77 trans am ride height

[yellow1098Greg]

I have a gorgous 77 TA and love and want the look of the yearone bandit....i know it has staggered 18's and id rather run the staggered 17's they offer ...but my question is do they have a drop on it of any kind and can i put a drop on my car without the wheels and maybe add them later?? i have stock height with the 15inch WS6 wheels which look pretty good. but i was thinking a drop would look good and maybe add those 17's later..will i have to change the ride height once i get the wheels and whats the best way to go about that drop? thanks guys

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...7-16144001.jpg

[79-TA]

The Year One Bandit sits lower than a stock Trans Am. You can lower your own car without changing the wheels. The most straightforward way to lower your car would be to use lowering springs. These springs are shorter, but have a higher spring rate. Your car will then have a more firm ride, so take it easy over speed bumps. Many many companies sell lowering springs for your car. Changing springs gives you a good opportunity to replace old suspension bushings. I highly recommend doing this as it makes a great improvement in the feel of your car. You might also look into getting more aggressive shocks, though that's not really necessary, especially if you're only going for the stance at the moment.

One thing to be aware of is that lowering the rear can cause a clearance issue with the inner fender well. For my own car, I solved the problem with a 4 pound sledge hammer. There are more graceful options, but just understand that it is a potential issue.

I see no reason why you would have to adjust your ride height again for a new set of wheels unless you were really concerned with getting the perfect "tuck." Small changes can be made by cutting the coil springs and by adding lowering blocks in the rear. Neither of those options are generally preferred, but they are options.

One last warning about lowering your car: Your polyurethane ground effects will no longer clear standard curbs. Be careful when you park to avoid beating them up.

[79-TA]

Another things to keep in mind is that your car will likely sit lower with larger wheels. This is because the low profile tires usually have a smaller overall diameter compared to the tires mounted on 15" wheels, especially if you're using the stock 70 15 225 size.

To measure the amount of "drop" due to the suspension and not overall tire diameter, one can measure the distance from the wheel center to the middle of the fender arch above it. Camaros have different sheet metal than Firebirds, so the numbers don't translate between cars. Here's a picture of my car for reference.

It sits low not only because of the springs, but also because I run a pretty small overall diameter tire (265 40 17 which comes to 25.1 inches, nearly an inch of drop from tire size alone.)

As seen here, the distance from the rear wheel center to the fender opening center is 14.5".

[TEXAS PAUL]

before TVS with 15 wheels

[TEXAS PAUL]

before TVS with 15 wheel and 18 wheel just for comparison


before TVS with 18 wheels notice how much space is in the wheel wells


after hotchkis TVS suspension system and detroit speed a arms


rear leaf spring


front coils

[TEXAS PAUL]

79ta has great advice, here is my 2 cent. I have been trying to get my T/A to look like the BRE T/A for 3 years through trial and error, ever since the first Bandit Run. This is what i have found out the BRE I,II,II are very expensive $$$$ and are untouchable by my standards the stance is great and the performance is out of this world. The first BRE prototype feature in Hot Rod Magazine was the only BRE that used the factory subframe plus Hotckis TVS suspension system and additional 2 inch lowering blocks in the rear. The pictures above show the progression of my T/A. I used the Hotchkis TVS system with out the 2 inch lowering block in the rear with sub frame connectors and have never had a rubbing problem in the rear. The front left there is a little rub when I go over railroad track, I am also using a softer Edelbrock shock. The rub I believe is due to 30 + years of the subframe holding a very heavy steel big block motor, so i has bowed in the middle. This is agreed upon with my alignment guy who has maxed out the adjustment to the DSE A Arms and i still have a slight (-0.005 to be exact) tilt in at the top of the tire. hope this helps with your decision.

[79-TA]

Hey Paul, I'm just curious about your ride height in the rear. I have Hotchkis "lowering" leaf springs in the rear, but I bought and installed them back in 2005. This was before Hotchkis noted any difference between early and late 2nd gen Trans Ams. Because my old leaf springs were so worn out, the Hotchkis springs actually raised my car slightly while the Eibach coils did their job in the front perfectly. I made up for the difference with 1.5" lowering blocks in the rear. I didn't have an issue with rubbing until I installed the lowering blocks. As noted above, my current wheel center to fender measurement is 14.5" and was 16" before the lowering blocks. What does your newer set of Hotchkis lowering leaf springs give you for rear ride height?

[TEXAS PAUL]

I am at 16 center to fender with nothing in the trunk.

[aronhk_md]

This subject has been discussed here and on other forums. I cant tell you HOW many people who have gotten off the shelf spring kits for front and rear only to find their firebird/trans am/camaro doesnt sit where they want it. A lot of money gets wasted going through multiple combos.

Here is a thread which addresses the front coil spring issues, and there are others out there.

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...270#post734270

For rear springs the best solution is bringing your car to a spring shop.....they will custom bend old (if no leafs are broken) or new to give you the ride height you want. Look around for a shop that works on hotrods and in your area and they will point you in the right direction.

My opinion.......DONT WASTE MONEY ON OFF THE SHELF SPRINGS. I know more people unhappy with the result than I know people happy with it.

