will, but not most. Please have it re aligned. Its that simple.
Experience: ASE MASTER