alignment after lowering

[mully]

Hi, great site here! First time posting. I have a 2002 silverado 4x4 was trying to get better mileage with it. I lowered it 2" front and back by taking out the 2" blocks in the back leaf springs and cranking down the tortion bars in the front. Didn't want to lower it anymore cause I still tow with truck.
Anyway I went and had the front end aligned but didn't tell them I had lowered it 2", he said it was way off and adjusted everything to stock specs.
Now he's saying it might not be correct setting (stock specs/stock ride height). My question is, is this guy right? Is it going to wear out my front tires fast? It seems to drive straight down the road.


2"/2" lowered

upper grill block, tow hook and fog light block

rear bumper delete

[SVOboy]

Welcome to ecomodder! What did he say was off? Your camber might be off it's not adjustable

[Johnny Mullet]

If you dropped it with the torsion bars, the camber could be out, but you should be able to do a "visual" and see if the front tires look like they are standing straight and not all sprawled out like a whooped Econoline van.

As long as he got it in specs, the tires should not wear funny, but only you will be able to tell that over time.

[dcb]

would the chalk or paint stripe across the tread trick detect on a camber problem? a little negative camber isn't necessarily a bad thing for cornering

[mully]

Thanks for the replies! Attached is a picture of the before and after specs of the alignment, in the first page in red is the out of spec figures, the second page is the final in spec numbers he set them to.

I guess what the tech was trying to tell me was the stock specs are no longer good because of my lower ride height. I'm confused. The tires do look like they are standing straight, I'll just keep a eye on them.

[whokilledthejams]

It looks like he got your truck aligned, right? If so, I wouldn't worry about it.

I've heard of places that won't even touch lowered vehicles, but it's not like you have some undriveable lowrider or something.

Besides, even if your camber is a little bit negative, that's really not too bad. It has to be pretty extreme to make your tires wear badly.

In any case, keep an eye on how the truck tracks and how the tires wear, just to be safe.

[mwpiper]

What won't be the same is the angles of the tires when deflected because they are already deflected from stock. This may be a problem if you drive slaloms all day or vary the weight significantly. If you tow trailers the weight change is the tongue weight. If you don't have a straight rear axle, it may be the back tires that wear funny. If you do have a straight rear axle, it should be a non-issue in the back. That brings you back to how many slaloms you run in a day for the front.

PS: I had wondered if lowing the Escape would result in needing an alignment. I'll take that as a yes based on your experience. That ups the bill for that change.

[kaveman12]

Nothing looks to be too far off. Nothing to be worried about, I don't think.

[johnmyster]

Not adjustable? BS. Shims on the upper control arms adjust both caster and camber.