IROCZTWENTYGR8

iTrader: (1)

ROFL!! Looks like you're never moving! It's OK though. If you ever want to, I'm sure Charlie would be interested, at least in the garage.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I could go for that! What color?

I still have an itch to one day find a silver '85 IROC, (I almost bought my friend's, silver/red, LB9, 30K miles - but didn't want to spend the money at the time ...DAMN), or yellow gold '85-'87, or medium orange or (like yours) gunmetal gray '88. Actually I almost bought a gray '88 afew years ago. Nice car. I think it had about 60K miles. It was more of a cruiser. Peanut cammed LB9, automatic, 2.73, drum brakes. I ended up not buying that car because it's interior was IDENTICAL to my '89. I figured it'd be a little monotonous having two cars with the same interior. I always think about that car though. In fact, when you bought yours, the very same day I saw your pics, I pulled out of my street and here comes a guy driving a gunmetal gray '88 IROC!

Jason E

In my mind, GTAs should be either the darker Flame Red or Black. White ones look like TTAs, bright red is too flashy for what should be held as a sophisticated car, grey is highly uncommon...and that's all you have until '91. A dark green '91-'92 GTA is gorgeous in my opinion, but a helluva rare find. The only thing that may keep me from painting the TA is if I decide I'd rather invest in a GTA.

The silver IROCs are cool, but I don't like the red trimmings with them. Red interiors have always been kinda "bleh" to me for third gens. If I could find a medium orange '88 LB9 IROC stick, I'd probably dump the TA for it. To have 2, 1-year-only-color '88s would be cool!

I like LB9 ATs for the smooth, even power delivery, but with 2.73s/7s they are just a little on the slower side. I can feel the 2.77s even holding my IROC back. The ONLY mod I MIGHT make to the IROC (still has the original exhaust...it pained me to take the original tires off it) is to put G92 3.27s in it. I can see where that would make a big difference.

Aren't grey IROCs pretty?? I never thought in a million years, after having the grey '89 RS in the family for 13 years, I'd ever own my own IROC, let alone the grey 350 I'd always wanted.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I know some people don't like the dark green GTA's, but I love 'em! Especially with a tan interior, I think that is such a classic color combo.

An '88 medium orange, LB9/T-5 IROC? Are you kidding me, I'd kill for one.

It pained me to remove my original Gatorbacks too. They looked good and still had the factory installed weights. But, what are you gonna do? When they're 20 years old and hard as a rock, it takes alot of the fun away from driving it. Plus you're afraid to drive the car, especially at highway speeds. I replaced them with Goodyear F1's over a year ago. I made the tire store manager (who's a cool car guy), clear a bay and change them himself. Don't want to scratch the wheels you know. Anyway, it's a different car now, it feels like it picked up 100 horsepower, ZL1 brakes and hallelujah, I can use 1st gear again.


BTW, I held on to my original Gatorbacks, hope you did too...

IROCZTWENTYGR8

iTrader: (1)

I'd be nice if Coker Tires would make replacement Gatorbacks. Though I don't know if I'd really want them with the more advanced stuff out there today. I already run DR's on the back because of the TQ and spin. Theres no way to really launch an L98 G92 good from a stop or take a sharp turn with some ample gas without them!

Jason E

I definitely held onto my Gatorbacks. Supposedly, they have only 13,000 miles on them, as the second owner used a set of AR 16s and Eagle GSCs whenever he drove it. I drove it on the Gatorbacks for a little while. Mine were equally hard. They handled very well, stopping was ok (hard to blame the tires...my pedal is soft. I need to bleed the brakes this Spring), but launching? Forget it I never could launch it without significant wheelspin, which made me always back off because I didn't want to wear out the Gatorbacks.

I put new BFG G Force Sports on it (wanted F1s but they were back ordered for like 7 months), and now? From a dead stop at a light, just off idle, it launches with barely any spin at all...sometimes zero spin. Great tires.

My gatorbacks are going on a tire shelf from Tire Rack this spring in the garage and will be held there until I can get a 2nd set of reman IROC wheels to mount them on...then they'll be used for shows eventually.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Back ordered 7 months?! It's getting tougher and tougher to get tires for our cars. I actually wanted BFG KDW's, but they've stopped making them in our size. So I searched all over the country and found a warehouse in Texas which still had a set. I said to the guy, here's my credit card, I'll take 'em. He told me that the can only shhip to certain tire stores and not private parties. Okay then, I contacted and coordinated with one of these certain stores near me.

The guy in Texas called me and said that he wanted to visually confirm them as KDW's before shipping. Calls me back after all of that and tells me that it was a computer error, these were not KDW's. ARRRRRRGH!

