Driving any car not to mention a Camaro in winter up here in Cleveland, Ohio has its challenges. A Camaro that's, for argument's sake, twenty years old? Not that a car's age has any bearing on whether or not a car is good or bad in snow makes any difference but it certainly doesn't help.
This past spring we had to replace the tires on this car since they were dry rotted. Dry rot is where what appear to be perfectly good tires even with lots of tread start falling apart because they're old. A set of Goodyear Eagles in the unique size these cars came from the factory with would have run me about $800 and while what I bought instead are excellent all season tires, they're not ideal "winter tires" for a car that has most of its weight in front of the steering wheel; and is rear wheel drive. This can be a seriously bad winter weather automobile.
When I bought those all season tires, the shop I bought them at recommended a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks to use in winter. Blizzaks are made of a special rubber compound that remains soft in cold weather giving the car they're on the best traction possible. They have to come off when the weather warms up because in warm weather get even softer. Makes sense. Now, while that would mean an additional set of tires and all that comes with it, the cost, estimated at the time to be around $450, was worth it since last winter this Camaro sat in our garage for the first four months we had it. No wonder I got such a good deal on a sports car at the cusp of winter.
He also recommended I wait until Black Friday to get a good deal. Good idea! Who needs an extra set of tires sucking up space in the garage anyway. So, I waited.
First problem I ran into when it came close to Black Friday was finding out that the shop wanted $70 each time we needed to swap the snows onto the existing rims. That's $140 a year. Ugh. What if I got another set of rims and had them install them once? Challenge here is that a well worn set of these rims are going for north of $300 a set on ebay. That's a ton. A set of new or new old stock would be more than $300 each. No. Not going to happen for snow tire rims.
What's more, after I did my research, I found that these rims, in addition to being awesome looking, are unique. Unique in that they have the "old" 4.75 inch GM bolt pattern and are 16 inchers. That a big deal? Yes, since GM didn't make many 16 inch rims with that 4.75 inch bolt pattern. Camaros, Firebirds, Corvettes, full size "B bodies" made between 1991 and 1996 and...that might be it.
The only option was to find a set of 15 inch rims with the 4.75 inch bolt pattern; that combination is relatively easy to find. I found a set of these 15 inch, steel rims off an '87 Camaro on Craigslist for $100. Not bad. I consulted with the tire shop that I was getting the tires from and got the ok that a smaller rim and tire from what was on the car originally would be safe. Off I went to get my Blizzaks.
I put the rears on first and then the front. The first problem I had was that these rims wouldn't fit around the hub on the rotor. Not a problem. The ill fit appeared to be minor so I tapped out the center until the rims fit around the center hub. A little bit hillbilly but it worked. I bolted them down and got ready to roll.
Problem was, when I went to pull the car out of the garage for a test drive, the car wouldn't move. Stuck. Dead. No. Go. What the hell? I had also adjusted the rear brakes when I was putting the rears on so I thought, perhaps, I had adjusted them too much and they were stuck on.
So, I pulled the backs back off and adjusted the rear brakes again. I rolled the rear axles too so I was sure there wasn't a massive mechanical problem with the rears. I put the car back down and it still wouldn't move. What was going on??
Well, turns out these goddamn 15 inch Craigslist rims wouldn't clear the front brake calipers and when they're bolted onto the rotors the caliper gets compressed locking the front brakes. Great. I just dropped $300 on tires and another $100 on these rims; now what do I do?
Spacers. Spacers is what I do. Or did. After much research, this problem is not unique, apparently and the solution is spacers. Many 4x4 modifications require spacers to allow after market rims to fit over factory brake calipers. Also, pushing the wheels out from the car also gives additional stability. I guess. A set of these manly looking spacers ran me $43 and that included shipping. So, I got lucky. Or lucky the second time. The first set they sent me was the wrong bolt pattern. You can imagine my frustration.
I thought I'd like the Gen 3 rims on our Gen 4 Camaro but I'm not crazy about it. That's just me. My family didn't seem to notice or care. What really bugs me is how goofy the front spacers make the fronts look.
The 1987 rims bolt up and push the tires outboard of the axles. The axles on 1982-1992 Camaros designed with this in mind so everything is neat and tidy. The 1993-2002 Camaro has wheels that are flush to the bead of the "front" of the tire and the axles were designed with that in mind. So, when you put 1987 Camaro rims on a 1996 Camaro, the tires are pushed outside the fenders. It's especially cumbersome looking at the front. Especially when you complicate matters with a set of 1 1/2 inch spacers. Now I'm looking for mud flaps to protect the front fenders from damage from road debris.
Next time you see something odd on a car, you can almost rest assured it was done with the best of intentions. No good deed going unpunished.
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