Hi

I'm a newbe to this site ... a proud owner of a 2013 silverado 1500 4x4 ext

One irritating issue I have is the drifting to the right. 2X to the dealers and they claim the specs are within there range but... I can't let go of the wheel more than a couple seconds on any road... this vehicle has 1600 miles.

Does anyone have the alignment specs on this truck. I believe the camber is either +/- 1* or +/- .5*. Toe should be close to 0
If the left was neg 1* and the right was positve 1*(still in spec)? in a perfectly flat road it would go to the right.
I need some info so I can take my case back to the dealership

thanks
tom

 

Well, toe does not cause a pull. Does NOT.

Camber, caster and tires cause pulls. Road crown makes the wheels want to drive down hill. So. If you don't mind, can you please get a print out of the actual specs the dealer is telling you is "in spec" so I can look at them?

Here's how it works. Camber pulls to the higher number, meaning that if you have a -.5 on one the LF and +.5 on the RF, it would go the right. So technically, if the numbers are equal to each other, no matter what the spec, you will not have a pull.

Caster will not only cause a weird feeling pull, but it can make your steering wheel start to turn when you're "coasting" or driving without your hands on the wheel. Caster is a littler harder to differentiate between pulls, but caster pulls to the lower number. So if you have a 2.3 on LF and 3.5 on the RF, caster will pull to the left.

Toe is dead easy. If you're steering wheel is straight, your toe should be within spec and equal on each side. So toe should be around 0-.15 on LF and 0-.15 on the RF.

So really the only thing specs are for as far as alignments go, is for tire wear. Anyone can do an alignment without specs, but GM says that within X range, the tires will have an acceptable wear pattern. Toe and camber are the only measurements that cause tire wear though, and really the only measurements that are usually out due to worn ball joints or tie rods. Your truck has fully adjustable camber, caster and toe. If they can't make each measurement equal on each side, then something is bent and they need to look into it. Just "within spec" sometimes isn't good enough to solve bothersome "drifts" as I call them. The measurements need to be close to each other. maybe a .5 tolerance between sides sounds good.

Actual readings tell me the whole story. I can't help unless I see actual readings. Hopefully that helped you though.

 

Thanks NullHead for your time

They did not give me the invoice... the 1st dealer apparently did not even perform the alignment check according to the present dealer. I will look at the tolerances when I see them tomorrow before they try it again.

I agree these people they are programmed NOT to see out of the box...
I have the factory off road tires..... this could be the factor they must tweek to get it right

 

Well I finally got the specs

For some reason the left caster was OUT and NOT noticed by the pro's
It tracks much better after the new adjustments

left front camber -.2* rt front camber -.2*
caster 4.3* OUT caster 3.2*
toe .09* toe .05*

NEW measurements

camber -.6* camber -.3*
caster 3.1* caster 3.2 *
toe .06* toe .07*

 

That's much much better. I agree that the first initial measurements would cause a slight caster pull. However, I would tweak the camber on the right front ever so slightly to get it absolutely PERFECT!

Congratulations on your new truck! I work at a Chevy dealer myself, and I have to admit, they really aren't 100% perfect out of the factory. We have to prepare them before they can be sold, and an alignment check isn't one of the things we check.

I'm glad someone helped you get it right.

 

Thanks NullHead good info to know.