Ordered my rims from OE Wheels and i couldn't be happier. I used 2 inch spacers in the rear and 2.25 inch spacers in the front. I went with 17x9.5 all the way around wrapped in 275/40/17 Sumitomo's. What do you think?

 

Looks very good!

 

Lookin' GOOD !

I love '82's !!!

~DaVe

 

looks good.
I'm just waiting on my spacer to arrive and I can get my ZR1s on
Did they go straight on with spacers or did you have to 'make' space?

 

Bolted right on with no problems. Clearance in the front is pretty close, but the rears have a couple inches of room all the way around

 

Looks awsome, the color combo mathes. You gotta look for a 82 nose & chin....

 

I strongly disagree. It looks better for being mis-matched.

 

Are you going to lower it? You should slam that boy.

 

I've debated lowering the car, which might finally happen this summer. If i do, i'll most likely go with eibach prokit springs. I don't want to have to worry about scraping everywhere i drive.

I've also been debating the idea of getting an 82 front end ever since i got the car, and i still can't decide. It'd be nice to have matching gfx all the way around, but i love the way it looks as is. I have no idea what to do haha

 

Would look a lot better lowered .. Lowering any amount you are bound to scrape that's part you have to adapt to and change your driving a bit fender lip to ground is 25in front 26in rear I don't scrape unless driving crazy but then again don't know how your roads are compared to Cali but Cali pretty bad
But you car loos badass color is different to not the norm lol sweet ride gfx you have now gives a clean look also

 

I really liked your stockers but the ZR1's do look great! I'm usually really not a fan of black wheels, but I like the look on your car. And imo, keep the nose you have!

How do you find the ride / handling difference?

 

As far as ride quality i've noticed no difference between the 2 setups. I figured the ride would be a lot more harsh with the smaller sidewalls, but thats definitely not the case.

Now, the difference in handling is night and day. With my stock setup you could really feel the sidewall flex when throwing the car around. Now the car feels a lot more planted when taking fast corners, and feels soooo much more stable when tossing it side to side. I'm very impressed with the improvement considering the suspension is 100% stock.

 

Here's a few more pictures for those interested

 

Those wheels came out really nice.

And that paint is gorgeous, both in color and quality. Is it the original paint/color?

 

My 87 Iroc has a 82 z28 nose & i also have the SMC hood. Might just swap out the hood for the complete look.

 

If you have the money go with GC weight jacks & coilovers. Atleast you have the option to adjust your rude height, yes it does take some work. Im happy with both my setups.

 

Is your car lowered? Wheels and car look incredible!

 

That looks great. I vote on lowering it 1"!

 

Thank you for the compliments! The car was repainted in the late 80s and was then put away in a garage until 2007, so thats what kept it looking very new. When i took it out i wet sanded and buffed the whole car to get rid of some orange peel in the clear and that also helped bring out the depth of the paint. The color is very close to the original, but seems to have a bit more of a goldish/brown pearl.



And after hearing everyones opinions, I'm strongly considering dropping the car an inch or so. If i do i'll shell out the extra little bit for weight jacks. I love the idea of being adjustable.

 

I can highly recommend the Hotchkis Lowering Springs. They're a bit pricier than the comparable Eibach's, but the spring rates are smoother and they don't have the problems with only dropping the front, or dropping the car too far that I've seen some people have with the Eibach setup.

I was torn for a long time on whether or not to lower my car. I had the 18" rims on the black Formula for two years, and people were constantly telling me to lower it. I was just scared I would give up too much driveability and never could bring myself to do it. When I started putting the GTA together, I measured the front wheel well height, and it was above what it should have come with from the factory (I still have no idea why, I don't think the springs were indexed correctly). I finally decided to give lowering a shot, and looked at a ton of pictures of other people's setups. The Hotchkis springs were more expensive than other options, but I heard and saw nothing but great things about them. I bit the bullet, and I couldn't have been happier about how it turned out.

I drive my GTA several times a week, and I live at the end of a fairly rough road several miles outside of town. The Hotchkis springs are a little bit stiffer than stock, but handling is also definitely improved. Overall drop was about 1.25" below the factory levels, all the way around. I have never had a driveability issue with it at all. Only very rarely do I have to angle up a very steep incline (like a driveway), but I had to do that even before the lowering.

Anyways, sorry for the long post, I just thought you might like to hear some personal experiences. It sounds like you're looking for exactly the same look I was going for with mine. There's pictures of mine after the springs fully settled in this thread:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ta-update.html

(keep in mind that the drop looks bigger than it actually is, because I'm also running taller than factory tires and wheels all the way around. The pictures below show what the same wheels and tires looked like on factory WS6 springs)






Hope that helps,

cal30sniper

 

I would also strongly recommend Koni shocks and struts if you are planning on lowering your car in any way, shape, or form. They handle the lowered geometry like a champ, and the ride is extremely pleasant. Factory shocks and struts are designed for factory ride height. If you run them on a lowered car, they are going to wear out much faster than they should.

 

May i ask why you had to go a little bigger spacers up front? I thought from what i heard you can get away with 2" front and rear spacers. I ask because i have ZR1 Wheels in the garage waiting to be bolted on the 84 firebird

 

ZR1 wheels are a little special. You need an extra .25 inches in front.

 

Alright thank you, now i know what to pickup for spacers!

 

cal,
your firebird actually doesn't look like it NEEDED to be lowered. My camaro looks like it needs to be lowered with my C5 rims.

But about the original poster,
The black rims look good against the gold body. It's a great color, especially since no one has a gold car. It will look better lowered a little, but you may have tire clearance issues.

 

You shouldn't have any tire clearance issues with a 1-1.5" drop. I'm running 40 series 18" rubber all the way around with Hotchkis lowering springs. There is plenty of clearance, even at full lock. Offset is what plays heck with clearance. Properly offset wheels will clear even with quite a bit of lowering.

My GTA looked like it came from skyjacker before I put in the lowering springs. You could have put a beer can between the top of the front tire and the bottom of the fender. I don't have any really good pictures of it, because I was always trying to manipulate the angles so it didn't show. This one shows it pretty well though:



Compare to the after pic in my sig, and you can see what a huge difference it made on the stance of the car.

-cal30sniper

 

Also note that I had the car loaded with several hundred pounds of luggage and tools (month long road trip/moving) when those pictures were taken. It was a lot worse empty:




Before and after pics of the wheels/lowering springs on the GTA:



I don't want to threadjack, I just thought it would be nice for the OP to see what a certain set of lowering springs would do with a very similar tire/wheel size. Hope that helps.

-cal30sniper

 

With these new pics, you can see the ride height better.

 

car looks good , now lower it some .

 

Cal, thank you for the pics. It's nice to have something to compare to. Still not set on which springs ill use, but I can confidently say it won't have the stock ride height come next summer. Everyone's opinions are appreciated!

 

Oh and what do you think of the Sumitomos?

 

Looks good.
Lower it and your good as gold

Love the paint too!

 

They're a great looking tire and they grip the road very well for cornering. Straight line traction is pretty bad though. Other than that i'm very happy with them.

 

Wow I love that color... I'm considering these wheels myself, but probably in silver. LOOKS GREAT.