[mmadden2]

The weather was nice yesterday so I tested out my new $400 ($350+shipping) spare tire kit after waiting 5 weeks for delivery...



The included jack broke almost immediately which was slightly terrifying as it dropped an inch off it's wobbly, cheapy, little plastic pinch weld top. I had crawled under there with a strong flashlight and had their top perfectly lined up with the pinch, I checked it several times. The pinch weld of the car was digging into the plastic pad of the jack, with each turn, like the car was trying to cut it in half. At some point before the wheel even left the ground there was a pop and the car settled back down about an inch and was still sitting on the now dis-jointed jack. It didn't appear to damage the car when it broke but I was happy it still worked enough to get the car back down...



I had pre-loosened the nuts a bit but luckily I hadn't yet removed the tire. I wonder how much more the jack would have changed shape had the tire not been on to help take the weight. Yikes.

Hmmm. Should I call and ask for a replacement? Uh... no thanks. I pulled a GM jack out of one of my Buicks and compared them. It has the same pinch weld top shape but it's larger, solidly connected to the jack instead of rotatable and floppy, and it's way beefier. I assume if it can lift the LaCrosse weight, it can likely lift the Camaro. The GM unit has a considerably larger foot print, thicker gauge metal everywhere, and the solid metal pinch weld top, not the odd single loose attachment point plastic top (which looks very harbor freight)...



So the GM jack fit just fine. The wheel fit easily and thankfully seems of good quality...





I drove the car around for a while and it all went fine so I went back home and put the full size wheel back on and called it a win. I didn't change a rear wheel but I made sure the GM jack would also work back there and was able to easily get a rear wheel up off the ground and back down again without incident.

Then I ordered another Buick jack & wrench with same parts numbers from ebay. The listing didn't include the jack wrench but I reached out to the seller and he was able to find one and include it. $75 to the door seemed reasonable for an OEM jack, wrench, and shipping...



Ordered another breaker bar from Amazon like the ones I have in my other cars and works like a champ. The one they included was meh...



Then I took a little spin over to Autozone for $15 worth of Duralast deep sockets. A 22mm for the OEM lug nuts and a 19mm for the smaller spare wheel lug nuts. They include the correct sizes in the kit but they are shorter and are multi-sockets with sizes on both sides to accommodate various cars. I only want what actually fits my car so it's easy to work when needed which is why I replaced theirs with the bigger, purpose selected, Autozone sockets.

My mileage hit 1989 while driving (the year I graduated HS) so I blasted some Guns N' Roses for good measure which was fun. I'm up to 2000 miles of smiles, what a great car!

Once the rest of the higher quality parts arrive I'll have a quality spare tire changing kit for the low low price of ONLY $520. I wish it was cheaper but this stuff shouldn't let me down if I ever need it. I've changed tires on my other cars a strangely frequent number of times so I feel being able to do it in the Camaro makes sense.

For good measure, I also have a little battery jump box, a mini air compressor, and a decent tire gauge in the car so we've got several bases covered. Let the good times roll!

[Cgocifer]

Decided to drive it to work, 50 mile freeway commute, dodged a 4x4, ran over pieces of it, had splats of some black stuff that left brown stains in the paint that only come off with polishing compound, fun.

I give up.

[D3adpool]

My break-in period is done, so I'm having all the major fluids replaced today.

Tomorrow....WINDOW TINT!

[Cgocifer]

Oh I hit 1500 miles, so will be changing the engine oil and filter, that's it. Time to let the horses loose!

[arpad_m]

After some hesitation, went ahead and installed these paddle shifter extenders, then polished off the +/- markings from the black originals to get rid of the hackish "why are there two +/- signs on 'em?" look.

These extenders are aluminum, pretty sturdy and good quality, and as an added bonus they dampen the actuation sound, making it much less "plasticky". Let me know what you guys think

[JoeCamaro444]

Finally had time and weather cooperation to get out and hand wash my baby. 👍🏻

[Howard D]

Changed cloth seats to leather

[Howard D]

Added some new floor mats

[Howard D]

Changed out side markers to led

[The Alien]

2 weeks of life and today we start doing something:

Got rid of the rear Bowtie making room for the "Camaro" letters in backorder

I've also installed a phone cradle\cover\slot to charge and connect Android Auto without the hassle of plugging the phone every time. Discreet and it works amazingly.
I'm going to open a new thread with detailed pictures under Project - DIY area in case anyone is interested.

[The Alien]

Originally Posted by Howard D

Changed out side markers to led

I love those! nice job.

Which brand are they? with my dark Gray one they would be perfect

[mstgeer]

Installed & bed in (the fun part) Powerstop Z16 pads front and rear on the wife's summer daily Fifty vert. Was tired of washing every other day due to the POS factory pad dust.
Also learned the Stoner tarminator works MUCH better than the Gunk brand bug and tar remover

[Howard D]

Originally Posted by The Alien

I love those! nice job.

Which brand are they? with my dark Gray one they would be perfect

JW Motorsports makes them $89.99 free shipping

[Ryanbabz71]

Yesterday cars and coffee at IMS





My wife got me a new clock for the garage

[IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/40d72d7c7538cf6****b8627f47aa254.jpg[/IMG]


Ryan B.