[SR71]

....and those 25" tires look lost in the fenderwells on that 79-ta. notice how low the car sits, yet it still has too much fender to tire gap. you can't eliminate the tire to fender gap on those 25" tires and still have enough ground clearance to drive it in the real world.

the way to make a street car look good AND be alot easier to live with on the street is to run a larger diameter tire. the larger diameter tire will actually raise the car up a little. NOW, you can lower the car back down, close the gap up AND still have adequate ground clearance. no gaps look MUCH better than bigger gaps, even if the rockers are dragging the ground.

in closing....yes, you can go ahead and lower the car to achieve the look that you want when you install the other wheel and tire combo at a later date. just be sure to get the look you want with the tire diameters that the car will wear in it's future incarnation. any change in diameter will affect the stance.

[yellow1098Greg]

wow thanks so much for all the info guys....im def gonna see if i can find a spring shop around here in the central florida area.....and thats great if i can lower the car and not have to change it if if and when i decide to get those bigger wheels and the only reason i liked the smaller and at most the 17's is because i do like alittle more tire......79ta....what size are those wheels on your car?

[79-TA]

I have the Year One 17" snowflakes on my car. They're a good value for cast aluminum wheels with the backspacing already figured out just for your car. The diameter is 17" and the width is 9.5" (not to be confused with the actual measured width which comes in about an inch wider.) These wheels can be bought with the painted sections in black, gold, or silver.

The tires on my car are a bit of an odd size. They are 265 40 17's. 275 40 17's are a much more popular and common size, but 265 was the largest section width available for the Dunlop tires I chose to run.

My opinion.......DONT WASTE MONEY ON OFF THE SHELF SPRINGS. I know more people unhappy with the result than I know people happy with it.

You make a great point, but I am not a fan of keeping the old springs. I originally replaced my leaf springs because one of them became so old/rusted/worn that the end of one broke and fell off on the street. Having said that, I am a proponent of new springs.



SR71, I really don't understand your subjective complaint. While the 265 section width makes my tires a little smaller in overall diameter, they're not far off from what most people run for overall diameter with 17" wheels. For instance, a 275 40 17 would be 25.6 inches in diameter opposed to my 25.1. That's a difference of a quarter inch in radius. Another populuar 17" tire size would be the 245 45 17, which is 25.7 inches in diameter. It seems your issue is with the look of 17" wheels in general. That or the black of the tire and the wrong monitor contrast settings could exagerate the wheel-fender gap. I personally don't like the look of any wheel over 18" under any muscle car, nor do I see a reason for lugging around all of that extra rotating and unsprung mass. Given that you run 19"s and 20"s, I'm going to go ahead and say we have differing opinions on aesthetics and the importance of performance. You'll be happy to know that I still have my original 15" rally II wheels with 245 60 15 Radial TA's should I ever want to have 26.7" of overall diameter for marginally better clearance and better filled fenders.

[SR71]

no complaint, just an opinion. all that matters is that you are happy with your car.

I have no problem at all with 17" wheels. as a matter of fact, my 98 ram air vert wears gold anodized 17" boyds pt-10's with 26" tires. granted 26's are as short as I would go because the car is lowered ~2" and has very small fender gaps.

IMO, fender to tire gaps, or lack of, is what makes a car look low. the rub here is that a 1" larger diameter tire lets you lower the suspension 1/2", still maintain exactly the same ground clearance AND close the fender gap 1".

the first car I ever saw with a really low profile tire was an iroc-z. the car had the proper width, but very short tire on the stock wheels. the car was still at stock ride but had 4x4 looking fender gaps.....and it made this really cool scraping noise as it crossed the speed breaker in front of the store I was at. I couldn't help but laugh at the guy.

[yellow1098Greg]

i have the year one catalog and i did notice those aluminum 17's are great value but i do like the 2 piece off set more expensive ones.......that are really high priced...is there any advantages to them other the obvious large offset, over the 17 same size aluminums?

[dipren443]

You know, I have a feeling I know the owner of this car...

[yellow1098Greg]

wowww...whats up cuginoo....haha i thought ud probably be on here somewhere....howd u find me?? i could prob just call you and ask you all these questions...ha

[dipren443]

Deductive reasoning. ;) Oh, and the fact I have been on your street countless times helps a bit. How is the car doing?

wowww...whats up cuginoo....haha i thought ud probably be on here somewhere....howd u find me?? i could prob just call you and ask you all these questions...ha

[yellow1098Greg]

ya thats tru...many years....the car is good...lovin it....tryin to do as much as i can here and there......hows yours doin?

[dipren443]

ya thats tru...many years....the car is good...lovin it....tryin to do as much as i can here and there......hows yours doin?

I will have to send you a link to my build thread. It is coming along slow right now though.

[aronhk_md]

i have the year one catalog and i did notice those aluminum 17's are great value but i do like the 2 piece off set more expensive ones.......that are really high priced...is there any advantages to them other the obvious large offset, over the 17 same size aluminums?

Advantages to the more expensive wheels include as you noticed....a custom offset/backspace allowing you to fit more wheel and tire under the car before protruding from the wheel wells, lighter weight, forged as opposed to cast for more strength and in the case of the 3 piece wheels the ability to just change a hoop if you want to go wider or damage a lip. Keep in mind this doesnt ALWAYS mean the more expensive wheel is really lighter or stronger, it just usually is that way. Oh, and I forgot bragging rights.