08 G8 GT Alignment specs

[wreckwriter]

If you're getting an alignment I highly recommend you print out this image and bring it with. Some alignment shops (Tire Kingdom for sure) may not have G8s in their system. These are from AllData.

[Vertical]

Thanks for the heads up. I used to work at the Sears Auto in the Pines mall and they always seemed to be a year or two behind in vehicle alignment specs.

[dklau33]

Tell me if I'm reading this correctly.

For example...

Front Camber Minimum: -0.67
Front Camber Nominal: -0.34
Front Camber Maximum: -0.01

[Vertical]

Yep, thats how you read it:thumbsup:

[Virus]

I am really pissed right now. The dealerships alignment sheet has totally different numbers than these values! The tech said they didn't have the values in their alignment computer, but he "found them".

[g8ag]

Any different for '09?

[SRG963]

Thanks for posting this, I'm taking mine back as it's pulling to the left now. And the steering wheel isn't perfectly centered, and that just bugs the shit out of me.lol

[Lgtitan]

Dumb question of the day...do these values change if a car is lowered?

[-Ray-]

Dumb question of the day...do these values change if a car is lowered?

It can. All of it is adjustable though.

[Virus]

Thanks for posting this, I'm taking mine back as it's pulling to the left now. And the steering wheel isn't perfectly centered, and that just bugs the shit out of me.lol

Mine wasn't centered from the factory. It was cocked to the right. I took it in to have them fix it, then it was cocked to the left. I took it back in and it is cocked to the right. I'm going to pay someone to do it right!

[Lgtitan]

It can. All of it is adjustable though.

Ray, some time in the near future I am planning to replace stock springs with lowering ones. Do I get the shop to re-align to these specs when the car is lowered?

[Panzer Leader]

Are the alignment specs different for the Base Sedan V6? I only ask as both the GT and the V6 ride on the F2 suspension. However, the weight of the V8 and the 19" wheels may affect the specs or at least I think. If there is a difference could you please direct me to the appropriate site or post the specs. Thank you very much.

[-Ray-]

Ray, some time in the near future I am planning to replace stock springs with lowering ones. Do I get the shop to re-align to these specs when the car is lowered?

Yes. The camber may be off depending on how much you drop it. Since the struts are coming out, you will want to realign anyway.
Get the caster washers from Pedders and add a little more caster. You'll love the steering. Radius rod bushes would be a great step too.

BTW, I'll be in Chino on Monday and Wednesday of next week. Can't wait to go home again.

[Lgtitan]

Yes. The camber may be off depending on how much you drop it. Since the struts are coming out, you will want to realign anyway.
Get the caster washers from Pedders and add a little more caster. You'll love the steering. Radius rod bushes would be a great step too.

BTW, I'll be in Chino on Monday and Wednesday of next week. Can't wait to go home again.

Thanks Ray and welcome home! Are you settling back in Chino when you start working at JPL?

[-Ray-]

No, it's only a couple days. I also will be working in the office in Industry for a couple days. Have friends and family to visit with. Kids are in Covina/Baldwin Park, Mom is in Hemet. Sister is in La Verne.

[Panzer Leader]

Alignment done today using Pedders Washers. Slight drift to left corrected. Now major, major pull to right. Alignment will be redone Monday to the original specs. Anyone have any ideas?

[Virus]

Alignment done today using Pedders Washers. Slight drift to left corrected. Now major, major pull to right. Alignment will be redone Monday to the original specs. Anyone have any ideas?

Did they use the specs posted here? The only reason I ask is the ones on the sheet my dealership handed me are totally different specs. My car is tracking fine, but the damn steering wheel is so far off to the right it's annoying. I'm planning on having it straightened tomorrow and they will be using my specs. Can they do the steering wheel without doing the alignment? why did they use the Pedders washers, was there something wrong with your OEM washers?

[Panzer Leader]

Virus, specs were same as posted here. (Alignment results are posted on Charlies Area) No idea why the Pedders were needed other than the way they were designed. Monday the car will be realigned and I am taking the Tech with me on a drive. He said if anything he will reset to original alignment. Needless to say my steering wheel is slightly off centered to the left. They will have two more shots and then I will file under the Lemon Law. I am at the point that no one really knows what is and what is not fucked up on the G-8 suspension.

[-Ray-]

If the steering wheel is off it means that the tech has adjusted the toe most likely. He now needs to adjust the steering link to recenter the steering wheel.

