This is a 1988 Iroc-Z, which I purchased last summer in 2005.
I was in the market for a new daily driver as I still wasn't finished building up the 396 LT1 stroker for my first car, a '93 Formula FireBird. (seen here: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/428479
Being a bit of an Fbody fanatic, when the time came to buyimg a new daily driver, the choice was pretty clear. I already have a Firebird, so it just seemed natural to try the Camaro next.
I've always loved these third gen's ever since I was a kid growing up in the eighties. Back then, the Iroc's and GTA's were just about the coolest cars on the road and I remember seeing one for the first time, during the family's yearly summer vacation trip to Ocean City.
The very first IROC I had seen, was maroon in colour, with the factory gold-accent wheels.
I don't know what it was about that car, but my love for F-body's began that very moment.
The car you see before you, is my first 3rd gen. It's a fully loaded, 5.7L L98 IROC-Z. Borg Warner 9 bolt with factory disc brakes all around. Power windows, rear hatch.... the works.
I purchased the vehicle for $7800 Canadian with about 160k's on the odometer. Some may think that's a bit pricey, but around here, 5.7's are few are far between. Most every other 3rd gen I see, are all 305's.
08/25/06
Last week, myself and a few other members from an Fbody Forum I'm a member of, were invited to Carcone's for a tour of the facility. We all had a good time and I'm sure I speak for everyone who went, when I say that they Carcone's does top notch work with their wheel re-finishing. They have a very nice clean facility, a friendly staff knoledgable staff and have refinish their wheels with the best high-end machinery.
I was very impressed and knew right there and then I was going to take the wheels off my IROC to them.
On Monday after I got home from work, I put the car on jack stands and took off the wheels. I knew they were in rough shape before I had taken them off, but it wasn't until I actually had all 4 laying flat in front of me did I realize just how bad they really were. Honestly, I started having second thoughts about spending money to refinish these wheels as they were is such poor shape. I actually started wondering whether or not Carcone's (as good as they are) could actually repair these wheels.
There were DEEP gauge's all over them. The paint was faded and heavily stained with lord knows what. The outside lip on some of them was all chewed up (most likely from changing tires with a crappy tire remover) and all the wheels had really bad corrosion all over them.
I decided to give it a shot and take them Carcon's and hope for the best. Dropped them off first thing Tuesday morning and picked them up Friday. They were ready for Thursday but I never had the time to get them.
When I went to pick them up, Ron took me out back to see them. They were all lined up and with face's covered in protective sheets to prevent scratch's. I wripped the protective wrap off one of the wheels like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning, I was so excited....
All I could say was "WOW" :shock: I couldn't believe these were the same wheels that I gave them 3 days before. (I still have my doubts Tongue )
These things are essentialy brand new wheels. They look dimply amazing. The gun-metal gray I asked them to paint the inserts with, came out better than I could have imagined. They really bring out the machined spokes like never before. This shade of paint actually gets lighter/darker depending on the angle you look at them from. :shock:
These things looked so good, I kinda felt bad I had to put them back on the car. They even through in new air caps which match the color combination perfectly. Good stuff.
Well, I just finished mounting them back on the IROC and man, they make a night and day difference in the appearance of the car.
All in all, I give Carcones two BIG thumbs up! Those guy's are amazing and I highly reccomend them to anyone thinking about refinishing their wheels. For the measly price of $375 (club member pricing) , for basically a brand new set of wheels, you can't go wrong. They even mounted and balanced on 4 tires and installed the wheel weights on the INSIDE of the wheels like they're supposed to be (unlike they came from the factory, with the weights on the outside of the wheels looking ugly as sin :| )
Sorry about the dark pic's but the whether this weekend kinda sucked 'cause it was cloudy.
The column on the left is the "BEFORE"and the column on the right is the "AFTER"
