Viper front end alignment.

[alexander m embry]

Got a quote from a dodge dealer for an alignment and they quoted $400. I know there are several measurements they are suppose to do but is that really needed. Has anybody taken the Viper to a local shop? My front tires wear on the inside really bad.

 

[plumcrazy]

my local shop did it for 175

 

[Dan Aseere]

A performance company does mine for 200. The inside wear is caused by Dodge setting up the specs for better cornering but the tire does not wear square at this setting.

 

[GTS Dean]

The Dodge dealer will likely do it by the book. At their shop rates, that's about right. If you're just looking for front end work, I'd take it to a GOOD regular alignment shop.

 

[Asp Man]

The Dodge dealer will likely do it by the book. At their shop rates, that's about right. If you're just looking for front end work, I'd take it to a GOOD regular alignment shop.

+1.
If you go to an independant shop, make sure that they have the equipment to do the aligne on the Viper. Older set-ups/machines will not be able to do it due to the air dam.
As well, make sure they weight the car per the shop manual. It will make a difference. A lot of shops will just set it up "static" and call it a day.
Another tip, make sure the guy knows what he's doing. Ask questions, they're typicaly free, parts and fixes aren't.

 

[Rollin4]

A performance company does mine for 200. The inside wear is caused by Dodge setting up the specs for better cornering but the tire does not wear square at this setting.

Dan is correct. A factory setting wiil wear inside of the tires, it's normal.

 

[happy]

got mine done all 4 after it was fixed for less than a 100$ and its perfect steering wheel is straight and drives very straight as well! 400$ seems ver very high!! It only took them about a hour to do!

 

[Viperless]

Shop around. I was quoted $350 for corner weighting and alignment by a reputable race shop.

 

[GTS Dean]

You can't corner-weight a stock, non-ACR, GTS or RT. At least not easily.

 

[RobHook]

If I remember correctly, the official Dodge method requires that they set the bump-steer too. I haven't looked at the procedure but I think setting this makes it harder by a few orders of magnitude. Plus there's a special guage and height tool that are supposed to be used when aligning the Viper. I have them somewhere.

 

[benson8708]

I have lifetime alignment from Firestone for 150 buck and they will align it to the specs I tell them. So if I am going to the track I take my car in and they align it to track specs. Then a few days later. I take it back in and they put it back to factory specs.....FREE. Forever unless the economy takes them out.

 

[GTS Dean]

Ask them how they can assure you that the rear caster angle is within specification.

 

[Viperless]

You can't corner-weight a stock, non-ACR, GTS or RT. At least not easily.

The point was I was quoted $50 less for a lot more labor.

 

[99VPRGTS]

Got mine done for about $70. The guy has been aligning cars for 30 years and has done quite a few Vipers. I watched him do the entire thing and I don't understand what the big deal is. He got around the bumper just fine. He did have new Gemini (I think that was the name) equipment so I'm not sure if that helped or not. Car rides/handles better than it did and I got it done almost a year ago.

 

[Venomiss]

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/608409-alignment-500-a.html

Helpful information and pictures for you.
Many more threads in the search feature when I put in alignment. Happy reading.