[Virus]

I feel your frustration. My car with 41 miles on the dial had the front strut bearing assemblies replaced, the driver side motor mount replaced, the exhaust replaced and the lower control arms replaced. 17 days out of the first 33 trying to find the cause of the creaks. The service manager said that GM will not reimburse for tire balancing because GM vehicles have been sitting on the lots and it's the dealers responsibility to move the cars around so they don't develop flat spots. They told me to take it to the place that I bought it from to have the tires balanced. I drove over an hour away to the dealer I bought it from and after them having the car in they shop for 3 hours, they came back and said the tires had the wrong pressure. I told them I adjusted the pressure to 36 front 39 rear and validated it using two different tire gauges earlier that morning. I suggested that the 85 degree temp and the 60 mile drive is why they are high. They insisted the adjusted tire pressure values fixed the vibration. The next morning tire pressure was 5psi too low in each tire :-( So today I am paying a local shop $88 to RF balance the tires. Well worth the price if it's fixed. I don't think it's the tires though because it seems to come and go for no good reason. I can't even peg it down to any particular circumstance. Could it be the AFM?

[Panzer Leader]

Virus I have heard reports that it is the AFM. Just had my TPMS rechecked and revalidated. Now the dealer is saying that the TPMS has a +/- of 2 psi. So what the hell was the TSB for? They also said that the pressure reading on the tire guage would never match what is displayed on the DIC. WTF Cold Pressure is cold pressure. I am having another dealer on Monday to redo the alignment. They are an authorixed PEDDERS distributor and understand the Pedders washers. They are doing it as warranty work (God bless Them) In fact they are the dealer that my dealer got the Pedders Washers from. On and on and on. Well at least it ain't a Chrysler.

[Virus]

Well my issues continue. The tire place called and told me that the alignment was out. The steering wheel is almost centered, but not perfect, it's still leaning towards the right. Worse of all they said that 3 of the tires could not be road force balanced. 15lbs was the limit and they required 20lbs. They said it was caused by flat spots in all 3 tires. I brought this to my local service advisor the day after I bought the car. He first said GM requires customers to drive 500 miles first, then when I went to pick my car up he changed that to 1000 miles. I now have 2700 miles on them. As I stated before he keeps telling me to go back to the dealership of purchase. I don't want to drive 1.5 hours away to have service done. I've already used 3 days of annual leave for this piece of shit!

While I like the tire shop they kinds pissed me off today as well. I made absolutely sure to tell them that the front tires take 36psi and the rears take 39psi. When I picked the car up they put on the invoice that I had over inflated all 4 tires and told me to use 35psi. They RF balanced the tires at 35psi. When I picked the car up the guy thought I was nuts and I showed him the door sticker. He said he felt like an ass. Does road force balancing at 35psi make any difference?

[-Ray-]

Virus I have heard reports that it is the AFM. Just had my TPMS rechecked and revalidated. Now the dealer is saying that the TPMS has a +/- of 2 psi. So what the hell was the TSB for? They also said that the pressure reading on the tire guage would never match what is displayed on the DIC. WTF Cold Pressure is cold pressure. I am having another dealer on Monday to redo the alignment. They are an authorixed PEDDERS distributor and understand the Pedders washers. They are doing it as warranty work (God bless Them) In fact they are the dealer that my dealer got the Pedders Washers from. On and on and on. Well at least it ain't a Chrysler.

The recall is for the TPMS not reporting low tire pressure according to the specifications. It needs to be re-programmed so a warning occurs at the correct tire pressure. It has nothing to do with the accuracy of the sensors.
AFM does have a small vibration, but rarely felt in the steering wheel.

[-Ray-]

Well my issues continue. The tire place called and told me that the alignment was out. The steering wheel is almost centered, but not perfect, it's still leaning towards the right. Worse of all they said that 3 of the tires could not be road force balanced. 15lbs was the limit and they required 20lbs. They said it was caused by flat spots in all 3 tires. I brought this to my local service advisor the day after I bought the car. He first said GM requires customers to drive 500 miles first, then when I went to pick my car up he changed that to 1000 miles. I now have 2700 miles on them. As I stated before he keeps telling me to go back to the dealership of purchase. I don't want to drive 1.5 hours away to have service done. I've already used 3 days of annual leave for this piece of shit!

While I like the tire shop they kinds pissed me off today as well. I made absolutely sure to tell them that the front tires take 36psi and the rears take 39psi. When I picked the car up they put on the invoice that I had over inflated all 4 tires and told me to use 35psi. They RF balanced the tires at 35psi. When I picked the car up the guy thought I was nuts and I showed him the door sticker. He said he felt like an ass. Does road force balancing at 35psi make any difference?