Jason E

Yeah, I know its getting hard to get tires for these cars, and its only going to get worse as time goes on...especially if you want a true, hard-charging performance tire like I do. When I take my cars out, I don't abuse them, but I do DRIVE them. I love the 235/60/15 Comp TAs on my Trans Am...but they are a stupid-rare size these days. This is actually the only third gen I've ever seen that had these as the OEM size. When these TAs eventually get hard (hell, they're already probably close to 10 years old, I'd guess...maybe more??), I have no idea what I will put on the car. My choices are Radial T/As (about as aggressive as, well, nothing ), Eagle GT IIs (not much better) and uhm, uh...not much else.

I didn't really WANT the BFG G Force Sports, but at $500 for a set of 4 the price was decent, they are U.S. made, have a good looking tread pattern and sidewall, and grip VERY well on acceleration. The transient response isn't quite up to "IROC standards" that Gatorbacks are famous for (I noticed stronger transient response with the ancient Gatorbacks!), but overall they should serve me well.

I'm all for Coker giving us a Gatorback that will look and feel like the originals. I actually almost bought 4 17" IROC replicas and 4 245/45/17 Gatorbacks (can still be purchased new, as they were OEM on Mustangs through '04), but didn't want to lose the original look. I've had a thing for '88-'90 IROC wheels since I was a little kid

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I noticed the same thing with transient response. I've lost a little with the F1's.

I bought my '83 with a fairly new set of Dunlop 235/15/60 tires. I can't really say that I'm all that impressed with their performance. Mediocre in the dry, terrible in the rain.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I know what you mean. Even on my new F1's, I can spin them all the way through first and halfway through second.

If Coker made Gatorbacks, I would have bought them for sure!

Jason E

I wonder if my IROC needs a tune up??? Granted I know you have a stick, but off idle from a dead stop mine barely spins at all. I would fry the Gatorbacks if I tried that!

I haven't tuned it up or anything yet...I probably should. It certainly doesn't feel sluggish. Compared to the freshly tuned TA, its night and day better...

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Okay........since you guys are my 3rd gen buds, I'll let you in on a little secret. Although my car looks bone stock and I tell everyone it is bone stock .......I admit that I did all the free/cheap mods when I first bought it. Furthermore, when my factory Multec injectors went ***** up, I replaced them with a set of flowmatched 19 lb Bosch's from TPIS. And while everything was apart, I had the plenum ported.

But there are a lot of little things that you can do to your TPI to REALLY wake it up. Advance the timing, open up the airboxes, set your TPS correctly, etc....

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Goodyear tires are garbage and Gatorbacks are no exception. You guys are plain NUTS if you think they're a great tire. Go read the feedback and reviews on the various tire vendors pages, you'll see complaints about every tire, but far more complaints about Goodyear tires then other brands.

Good tires make a world of difference in how a car acts. Back when I first bought our Iroc, it had two of the original VR50's and two no name replacements. The car would burn out for a mile, didn't stick in corners, and just generally drove like a lumber wagon. Just putting on a set of BFG Comp T/A VR4's completely eliminated tire spin, improved grip in turns, and vastly improved the ride. My Formula had RS-A's on it when I got it. It too would spin the tires for an eternity on clear, dry pavement. If there was a hint of moisture in the air, the car wasn't drivable. A set of Comp T/A VR4's fixed all of the problems, and again it was back to no tire spin. When the VR4's started to get bald (cords showing) I came into a pair of take off GSC's that I put on the back. Suddenly those 90 foot burnouts and crappy ride were back. My convertible has like new Eagle's on it, and the TBI 305 with 2.73 gears can spin them from a dead stop. My Mustang had a set of OLD dry rotted 15" Firestones I bought from a salvage yard, surprisingly no wheel spin. I came into a set of Goodyear 16's, and suddenly the car had much less trouble turning the tires.

All I'm saying is that a cheap set of BFGoodrich or Firestone tires will make the top of the line Goodyears look really bad. If you want your car to feel like it has lots of power (massive burnouts) they're great, but if you actually want traction you couldn't choose a worse tire.

Jason E

Drew,

1) You will notice I did not buy Goodyears I would've liked modern-day replacement Gatorbacks solely for the originality purpose. No other reason. My RS, the one I actually DRIVE, has BFGs on it. Eagle F1s, IMO, are pretty decent tires...a whole lot better than Gatorbacks ever thought of being.

2) I wish Comp TAs were still made. They are not. I have them on my TA, as mentioned, and my wife had them on her '04 Grand Prix GTP. Not the best treadwear, but they had a nice, stiff sidewall for great handling.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I know alot of people have a low opinion of Gatorbacks - believe me, I hear it ALL the time. But they were fantastic performance tires in their day. And honestly, when they were new, they gripped awesome. Great steering feel, great handling and very hard to break loose. But.....they got old.

I've always liked KDW's and have used up afew sets over the years on other cars. Fantastic dry weather tire. But after about 1K miles, get very noisy. Plus, you can't get them in 245/16/50 anymore.

I read every review on the planet on the F1's before purchasing and they were 99.9% positive reviews.........