I was wondering if someone could help me out. I have an 84 Camaro with a turbo TA engine. When I hit about 30-40 and the turbo is spooled it breaks the back tires loose and wants to fish tail. Most of the time I have to let off the gas. The car has replacement springs and shocks with after market struts and a pan hard rod. I also put in a rear sway bar. The car doesn't have the front sway bar, because it is supposed to help the car hook up, but it doesn't do anything for handling. I have a real problem with bent wheels and I want to replace them. I was going to put iroc wheels on it. I would think this would help both handling and traction, but I am concerned that it will add weight. Because the wheels turn, it would add rotational mass and make it harder for the V6 to move the car before the turbo spools up (I also need a higher stall speed converter). My other thought was to get a wider rear wheel/tire and skinnies up front. Or am I better off getting just another set of 15 inch rims?

In either case, I want to put a sway bar back on the front, but I need the shims that go under the brackets that hold the sway bar to the frame.

Any input would be great. One thing that would help me make a decision is if I knew the weight of iroc rims and tires. Thanks!

 

i'd try some not bent rims, that'l probly be a HUGE improvement

 

I knew someone was going to say that. I think the same thing and that is what I am going to do first. I just want to know how larger wheels are going to effect acceleration or if even that is the way to go.

 

Bigger wheels (wider) add weight, or (more diameter) adds weight and pmoi (rolling weight).

Oh, wait, you mean traction? Wider tires wear slower and heat less than smaller ones so they either last longer, can be made softer to be grippier, or usually a little of both. Bigger wheels don't do anything except let you stretch stickier rubber on them. Good tires is essential to any kind of performance.

I'd also get a good front bar on it, and personally my OPINION would be if you want more rear traction to LOSE the rear anti roll bar, but thats my amateur OPINION.

 

If you take the sway bar off the back the car may squat more, but it won't squat even and your left rear will break loose, while your right rear may not.
If you watch drag cars. (like top fuel) they lift the front even, and squat the back even. That is what makes them take off straight. If you have more weight on one rear it will pull and you won't take off straight.
Having the front sway bar off just lets the front do what it want's. It does help to launch though. Don't know That I would recomend it on the street though.

 

with the rear sway bar off, the car will tend to twist the driver's side upwards and the passenger's side downwards. This is in reaction to the engine's rotational torque twising the rear axle downwards on the drivers' side and upwards on the passengers' side. The unloading effect causes the passengers' tire to unload/spin. - As for the "squat", if your rear squats, you are loosing traction. No properly tuned/set-up race car squats the back end, it just appears that way due to the % of front end lift. A top fuel car has no suspension, thus is not a good example to relate to a street car. - When a car launches, you want the rear axle to be force downward, thus creating the traction necessary to lift the front end and transfer enough weight to maintain traction. - The idea behind eliminating the front sway bar is to allow the front suspension to droop faster due to the elimination of bind of the sway bar end-links. The faster it droops, the more weight is transfered before having to pick up the "un-sprung weight" of the front end(the lower control arms, the spindles, wheels, tires, brakes, and approx 1/2 the strut).

As for this thread, bent wheels give you zero feed-back. There's no telling what the suspension is trying to do. - Larger wheels/tires may not weigh any more than your stockers. The big question is how far away from axle centerline is that weight. The further out it is, the more rotational mass you have to get moving, but the easier it is to keep moving. - My 315/35/17 drag radials and 17x11 billet wheels are actually slightly lighter than my factory GTA wheels and a 255/50/16. My 245/45/17 fronts and 17x8's are considerably lighter. - Lighter wheels and tires also make for a lighter unsprung weight, thus can easily cause better ride quality(as mine did).