I run 34 or 35 in mine. The rear 39 spec is for a fully loaded car. If you don't carry a lot of weight in the trunk use the same pressure as the front.
Call Pontiac customer care. They will help ensure you get tires that will road force balance. According to GM, you can get warranty work done at ANY GM dealer. The guy refusing to warranty your car is an ass. IMHO. :)
I bought a G6 in Calif and had a dealer in Indy put brand new tires on my G6 because of vibration. So that dealer that won't help needs a attitude check.

[Virus]

The dealership is going to attempt to RF balance all 4 tires. They said they can't accept another facilities info. Funny how they couldn't even balance them the first 5 times I asked because GM wouldn't cover it under warranty. After riding all day I can say it's riding worse since the RF balance. I'm hopeful the dealership will install 3 new tires and this will end this problem.

[conipc]

FWIW, my alignment was WAY off after caster washers, and even the rear was off after subframe bushing install. These made the car wander more than acceptable with sticky tires. The out-of-spec areas were not even consistent, so it all has to be checked....

[Virus]

The pot thickens! My G8 seemed to be worse after RF balance. I took the car into the dealership so they could take a look and I'm glad I did. The dealership showed me the before and after RF balancing on their Hunter 9700. They also provided me with the GM spec sheet showing that 18 lbs of RF was allowed by GM specs. Piedmont Tire told me 15 lbs. 2 tires were at 19 lbs RF after Piedmonts balance. After dealerships balance I have a 5 lbs, 12 lbs, 15 lbs and a 10 lbs. All within spec and it's riding better. Not completely without shake all the time, but definitely good. After looking at Piedmont's alignment spec sheet I am still out of alignment on one thing and I can't remember what it is. The spec was .6 flat and it is at .7. How the hell am I going to get my $88 back for their failed RF balance?

[Virus]

Here is a copy of my alignment. I was told by the shop that the Cross Caster cannot be adjusted. I would appreciate if someone could look at this and advise:

http://s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww27/Virion/?action=view&current=G8Alignment.jpg

http://s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww27/Virion/?action=view&current=G8Alignment.jpg

[Panzer Leader]

VIRUS I feel your pain. Mine is going to my private mechanic on Thursday. Dealership is no help resolving problem.

[Virus]

VIRUS I feel your pain. Mine is going to my private mechanic on Thursday. Dealership is no help resolving problem.

The alignment was done at Piedmont Tire & Auto. I need to know if they are telling me the truth when they state the Cross Caster cannot be adjusted?

[wreckwriter]

The alignment was done at Piedmont Tire & Auto. I need to know if they are telling me the truth when they state the Cross Caster cannot be adjusted?

Can't say if they are telling truth but guy at Tire Kingdom said same (not much English, he just said "no caster"). He did, however, get the car going straight again.

[Virus]

Can't say if they are telling truth but guy at Tire Kingdom said same (not much English, he just said "no caster"). He did, however, get the car going straight again.

The car is definitely going straight. I've just had so many "tire" issues over the last couple years I worry. I have a 2007 Nissan Quest SE w/PAX. The stock tires outer tread was completely bald by 11k. The dealer blamed me for not rotating. I purchased new rims and tires for DTR and all 4 rims weren't true. They replaced them with better rims and tires. While I have no vibration whatsoever now on the Quest, the outer edges are again wearing very rapidly with only 2500 miles on them. A local shop and the dealer said the alignment is perfect. It goes straight, but they are feathering badly. I don't want this to happen to the G8 as the tires are expensive and don't last long to begin with.

[13 QTR]

Can't say if they are telling truth but guy at Tire Kingdom said same (not much English, he just said "no caster"). He did, however, get the car going straight again.

Isn't caster...where the front of the tire is 'say' pointed in or out, and camber is when the top of the tire is in or out?
I just had mine re-alinged and the tech adjusted both...it was way out...the rear was worse than the front.

He set the (caster?) by turning the adjustment on the tie rod.
He set the (camber?) by loosening the 2 bolts on the strut and turning the little (8mm) bolt to add some camber. It had too much negative..was wearing out the inside of the front tires.

