Factory alignment

[RF Overlord]

Does anyone know how our cars are aligned at the factory? (besides poorly, I mean)...

I find it hard to believe they go through the procedure I just had done on the Blackbird on Friday with every single car... :eek:

[TripleTransAm]

If it's anything like the F-bodies I saw being built up here, it's a computer-controlled 'rack' with all sorts of appendages that perform the task once the car rolls off the line.

I'm not a big fan of this system, but regardless: the alignment will naturally drift on any new car as it begins to 'settle' and parts flex. I can't speak for STAP but in the case of the F-body, the cars are driven VERY quickly off the line and are subjected to a dozen VERY pointy and high speedbumps, staggered from each other with respect to each wheel, intended to help initially seat the springs and such.

[Smokie]

When checked by Carfixer, all areas except camber were ok, however my camber was as follows: Left: -1.3 Right: -1.7. Believe it or not - 1.5 camber is considered "ok by Ford". is ok if like to buy tires every other year.

[Paul T. Casey]

-1.5 camber is what make a 4000+# car almost corner like a Porsche.

[kode3]

1.5 camber is considered "ok by Ford". is ok if like to buy tires every other year.
Every other year?!?! I buy tires every six months :burnout:

[Warpath]

Actually, the factory equipment is a lot more accurate than a lot of the alignment shops out there. The equipment is calibrated every so often. I don't know about the alignment shops. Also, the equipment the plants use is more accurate to begin with.

As far as what the plants do, the plants set toe and caster split (side to side). The rest is as it is built. Its too expensive and time consuming to set every alignment parameter.

As for "excessive" camber, toe out wears the inside of tire much more rapidly than camber. With camber, the tire still rolls but with more load on the inside than the outside. Whereas, toe out (along with some negative camber) causes the insides of the tire to scrub/scrape along the pavement and wear out the tires. If you want to improve tire life, reduce total toe (toward zero or positive total toe) and have camber reduced to about -0.5 deg. You will affect how the car handles though.