GTOhh no! #$%^@!!!

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:03 pm

So my friend/roommate has a 2007 GTO. He was always clowning on 1GN's and 2GN's alike, even the SRT's.... anyways he slapped on some bigger-ported heads, cam, and he's done a Holden front end. He dyno'd 492 to the wheels. So he thinks he's hot shit. But he stopped putting Neons down when an SRT-4 with just a 50 trim and a stock longblock gobbled him up repeatedly on the freeway.

Anyways he's still a buddy so here's his horror story.. he got a sweet deal on wheels and tires... nice 18" wheels, too. He goes to put on the lugs they came with. Of course they aren't marked. He's a big guy, so he puts them on... a little resistance. I warned him to back them off, but he didn't. So then they won't come off, or go all the way down. Just spin.

So I remember when my stud spun out of the hub and stripped the splines. I look behind the wheel with a flashlight, and lo and behold, three of the five are spinning like crazy.

The vendor sold him the wrong studs.

So he's pissed but he's dealing with it uncharictaristically well. I'm not even laughing because the wheels look nice, and it's a bullshit situation, and I would be pissed, too. Trying to get the lugs off, he scraped the paint a bit...

But the real kicker is he *at least* needs three new studs -- $25 each. IF the stud splines took off too much meat in the hub, and he needs a new one... get this:

$950!

Dealer-only part. Seems hardly any retailer carries parts for this thing.

So now he's both pissed and bummed out, because it's going to take until AT LEAST tomorrow (Sat) to get it in from the warehouse. Plus it's not even his fault really, it's the jackass who tossed the wrong bag of nuts in the box. the pitch of the threads is probably so close, it's too hard to tell until it's too late.

Talk about epic suckage.

Kelevra · Post by **Kelevra** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:54 pm

ouch... that blows huge monkey balls

hansken_yo · Post by **hansken_yo** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:10 pm

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:19 pm

Here's the wheels...

The rears are 2" wider than the fronts. Looks nice with the deeper dish in the back.

245/40-18's in the front, and 275/35-18's in the rear.

And the comparison w/ OEM:

The factory wheels were 17's, with 18's optional. He bought some factory 18's a few months ago.

The new wheels ran him $1000 shipped. And he found a buyer for the 18 OEM wheels for $800. So all in all, he paid $200 in the end for this set. His tires are the same as mine (Nankang NS-Sport).

I'll have to snap a good pic when this stripped studs crap gets sorted out.

MoxHair · Post by **MoxHair** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:59 pm

492hp and he went with cheap tires?

And I thought they stopped making GTOs in 2006

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:34 pm

er maybe it was 2006, but I thought he said '07. I tend to ignore him sometimes when he's raving on and on about it

Yeah you know I asked him an hour ago about the tires.. turns out his are NS-Sport II and mine are NS-Sport I... for some reason his feel harder than my compound. At any rate I told him it's going to spin out all the time. He shruged. Oh well, his car, not mine.

MoxHair · Post by **MoxHair** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:48 pm

In My opinion Tires and THE most important thing on a car. Those tires are going to ruin that GTO.

Doesn't matter how much power you have, if you can't put it to the ground it doesn't matter.

Those tires he bought are around $75-80 a tire.

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:55 pm

I agree. He's an idiot. And with all the money he wastes on other bullshit, he could have bought better tires when I think about it.

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:00 pm

He should have bought a set of rear rims for drag radials.

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:22 pm

Well if the hubs can be removed without taking the tires off, maybe the whole knuckle(?) Torch the back of the studs. Then If the new ones won't seat weld the fuckers in place, (unless they're aluminum hubs, hey, we're talkin' GM ) At $950 for a new one, if it is doable... The only concern would be what welding may do to the strength of the studs, after all it does appear to be on the steering tires. alot of load in a corner. Shit just ask him if he's insured against Fucking up.

But seriously, I would call my agent and see what they say. If he's got a $1000 deductable on comprehensive he's screwed tho.

bone-yard-racing · Post by **bone-yard-racing** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:24 pm

MoxHair wrote:In My opinion Tires and THE most important thing on a car. Those tires are going to ruin that GTO.

Doesn't matter how much power you have, if you can't put it to the ground it doesn't matter.

Those tires he bought are around $75-80 a tire.

As opposed to the fact that it looks like a caviler and handles supprisingly like a dresser

Those wheels do look great though. $80 for something that big they cant be good, it will be interesting to see if they are worse than RS-A's

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:41 pm

His car no longer looks like a Cavalier or Grand Prix... he switched to the Aussie Holden front end and Holden spoiler and rear window shade.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:32 am

Arro wrote:His car no longer looks like a Cavalier or Grand Prix... he switched to the Aussie Holden front end and Holden spoiler and rear window shade.

Ooh, post pics of those please, I'm curious as to what they look like. It's too bad that Holden doesn't run GM North America as the Aussies seem to get all of the neat cars.

titansxt · Post by **titansxt** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:34 am

GTO production ended in June of 06.

pyro · Post by **pyro** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:41 am

They make a freakin' pickup/car(think el camino) with that Holden Monaro front end & LS1 in the land of Oz.
Seems like a fun place!

titansxt · Post by **titansxt** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:45 pm

pyro wrote:They make a freakin' pickup/car(think el camino) with that Holden Monaro front end & LS1 in the land of Oz.
Seems like a fun place!

Its called the Ute.

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:20 pm

It's called the Maloo, I think "ute" is a designation, like "coupe" or "sedan"...

What you have in the previous picture (red vehicle) is some kind of computer-generated version, but what I posted here is an actual photo.

titansxt · Post by **titansxt** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:02 pm

^Direct from Holden. Maloo is a name for it but its much more commonly referd to as the ute. Even Holden refers to it as the ute.

Drool.

1st gen troll · Post by **1st gen troll** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:36 am

The LS-powered ute is coming to the US soon as a version of the Pontiac G8.

Ever seen a later LS2 GTO with engine mods and stock suspension run through the gears hard? Holy rear end squat!

Arro · Post by **Arro** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:56 am

Oh, totally.... his car right now rubs with the new wheels and tires when he even barely steps on it. He has to roll the fenders, so the car's been parked.

As far as his engine mods go, he's swapped the heads for ones with bigger ports, and swapped the cam.... but that seems to be enough. He still doesn't play with SRT-4's anymore, tho.... twice now he's let one whip by and tease him

that's what happens when you brag, and then get pwn3d by a 4-banger.

I think that G8 is fugly. I'd love to see the new Malibu supercharged, tho