My rear was out because I run with 80lbs of lead weight distrubuted in the rear...for road courses...he set it up with the weight. Also the steering wheel was cocked to the right...it's straight now.
I drives....DAMN good now....:woohoo:

[GeorgeInNePa]

CASTER>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_angle

Caster angle is the angular displacement from the vertical axis of the suspension (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_%28vehicle%29) of a steered wheel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel) in a car (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile), bicycle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle) or other vehicle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle), measured in the longitudinal direction. It is the angle between the pivot line (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pivot_line&action=edit&redlink=1) (in a car - an imaginary line that runs through the center of the upper ball joint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_joint) to the center of the lower ball joint) and vertical (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_direction). Car racers sometimes adjust caster angle to optimize their car's handling characteristics in particular driving situations.

[-Ray-]

Isn't caster...where the front of the tire is 'say' pointed in or out, and camber is when the top of the tire is in or out?
I just had mine re-alinged and the tech adjusted both...it was way out...the rear was worse than the front.

He set the (caster?) by turning the adjustment on the tie rod.


That's toe. With the car on the ground and the front tires pointed straight, you can measure it with a tape measure.

[13 QTR]

That's toe. With the car on the ground and the front tires pointed straight, you can measure it with a tape measure.

Ok...then I got the toe and camber fixed. All I know is it drives/feels alot better.. and the damn steering wheel is straight.

[Virus]

I had to take mine back in after the last time because they didn't get the steering wheel straight. Now the steering wheel is completely straight, but the alignment sheet is showing 3 things out of spec where the last time only the front total caster was out. Now, the front right Camber is at -0.8 and spec is -0.7 - 0.0. The front left Caster is 7.4 and spec is 4.8 - 7.3. Front Cross Caster is .8 and spec is -0.6 - .6. I'm concerned this may wear the tires prematurely. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[wyldman]

I had to take mine back in after the last time because they didn't get the steering wheel straight. Now the steering wheel is completely straight, but the alignment sheet is showing 3 things out of spec where the last time only the front total caster was out. Now, the front right Camber is at -0.8 and spec is -0.7 - 0.0. The front left Caster is 7.4 and spec is 4.8 - 7.3. Front Cross Caster is .8 and spec is -0.6 - .6. I'm concerned this may wear the tires prematurely. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hmmm. My advice is to get a different alignment guy. As far as I know everything is adjustable. Now to get someone to do it is a different story. Heaven forbid some of these front-end guys have to actually do some work. Most of them want to just set the toe and call it good. Too bad you can't get a recommendation for a good shop in your area. Very frustrating imo.

[Virus]

Hmmm. My advice is to get a different alignment guy. As far as I know everything is adjustable. Now to get someone to do it is a different story. Heaven forbid some of these front-end guys have to actually do some work. Most of them want to just set the toe and call it good. Too bad you can't get a recommendation for a good shop in your area. Very frustrating imo.

The bad thing is I've had 5-6 alignments already. A few for it pulling right, but the rest were just trying to get the steering wheel straight. 3 different shops, one of which I paid for. I hate to have to pay again.

[icantdrive55]

My LCA Recall Service was done in early December, and of course included an alignment. When it originally came home new in June there was the often reported pull to the right. Several shops including the dealer suggested to put some miles on the car before trying to make any changes to the suspension geometry. It actually settled in nicely after about 2000 miles. But after the LCA service and alignment, the steering wheel is out of alignment and it really has a strong urge to drift to the right. I really don't want to go back to the dealer for this I (although that might be a warranty service) but I don't like the way it is right now either.
I wonder (and this is just thinking out loud) that because these are RH drive cars originally if the suspension geometry is set to accommodate the crown in roads while driving on the left side as in Australia?!? I've noticed that when driving on a road with little crown to it, or when passing on a two lane the pull to the right doesn't really appear. Any thoughts?

[-Ray-]

If it pulled to the right and you continued to drive it, then tire wear will give it a tendency to pull to the right. Even if it was aligned afterwards. Seen that happen several times. IMO

[texn884]

I hope when I get a new set of tires my Chevy dealer that has done my Colorado and I told the guy to put the front wheels straight up and down since I drive 99.9% highway miles and he did what I asked because he knew I was a gun guy and he was also. So we talk guns before he did the alignment and it worked perfect. My service writer is a great guy and knows I will not take any bull shit. I think they will like working on my car since they sell lots of Corvettes and are into performance cars at this Chevy dealer.

I am going to take it in in a few weeks to check the LCA's and rotor issue and see what they come up with. I hope I don't get the dealer run around which I don't think I will.

I have 26,000 miles on the original tires with a good half of the tread left. I hope to get 40,000 miles out of them before putting some Conties on.

I will keep you all posted and will print out the specs and give it to the tech.:secret: