1996 Camaro Z28 LT1 Project

[alone_and_insane]

So new development with the wheel situation. I got a call today from the distributor, and they said that they only have 3 of the 17x9.5 wheels that I ordered in stock, and they won't be getting any more supply until July or August. So, as compensation, they gave me a free upgrade to a pair of 18x10.5 wheels for the rear! I know that I'll be making up for the price difference in buying 18" rubber, but still, I'm pretty stoked about it. So basically, I got a set of 17x9.5 and 18x10.5 rims for under $500. Score!

So my next question becomes...am I going to have clearance issues with 315 rears? (rear end is stock springs with heater hose mod)

[alone_and_insane]

the more I look into it, the more I think I'm gonna go with a 295 tire. 315s are a bit excessive. Now I'm looking for what kind I want to go with, and where I should be shopping. Any suggestions? I'd like to keep the tires under $900 if possible.

[mcalus]

A lot of guys do recommend 295's over the 315's but IMO it all depends on prices.

Depending on your offset you should be able to use 315's no issues. Maybe have to roll the fenders and use bfh

[alone_and_insane]

A lot of guys do recommend 295's over the 315's but IMO it all depends on prices.

Depending on your offset you should be able to use 315's no issues. Maybe have to roll the fenders and use bfh

yeah, I'd prefer to avoid that. Working under the assumption that I get 295s, will those things be necessary?

[Lucky SOB]

Well it really depends on what wheels you ordered and what the back spacing is

I'm guessing you ordered something from OEWheelsLLC?

I'm running their 18" C5 Deep Dish wheels

Rears are 18 x 10.5" with a 295/35/18 tire. I am also lowered on Strano Springs. I had to massage the front, lower part of the rear wheel wells with a BFH and removed my bump stops. 315s look great on these cars, but so does a 295!

[mcalus]

yeah, I'd prefer to avoid that. Working under the assumption that I get 295s, will those things be necessary?

Either way its 1" difference in 295s vs 315s. Street tires are street tires imo.
Doing a quick search on tirerack.com, 295's are much more common. But far from cheap lol

[alone_and_insane]

Well it really depends on what wheels you ordered and what the back spacing is

I'm guessing you ordered something from OEWheelsLLC?

I'm running their 18" C5 Deep Dish wheels

Rears are 18 x 10.5" with a 295/35/18 tire. I am also lowered on Strano Springs. I had to massage the front, lower part of the rear wheel wells with a BFH and removed my bump stops. 315s look great on these cars, but so does a 295!

Yeah, that's where I got mine from as well, and your wheel/tire sizes are exactly what I'll likely end up doing. My bump stops are already pretty much gone, so I'll probably just remove them anyway. I imagine when I put the wheels on I'll see if/where BFH will be necessary.

What size are you running up front? I'll have 17x9.5s with 275/40-17. Will there be any issues with fitment on those?

[mcalus]

Also, Just looked up prices on 315/35/17's start at $166 each. Just a fyi

[alone_and_insane]

So looking at tires to buy...I think I've got it narrowed down to BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW 2 and Nitto NT05. BFGs from TireRack are $840 for 295/35ZR-18 rears and 275/40ZR-17 fronts. Nitto NT05s are $874.80 for same sizes. I've read good reviews on both. The only knock I've heard on the BFGs is they give a ton of road noise.

Thoughts on either?

[alone_and_insane]

I called some local (WI) tire shops about the Nittos, and it's sounding like they're going to cost me upwards of $1k. I think I'm now leaning more toward buying them online and taking them somewhere to get mounted/balanced.

[alone_and_insane]

so I talked to Discount Tire and gave them the cheaper prices from tirebuyer.com, and Discount offered to sell the set for $800 to beat that price. I'm gonna give that number to the shops in WI and see if they'll match it. If not, I think I'm going to get them from Discount Tire in Okemos. When my parents come up for graduation, I'll have them bring the rims so I can buy the tires and have them mounted/balanced right away.

[alone_and_insane]

I called the Discount Tire in Madison, and they'll give me the same price as Okemos. This way my parents won't have to haul my rims all the way from home then haul them back haha

[alone_and_insane]

so my dad went and picked up my car from my grandma's place the other day, and he said that it had a hard time getting going from low speeds or from a stop. He said he guessed probably the fuel pump is going out or the fuel filter needs to be cleaned. He also said he talked to somebody who said that the fuel pumps for these cars don't do well with the ethanol in gas nowadays, so he always uses premium. This sounds pretty fishy to me. It wouldn't surprise me if the fuel filter might be dirty, but the fuel pump going out because of ethanol in the gasoline?

[MunsterZ28]

sounds like some bs about the ethonal

[Fox Slaughter]

Alcohol is hard on stock components from what I've heard. Flex fuel cars has different rubber hoses and such to run E85.

http://ls1tech.com/forums/fueling-injection/971725-hard-parts-e85-f-body.html

Use in flexible-fuel vehicles

E85 ethanol is used in engines modified to accept higher concentrations of ethanol. Such flexible-fuel vehicles (FFV) are designed to run on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85% ethanol by volume. There are a few major differences between FFVs and non-FFVs. One is the elimination of bare magnesium, aluminum, and rubber parts in the fuel system. Another is that fuel pumps must be capable of operating with electrically conductive ethanol instead of non-conducting dielectric gasoline fuel. Fuel-injection control systems have a wider range of pulse widths to inject approximately 34% more fuel. Stainless steel fuel lines, sometimes lined with plastic, and stainless-steel fuel tanks in place of terne fuel tanks are used. In some cases, FFVs use acid-neutralizing motor oil. For vehicles with fuel-tank-mounted fuel pumps, additional differences to prevent arcing, as well as flame arrestors positioned in the tank's fill pipe, are also sometimes used.

http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_ethanol.htm