Indydriver's SS PowerVert from factory order to 424/419rwhp build [COTW 6/2/14]

[Indydriver]

APRIL 1=APRIL FOOLS?

Not in my book. My car finally caught a railcar out of Oshawa! Hallelujah!

[riki3fan]

Happy day!!! Congrats Indy! Can't wait for you to meet her!

[DwRed1LTV6]

Congrats Indy

[Indydriver]

Originally Posted by riki3fan

Happy day!!! Congrats Indy! Can't wait for you to meet her!

Originally Posted by Silver85IrocZ

Congrats Indy

Thanks, guys.I can't wait to finally post some pics and get to work building it up.

[Indydriver]

WHEELS & TIRES

OK, the car still isn't here but, I'm out of control on this deal so, lets get this matter settled once and for all.

I've been a big proponent of the summer/winter deal and I've done that for the last five years on my DD. My tire guy did the twice per year swaps for free for three years. They changed management and now they charge me $40 per. That $80 per year on two vehicles eats at my craw, so I was determined to get a second set of wheels for this car. My original plan as outlined in Post 1 was to wait until Fall, find some wheels I like and go full blown winters. I've changed my mind and here's why...

The OE tires are very good Pirelli PZero summers, right? 220 wear rating. I do not want to burn these up on the highway and I damn sure don't want to get caught out in the snow on them. So, I've decided to take a little different route and to buy now. I've decided to put UHP A/S on the new wheels. The tires I've chosen have a wear rating of 480. Now, you're not supposed to compare wear ratings between manufacturers but let's just say for sake of argument that these tires will not only last twice as long, but they will spare my precious Pirelli summers from getting ground to dust on the highway--a terrible waste. Second thing is I just set up a trip to Savannah in early November. To get there, one has to drive through the very scenic Smokies between Knoxville and Asheville--which would be treacherous in the snow, and it can certainly snow there in November. Driving on UHP A/Ss should allow me to get by in light snow. And, since I live in the city where the streets are plowed and salted to death, I may even be able to get through the winter. We shall see. So, what did I order?

Like you, I've looked at a thousand wheels. I've used Tire Rack's very cool feature where you can look at wheels on your car. I have traditionally thought of five spoke wheels as the standard for aftermarket alloys but I've never had 20" wheels before. Looking at them on many Camaros here, I've decided that the look is too open for my likes on this big of a wheel. Secondly, after looking at polished, chrome, and black on my Summit White convertible, I've come to the kind of astonishing conclusion (for me anyway) that this car needs white wheels. Well, that certainly narrows the field! So, I went with the Motegi MR126 in white (which you see often advertised in the banner at the bottom of your screen). I love the "Y" design, the color, and the price isn't bad at around $300 per.

Next issue, which tire? Well, again, if you're going to stick with OE sizes, we are quite limited. There are three: Contis (nearly $1000); General GMax (<$700) and Firestone Firehawks (low $600s). I guess all things being equal I'd go with the Conti's but, a 50% premium? C'mon guys! After reading all the tests, reviews, surveys and talking to Rudy at TR, I've settled on the General GMax as the best price/performance compromise for my needs. YMMV. Now here's the great part...

The OE wheels and tires weigh a total of 260.6 pounds. The Motegi/GMax combo weighs 206 lbs. That's a reduction of a total of 54.6 pounds! That's 13.6 lbs per corner! If you don't have the religion of reducing unsprung weight, you need to study this issue and take it into account every time you mod below the suspension. This will be very noticeable in steering response and suspension compliance. As you can tell, I'm very happy and excited how this all turned out. Don't worry, lots of pics coming, as soon as I have something to take pics of. Ciao.

[Indydriver]

CAMARO SUPERFEST 2014 JULY 4-6

A little off topic but what the hey...

