I joined a Facebook group for 3rd gen Firebirds. Posted some pics of my car as an intro.

Someone saw this, said nice car. And said that they saw I had my wheels reversed, rears up front, fronts in the rear. Asked if I had any rubbing issues (I don't).

The car is as it was when I bought it. Although I did get new tires.

I know that Trans Ams have different offsets front and rear. Kind of assumed that you couldn't even switch the wheels without making other mods. (I love cars, but not exactly a gear head. I like driving them. Don't have the space/tools/time/knowledge to really do my own work.) Maybe the car came this way, maybe the garage that mounted new tires switched the wheels.

Probably a really basic question,but anyway, I asked him how he could tell just from a picture of the side of the car that the wheels were reversed, but he hasn't responded yet. Is there a way to easily tell? I think the offset difference is only 16mm, so I don't think he could tell just by the position in the wheel well. Is there something on the wheels themselves that you could spot?

 

Yes. And in the pictures of your car in your introduction thread, the wheels appear to be mounted correctly. But perhaps you should upload a more current pic (or the one you posted on FB) to this thread so we can see how it sits right now.

The front wheels have a deeper lip (the spoked center section is recessed more deeply). The rear wheels have a shallower lip (the spoked center section is less recessed).

Some people run four front wheels because they find the deeper lip more attractive.

 

I'll add a couple more things. It also increases handling a little bit with the wider track width in the rear (4fronts like race teams) and helps make tire rotation a lot easier.

 

Previous owner could've ground the calipers to make them fit.

 

Thanks for the information. I'll have to check out the wheels to see the differences in them.

Not the best angle, but this is a pic of the car post-tire change and after some brake work that I had to have done.

Interesting thing about that caliper comment. When I got the car, it hadn't been driven much in the prior 10 years. The brakes weren't in great shape and the brake lines were gunked up. I had the lines and all pads replaced, as well as the front calipers (one of them locked up and got super hot at one point due to the bad brake lines). The rear calipers were okay. But, the garage here had a hard time finding matching brake pads. They're pretty good guys and actually spent quite a bit of time researching and trying to find the best fit. They had a couple of failures, and the best fit ended up being ones that would have fit an old S-10 pickup. They said they weren't a perfect match, but close. So the rear brakes aren't standard.

GTAs had standard four-wheel discs, But they said that the rear brakes on my car appeared to be aftermarket brakes, like it originally had drum brakes or the original discs were replaced. One of the guys at the garage worked on the line at GM and said there are times when other parts are substituted for out of stock parts. He thought that maybe at the time the car was built, they might have substituted these disc brakes for the ones that typically came with GTAs. I don't know the car's history other than it was owned by a woman from when it was new until late 2017, when she sold it and it ended up with the small specialty dealer that I bought it from. From the look of the rest of the car, I tend to doubt the original owner would have made any modifications. It seemed to be really well cared for. I don't think the car was even driven at night much, as it still has the original Guide headlights with really clear, clean glass on them, as though almost no road debris or bugs ever hit them. Changing the rear brakes just doesn't seem like something an owner who kept the car in that condition would have done. But who knows.

 

You're right, it's hard to tell, due to the angle and reflections, but there does appear to be a difference between front and rear, and the front looks correct. I'd hope they didn't install matching wheels per side: fronts on one side and rears on the other. Doubt it, but based on that rear brake song and dance they entertained you with, it wouldn't surprise me lol. Still, if a rear is on the front, you'd be able to tell when trying to drive the car. But it sounds like there are no drivability issues, right?

Now you need to post a pic of the rear brakes. Doubt they've been changed, but possible. The SPID label in the console should have J65 on the list of codes, for rear disc brakes, not drums.

Factory rear disc brakes in 1988 should've still been old school Delco Moraine metric iron calipers. The newer PBR rear brakes came out in 89. Again, doubt they've been changed, but possible. They're considerably different, so a swap wouldn't have been simple or cheap by a shop.

And I'm no S10 expert, but I'd be very surprised if an S10 from the era would've had PBR brakes. Most likely the S10 had the same DM metric calipers as 3rdgens and most other GM cars, hence your car needing "S10 pads."

Brake pads for the DM calipers are D154 and D202, although many pad manufacturers offer only D154 for both, front and rear. If either of those pad numbers ring a bell, then your calipers are original. PBR pads are drastically different, D413.

Could be your mechanics aren't thinking back far enough and believe your car should've had the PBR rear brakes.

So do your rear calipers look like pic 1(old iron DM, with one leading caliper and one trailing caliper) or pic 2(newer aluminum PBR, with both calipers trailing)? Pics are from the net, however, both apparently originated here on TGO.

 

That's for all the info LA! I'll have to check out my car after work today. I did take a quick look at the wheels, and they do match on both sides of the same axle, so that's good.

No drivability issues. Drives great, Handles great. Tracks dead straight.

The story about the brakes from that garage did sound odd, but it's no hack operation. Those guys have been in business here a long time and really seem to know their stuff and seem to know a lot about 3rd gens too. They're not some minimum wage Jiffy Lube operation. They actually tried multiple sets of pad on the car trying to get a match, kept it for a couple of days before they found a decent fit. I know it sounds weird. Another garage that I've also used here also raised an eyebrow at that story, but they have me convinced.

It's not the first time I've heard of factory cars getting equipped differently than you'd expect.

 

Looks correct to me in the picture. I have two cars with different offset wheels and rotating tires is a real pain and expensive. These wheels also have "Front Only" and "Rear Only" stamped into the metal on the back of the wheels. This is what you have to show the tire shop so they can get it right.

 

Yeah I know. This is my third Firebird since 1990. Tire rotations were always an expensive and time wasting thing.