I dropped my wife's 85 Camaro Sport Coupe off at the local tire shop today. They are putting a set of IROC wheels with BFG G-Force Tires (245/50/16) on it. I got a call from them this afternoon and they told me that the rears are VERY close to rubbing the frame and they need to install spacers on both rear wheels. The technician I talked to said that they have experienced this before on thirdgens. Can anyone confirm or deny this? BTW, the rearend is the factory 10 bolt with steel drums. Thanks in advance!

 

I didn't use spacers, and my rear passenger side tire has a little bit of wear that would coincide with it hitting something along the edge (on rare occasions by the looks of it). Not enough for me to worry about though, it's pretty minor in my opinion. I'm pretty sure IROC's came with spacers, you might want to put them on just to be safe. I also had to pull the front inner fender liners off so the bigger wheels would fit.

 

flyway190, Thanks for the info...I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting lied too. Call me paranoid, but I don't trust too many shops. Tires, alignment and safety inspection are the only things I do not do myself. Hmmm, I wonder if I can talk the wife into a tire changer and balancer for the garage! Thanks again.

 

You don't need them. I've never seem those wheels cause a tire rub on any third-gen--with the right size tires. The factory size spacers were 1/8 inch and come on some disk brake rears and some on drum rears(but not on all of either). I'm running drums on my 82 with Iroc wheels with enough room--I don't want the tires to stick out further, they would probably hit the fender. Look at the pics on my site. Sounds like they just want a little more money from ya'.

 

How much extra do they want for the spacers? What size are they?

 

They want $15 each for the spacers. They ordered them through the local NAPA store. I really doubt they would make that much more money (profit wise) by telling me I need the spacers...it is just the first time I have heard of the need for spacers with these wheels. They told me that the tires are close enough to the frame that they would "scuff the sidewalls". I was under the impression that normal driving would be fine, but any lateral movement (i.e. slop in the rear suspension) would cause interference. They have already ordered the spacers, so I will see what they look like when they put them on. If I can safely use the wheels/tires without them, then I will talk to them about it. I asked them how thick the spacers would be and they said that they were the "factory ones", which were around 5/16". It seems to me that if the tires and wheels would have worked, they would have bolted them on and sent me on my way...maybe I'm being a pushover. I'll see what they look like when the come in.

 

my 91 z/28 had spacers from the factory.i don't see what difference it would make.but it had them on there