I signed up for my first Camaro rally! I know everyone here is geeked up on CamaroFest 5 in Houston but the timing and location doesn't really work for me. This little gathering in the Detroit suburb of Ypsilanti has a nice track record and is drawing around 500 Camaros per year. Two super neat bonuses: Day One is at Michigan International Speedway. If you're not a racing geek like me, MIS is a high banked 2 mile oval (similar to Fontana) designed for both IndyCar and NASCAR. Great track. Anyway, all the Camaros will get to take 5 or 6 parade laps and get your picture taken on the track. Pretty cool, huh? On Saturday evening, there's a cruise to the Lingenfelter Museum which has to be cool as well, right? Second benefit is, this is in Becky's backyard so I hope to meet her FTF. Even better, no need to take vacation days from work since it starts on the holiday which is a Friday this year. So...all you midwestern Camaro owners, check it out! Hope to see you there!

http://www.camarosuperfest.com/Home.html

[Indydriver]

Day 8 since my Vert left Oshawa on a train. The latest update from my dealer is that the train arrived at the Cementdale depot (Cincinnati) Monday morning at 3:00 AM. GM has informed him that it might be unloaded by today (Tuesday). No ETA on a truck to the dealer. It's only a two hour haul. It's going to be 72 here Thursday. Arrrgggghhhh!

But, a ray of sunshine today in the form of the Big Brown Truck. Wheels and Tires! Well, two of them anyway. Tire Rack is backordered on the fronts so I went ahead and had them make up and ship the rears, and they arrived today! These things are gigantic! I can honestly say I've never seen 275 20"ers mounted up before and they are impressive. Well, you can judge for yourself...

[Indydriver]

Oh, you want to see the wheels, do you?

[Indydriver]

And, I kinda like the center caps....

[Todd in Vancouver]

Great write up and some good information in general for reading. Although, I do not totally agree with your idea of AS rather than Winter tires and it really comes down to how cold your Winters get. The issue is less to do with if a tire can handle a light snow fall and more to do with temperatures. When we get into the Winter season the AS tires tend to freeze and Winters do not. So if you've got a real good tread but the temp gets below freezing the AS tires become hard and will not grip, think of a hockey puck on ice, it just slides because it's frozen.

Winter tires are made of softer compounds so they do not freeze and maintain traction below freezing. I've got a set of Blizzaks on some SS wheels I picked up used and they have worked great but now with warmer temps I've taken them off because they were screaming on the warm dry pavement. Sadly there is still snow in the mountains so my driving is restricted to the Lower Mainland of BC until the weather improves at higher elevations. Just be careful when you get into colder temps and I personally always recommend Winter tires if you are in colder Winter climates.

Hopefully you have your car soon, the Spring weather is here and we should all be driving our cars soon.

[Indydriver]

Like I said up in 33, I am a big proponent of the summer/winter concept and a harsh critic of those who try to get by driving on summers in winter conditions. I've been doing the summer/winter swap for six years with my Speed3. Im not saying to anyone 'go A/S over winters'. I've decided to do something a little bit different here in an effort to keep from wasting my summers during my warm weather road trips and the iffy trip in the fall. I am not ruling out buying a set of winters late this year. However, I may well be able to get by on the A/S which are rated for "light snow" which comes with below freezing temps. I also live in the city so the streets are quickly plowed and salted. I spend most of the winter driving on clear, dry, salt stained roads. So, I admit that I'm trying something different and that A/S will never equal winters in the cold and snow. We shall see if they are enough. Many members in the tire forum that have driven the GMax in snow say they are.

[Camaro_krazee]

Hey Indy,
Just popped in to say hey!
Love the rims you are going to put on...they are awesome!
And, throwing my 2 cents in on the Adam's products. They are great! I won't use anything else.
And, btw, I'm 59 too, but when I get behind the wheel of my Camaro, I'm a 17 year old teenager.

Congrats! Hope you get your ride SOONER than soon!

[Mwalterhouse]

The white wheels are going to look awesome on your SW Vert. Good luck and have fun with your bild.

[Indydriver]

Originally Posted by Mwalterhouse

The white wheels are going to look awesome on your SW Vert. Good luck and have fun with your bild.

Thank you. I sure hope you're right! I'm taking a bit if a risk here, sight unseen but as I watch what others are doing, the color combos seem to be getting more and more radical. I looked at a LOT of wheels before choosing these. The thing that really nailed it down for me was Tire Rack's 'view it on your car' app which made me realize I needed something bright and the usual polished aluminum just wasn't enough. We will know for sure soon.