colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

I know the answers to all of my questions are probably somewhere on this board, but with the search engine down, I thought I would just ask.

Question 1: Are the formula wheels the same as the Trans Am wheels, except they are 16" and have those little rivets along the bead? Also, do they have grey paint inside the "spokes" as on the Trans Am wheels? In some pictures they look like they do, but in some pictures it look like they are completely silver.

Question 2: If I were to get formula wheels, would I be able to run the Baer Track kit (13" rotor)? Would I need a wheel spacer? Please, only answer if you are sure.

GTA-SPD

Answer 1. The Formy wheels were all painted silver from the factory. I had a set that I polished the face to a high luster, and painted the inside of the spokes a dark argent. They looked great on my powder blue car.
answer 2. I think that you'll be hard pressed to get the track kit under a 16" formy wheel. The pic below is a 17" Boyd on the front and you can see the clearance on the caliper. To be sure if they'll fit, Baer has templates on their website that you can download and check on your actual wheel to see if they'll rub or not. According to the Baer website, the sport kit will fit them ok, just not the mesh (GTA) wheels.

colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

So the black in the spokes of this wheel (from ebay) isn't stock? It says it's from an 86 - 87 - 88 formula.

Ok, according to this site the 85' and 86' formula wheels did not have the rivets. Could they also have had the black paint in the spokes? It says in 87' they went to the "hi tech deep dish" or whatever with the rivets along the bead. Is this true? Did the 85' and 86's come with black paint? Is there any reason why I couldn't get those, because they would look a lot more like a 90' Trans Am wheel, I think.

GTA-SPD

Sorry, I thought you were talking about the 16" Formula style wheel with the rivets around the bead. They'll all fit your car, but I think you're going to have problems getting 13" worth of brakes under a 16" wheel. The wheel in the pic looks stock to me. I just thought you were talking about the other wheel like in the picture. Those are the ones I ploished up the front of the spokes, and painted the inside of the spokes dark argent. DAMN did tose look nice. The 85 & 86 wheels looked just like toe one in your pic, and they used that wheel on Trans Ams, too clear up through 90 as well (maybe 91-92 also). I hope this answers your questions.

Mkos1980

iTrader: (8)

Gotta go 12in Thats the problem I have now. I dont want to get the 12in then later on get new rims they shoot myself for not getting the 13in.

colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

Ok, thanks for all the info. But let me just make sure, the 12" Baer kit WILL fit in the 16" formula wheels without modification? No wheel spacers? I printed out the template and it seemed like it would fit on my 15" wheels, but it needed a spacer because it would hit the inside face of the wheels. This will not happen on the formula wheels?

Also, how did you paint the wheel? If you take off the clear coat, can you reapply another one? Sorry about all the questions, but I don't like to be suprised when I go to do something.

In this picture of the wheels I'm looking at on ebay, it looks as though someone already tried to remove the clearcoat. (left wheel) Should I pass these by, or can that be fixed with a little paint stripper?

GTA-SPD

The 12" sport kit will work behind the Formula wheels without modification. The spacer needed for the 15" wheels may cause other problems (fender/tire contact) that could pose serious saftey issues. If you want the 13" brakes, step up and buy 17" wheels first. The 12" kit, with the crossdrilled treatment work GREAT and never let me down. I'll need wheels either way (because the GTA mesh wheels rub the caliper) so i'm doing the 13" Track kit and 17" Ronal's in time. What I did on those wheels was, used "Aircraft Stripper" to remove all of the factory paint (and what was left of the clear coat). Polished the faces with my wheel polishing kit. Used quality masking tape and an x-acto knife to mask the polished parts off. Shot them with 3 coats of rattle can "Dark Argent" wheel paint. Then I took them down to Keystone wheels in Denver and had them cleared. (I'm pretty sure that they powder coated them clear) And then bolted them on the car. Almost everyone I ever ran across that knew their *** from their elbow about Firbirds gave me huge props for the way they looked. 4 years later I sold them for $400 with skins on them.

colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

Awesome GTA-SPD, you get 2 thumbs for helping me out. I would get larger wheels, but I don't have the money and I want to keep a stock look to the car. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

GTA-SPD

No problem. I know how the lack of funds goes, I'm not exactly rollin' in it myself. I just spent $300 on front brakes (NEW calipers for $13 ea, rotors, bearings, hoses etc), springs and ball joints/bushings just to get me through until I can swing the Baer kit and new wheels/tires.

colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, not having money is the pits. But what do you think about that left wheel in my second picture? If I take off the clear cot on all of them, will they all match, or will it always look funny?

colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

Anyone think that one wheel in the picture is ruined, or when I put aircraft stripper on it will it come out fine?

colonboy14

iTrader: (7)

Ok, new question. What kind of place clearcoats wheels? And how much do they usually charge? I have no idea where I would go for something like this.

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

I heard that you can grind down the cooling fins on the back side of the caliper to make them fit. I hope its true because I just bought a set of the 12" sport kit for my GTA.

bryanwhite

I have the 12" Baer Brake kit and it will fit in the formula wheel and the GTA wheel. These are the wheels I use when road racing my Firebird. When you talk to Baer brakes they will ask you what wheels you are going to run. The 13" kit will not fit without 17" wheels, and if you wanted to upgrade to 17" later you could. Alll that you would need would be the two flat brackets and rotors. If you are going to do some road racing I would reccomend getting different pads than what comes with the kit though. I had sparks and blue flames coming out of my wheels last year as the pads started degassing.

Hope this helps.

Bryan

GTA-SPD

the problem with the stripper, is that you have no control over what it strips. Where the clear coat is gone, it will strip the color coat. It's not that tough to strip athe whole wheel and re-paint it.
I remember it being about $75 per wheel to have them powder coated, but I may be way off base on that. I took mine to Keystone Wheels here in Denver and had them done there. Any wheel refurbishing/rebuilding company should be able to hook you up. If there aren't any places like that where you are, look to plating/coating companies in your area. I think I'm gong to clean the gold area of my current wheels and polish the silver parts and have them clear powder coated because the suck so bad to clean.
I know that a little mod on the caliper (or a spacer plate would solve the problem), but the factory rears out of an 89-92 with a good rotor and carbon-metallic pads are about the same thing as the Baer 12" sport kit for cheaper, and they fit without the mod. For the fronts, however, the Baer kit will be going on my car for sure, but for $100 more, I'll get the 13" kit.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Wow. Misinformation abound.

First, http://www.goingfaster.com/spo/ should only be used for a laugh. The guy was a psycho tool spode and didn't know anything about what he was preaching.

Second. Formula's were only available from 1987-1992. In 1987 they used these wheels.

From 88-92 they used these wheels...

When you state 'formula wheels' you need to be more specific since two styles were used.

More details on the various wheels can be found here... http://www.tacreationsusa.com/firebird.htm

Not entirely accurate but not too far off.

As far as what brakes fit, I couldn't tell you.

powermite

I fitted the 13"brake kit to my Transam and the 16"wheels rubbed on the calipers.I therefore fitted 18"just to be sure.
cheers
PM