cutlass47

Forty miles ago, I had new BF Goodrich white letter tires installed on my 1972 Cutlass Supreme and a front end alignment done. The young mechanic said he did not have the specs for my model year, but he used the specs for a 1978 Chevy El Camino on the shop's fancy alignment equipment. He said the front end specs for this particular model would have been the same as for my Cutlass. After his adjustments were complete, he told me he only had to adjust the toe on the front end and the report shows:

Toe Left - Initial 0.05 Final - 0.15 Specs (0.05 Min./0.25 Max)
Right - Initial 0.25 Final - 0.20 Specs (0.05 Min/0.25 Max)

Toe Total - Initial 0.30 Final - 0.35

Camber Left - Initial - .0.3 Final -0.3 No Specs. (No Change)

Caster Left - Initial 0.2 Final 0.3 Right - Initial 0.5 Final 0.6
(Slight change on Caster, but mechanic told me he only adusted the toe).

For the life of me, I cannot understand this alignment jargon, even after reading the alignment section on page #3-6 in the 1972 Chassis Service manual and numerous posts on this forum. Should I go back and ask them for another alignment adjustment using the manual specs or do you agree that the proper specs were used. I have free lifetime alignment on the Cutlass at this tire store that I have been using for tires and mechanical work on my cars for 40 years. However, I sometimes worry that this lifetime deal may result in a half #$% alignment. I would not be happy if the alignment was not done properly, especiallly since I finally got the tires installed after sitting in my basement for 3 years (after much procrastination, I gave up on having the rims blasted and painted).

By the way, about 3,000 miles ago in 1994, this same shop installed new upper and lower ball joints, idler arm, center link, tire rod ends and 4 Monroe Radialmatic shocks, and the driver side upper control arm bushings were replaced 14,000 miles ago in 1989. Should not these upgrades on the front end make for a successful alignment if the proper specs are used by a competent mechanic? Since installation of the new tires and the front end alignment, the ride does appear to be very smooth, especially on newly paved roads. Maybe I just need to drive it more and keep a close watch on tire wear and driveability! I have only driven the car about 600 miles in the last 7 years. But now that I have replaced the may-pop tires, I plan to drive it more and do some additional restoration work on it as well, after my health improves.

RetroRanger

good question IDK the answer.

can you compare the 72 CSM specs to the 78 el camino specs he used ...also the CSM shows caster and camber specs are yours now within those specs ?

At 100 miles per year you are not likely to notice any wear patterns for the next decade or more

brown7373

I usually make a copy of the specs from the service manual, and give it to the shop to prevent this type "expert" substitution. He might be correct, but I wouldn't chance it. Low, low miles probably won't matter, but if you paid for it, why not have it done correctly. He should have contacted you before he did it and told you he didn't have the specs., and let you make the call.

cutlass47

I should have thought about the service manual specs, but I called the shop before I took the Cutlass in for the alignment. The store manager said they had no problems with doing a proper alignment on my Cutlass. However, when I went in and after the adjustments were done, I found that instead of the senior mechanic who usually does alignments on my new cars, a younger guy in his 20's had done the alignment. I'm quite sure the older mechanic pushed the alignment off on the younger one, since he was not getting paid to do mine. Or it could be that the senior mechanic was busy on another job and the store manager had confidence that the young guy could do the proper job on my old car. You would think that after giving them my business for about 40 years, the mindset would be a little different. I talked with the young guy afterwards and he did seem to be very knowlegeable about mechanical work on older cars and took me under the car and pointed out oil leaks and what needed to be done to fix them. He also assured me that I did not need to come back with the manual specs, as he said the 1978 El Camino specs are the same as 1972 Cutlass. I guess I need to get a second opinion from another shop about this issue, as I do plan on driving the car more than in the past. I have looked at the service manual and it says the "Specifications for Resetting Alignment" -

Toe-In 0" +1/16"
Caster -1 1/4 degree +-1/2 degree
*Camber LH +1/4 degree +-1/2 degree
RH -1/4 degree +-1/2 degree
Cross Caster 1/2 degree MAX. VAR.

Like I said earlier, the above spec. info is Greek to me, so I best have someone with more expertise advise me. I know I am probably making more of this issue than necessary, but I do tend to over-analyze and worry too much!!! Thanks guys for your feedback.

*Left side camber to be 1/2 degree more positive than right side.

oldstata

I am not sure if toe is the same but if I am reading this right camber and caster is

Your left toe was at the bottom of said spec and right was at the top of said spec so it was in but working against it self there should of been a totall toe spec I don't see it i see said spec but not a tolerance spec so I can't comment more on toe your camber looks to be dead on on the specs you posted and camber is with in spec but it does not show right only leftvalso but according to numbers should pull slightly left witch is not a huge deal if you have road crown as long as right camber is equal to the left

oldstata

They set up camber more positive on the left for road crown you want caster equally

Camber pulls to the positive
Castor pulls to the negative
Just a FYI

bccan

Camber should be as equal as possible.

Caster should be 1/2* more positive on right side.

My personal preference for "A" bodies is to try & get as much positive caster as practical, car tracks better & I have no issues w/ turn in. I can usually get 3*+ w/ stock control arms, iirc 5*+ w/ aftermarket control arms. This is my preference, maybe not everyone's and these #'s may not be achievable on every chassis. If it matters I never use less than a 1 1/8 front sway bar, usually a 1 1/4 & prefer stock rear bar. I mention this because this plays into the turn in feel of the car.

oldstata

So I pulled specs on my shops align rack
For your 72 cutlass and specs should read

Left camber 1.0 /-.5
Right camber. .5 / -1.0
Note camber is wear they adjust for road crown

Castor. -.3 / -2.3 both sides should be between this spec equal as possible

Toe -.13 / +.13. Both sides. Should be between this rang

I would say your car is not aligned correctly this is the spec for 72 cutlasd off of a brand new hunter align rack


All specs read degrees

oldstata

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cutlass47

Thanks so much for your time and efforts in posting this alignment info for me, Oldstata!! I will take this data into the tire store where I had the alignment done and ask them to use this info to get my front end aligned properly. I hope the shop manager will not give me a hard time about this request. He may try to razzle and dazzle me with unintelligible alignment jargon and tell me that the alignment is done correctly, in spite of your info. The shop appears to have a late model Hunter alignment setup and should not specs that you provided for the 1972 Cutlass shown up in their computer? Thanks again!!!

oldstata

No problem this form has the best group of people to get your questions answered !!! just keep in mind that alot of people tweek these numbers to get better handling under performance driving instead of daily drive specs. my knownledge is limited from a performance aspect.