Hey guys,

I'm convinced that something is differant about my car than most other 3rd gens. Please don't take me for an ignorant noob or fool or what not, but hear me out and gimme your ideas.

Here is a list of factory options, before I get to my point:

1988 Iroc
T-Tops
4-wheel disk, single piston (sucks)
Suspension package (I forget the RPO)
24mm swaybar
2.77 9-bolt posi
aluminum driveshaft
700r4
350TPI
power windows, locks, seat
Red paint, Tan interior, Gold trim
16" Alloy rims (but they are pre-88 style, factory!)
Oil-cooler
Dual fan
Single cat
12-gallon tank! (should be 15??)

I think this is everything. Now to make my point:
This car handles like a MoFugger!!! The ONLY thing I have ever done to the suspension was some Monro gas-adjust shocks (still stock struts), front swaybar endlinks and Potenza RE750 tires, 245/50 16 (highly recommend these guys!!). I have NEVER been in a car that handles like this. I have ridden/drove several 3rd gens in many differant years and NONE handle anywhere's near mine. My buddy has a 91 WS6 Formula and it didn't come close (but the 4 wheel disk would lock-em up). Another buddy had an 88 T/A and it didn't handle as well. My buddies 00 Z28 doesnt even come close!! There are no sfc's installed and no cage. This car turns like its on tracks; like a rollercoaster. There is no body roll, NONE! Also note that the ride is bumpy as hell! Another good point is that it, when the motor was bone stock, stayed toe-to-heal with my buddys 87 IROC that had 3.73 9 bolt posi, how?

Do any of your 3rd gens handle like this with STOCK suspension? I want to know if this car has more too it than i know about. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Thanks!

you've changed things...it isn't stock and the things listed are far from out of the ordinary.

My suspension is stone stock. Only the tires have been changed. And yes, it handles like it's on rails. Like yours, mine came "loaded" from the factory with all the good stuff. The front sway bar is huge. My rear end ratio is also a bit more aggressive than yours. 70 mph is about 2500 RPM in 5th.

Does your posi still work? I think mine is shot.

yea, the posi works great! I can feel the outside wheel power it around turns. Even before i changed anything it still performed like this. The tires that where on it when i got it were GeForce KDWS and BF Goodrich T/As but the Bridgestones made a big differance...it always handled like this though.

I guess the answer to my question is that my car handles like it should and most people around here don't have the 'good stuff' from the factory?

have you driven the other cars? i know for a fact that 4th gens dont handle AS good, but they still handle better then most things out there.

Tires make the biggest diffrence. i set of really sticky tires, on a stock suspension can make a big diffrence. vise-versa, crappy tires on the best suspension, is never going to perform. it all comes down to where the rubber meets the road.

BTW, the IROC springs are stiffer than any other springs on f-body's dependign on the RPO and spring package you got, you are likely up there with the better handling factory thirdgens. the only option above that would be the 1le equiped cars, that got the same spring package, with the slightly larger WS6 sway-bars (the WS6 springs, are softer than the IROCs.)

I have driven these other cars and they all roll when you steer.

As for the WS6 sway bar, are you saying that they have a bigger sway bar than the IROC but the springs are not as 'good'? My swaybar is 24mm, how much bigger do they come?

24mm was not stock on IROCs.

Factory IROC package has 34mm/23mm bars.

Factory WS6 package has 36mm/24mm.

my car has 36/24 combo. on the mfba fall cruise i got a comment from a ls1 guy "what have you got done to that thing? theres like no sway in the corners" i grinned and said its stock. cant wait to see thier faces this year when i beat em around the corners and then pull away in the straights

Ya know, Im thinking 34mm but writing 24...my bad. Would a WS6 swaybar make much differance? Are there any struts on the market that will keep the handling like it is now or better but make the ride less bumpy (or is that asking for too much!)

You'd really be amazed then what these cars can do built- Its night and day.

back on probation dean?

Thats what I'm wondering... I didn't know **** about a suspension upgrade until I started reading this guys stuff.

In fact...Dean has given me a respect for v6 camaros

I guess this would be a technical minded question and appropriate to answer do to the fact that I get many e-mails asking me questions about suspensions- and people wonder where I went and why.
The reason is about 7 or 8 posts from the bottom of this thread- I stated a fact about '99 4th gens having 3.8's not 3.4's, and then the fact that I easily beat heavier 4th gen cars with 3.4's. This guy comes back and slamms me for no reason other than I'm a "wimpy V6" and I'm dreaming.- so I set him straight and got put on probation because of it. There's a trend here- its pretty much how it always happens.
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=234109

hey, you made it to 250 someodd posts. i think that is a new record

:hail: to Dean! If you could only learn to be a tad more reserved... But it is fun to read. Seems like a lot of people are intolerant of certain things, and then you have people who are ONLY intolerant of intolerant mental-pygmy trend-humping-fashion-lemming diet-minded no-life-posing-loser megatards, who should be removed from the gene pool anyway.

And yup, tires matter a lot. I had to replace my front tires after putting a bolt thorugh one of them, so the Aquatreads went bye-bye. The new tires aren't nothing to brag about, but they give the car a lot more front grip now, it just hows how nasty Aquatreads are. Now I have to learn to not swing the rear around on wet ground in turns...

Everyone thinks their car handles awesome, till they end up in a ditch.

i think i read somewhere (i'm almost thinking it was this site somwhere) that the IROC package got the car to .95g on the skidpad stock. i believe it, those swaybars are friggen huge! thats like the first thing i noticed! i guess its lowered another 1/2" from the z28 package, which is lower then the stock camaro.

got a 86' Trans Am.... Handles like on rail its freakin awsome...... bumpy has hell but who cares. On interior it does say Performance Suspension but I dont know. Havent gotten to that point on my car to fix up. Dont know if I need to though

skidpad isn't the best indication as to what the car can do as far as handling goes

skidpad is only good when the suspension is settled and in a static rate load with almost no variables

thing is though when you are trying to do turns very rarely do you hit that spot where teh chassis hits static load



kinda like 1.0g skidpad with a 58 slolam out on a mountain course is going to handle like shiz


sure if the load is stati BUT mountain course would have lots of turns that vary and one right after another so ou get little out of having that high skidpad