Graduated from LT1 to LS2! Noob Here!

Nick! · 05-12-2008, 03:28 PM

Howdy yall. No, not from Texas. Connecticut checking in here. Was always a Camaro guy, owned a few but sold a 97 SS and picked up an 05 Goat, M6, Silver, 100% stock. User name on CamaroZ28.com is Blown350ZZ4. Needed some body work on the hood and the nose though. This is my first LSX car and man, this thing sure does have nuts. So nice to drive too.

Just some quick questions;

- Car came with orange badges. Did pontiac offer such a thing? I have heard of these fading to this color but I am not sure if this is the case.

- Looking for 18 inchers. Am I in for some dissapointment?

- What tail lights you guys like better; red or black? Buddy with an 06 GTO has the black, wants the red and offered to trade. What to do?

Oh, and don't worry. Pics will be provided after the car comes out of paint.

Nick

Aramz06 · 05-12-2008, 04:19 PM

- Car came with orange badges. Did pontiac offer such a thing? I have heard of these fading to this color but I am not sure if this is the case.
- Looking for 18 inchers. Am I in for some dissapointment?
- What tail lights you guys like better; red or black? Buddy with an 06 GTO has the black, wants the red and offered to trade. What to do?

Hey welcome to the forum and congrats on the car! Let my try and answer some questions.

- I highly doubt any GTO came with orange badges, I just dont want to tell you " NO " because there is a chance I can be wrong, But I have seen tons of GTO's read through alot of threads on here... and I know somewhat about stock parts. So I'd bet thats not stock, or its fades.

-

- In my opinion, if you have the chance to switch from red to black taillights, do it!

Any mods you plan on doing to the car? Your going to love it! Looking forward to the pictures

GTO JUDGE · 05-12-2008, 04:19 PM

Welcome to the forum Nick.

The badges fade, mine are nearly orange too. I noticed all of them do it. You can get overlays for them. Why they are fading is beyond me.

18"ers can be found. Every now and then on here some one will offer them up for sale, you can check Ebay as well. 18"ers will reduce your chances of possible strut rub if the front end comes out of alignment.

I think the 06' tails with the black band look sharp. With a black car they blend in and are not as defined. On your silver car they will accent it nicely.

Is your front end being done with water based paint from the dealer? If so you may want to check into a "quality" clear bra. The front ends on these don't take too well to chipping.

PDQ GTO · 05-12-2008, 04:36 PM

Welcome aboard Nick...

Nick! · 05-12-2008, 05:36 PM

Thanks for all of the welcomes

Alright, so the badges turn to orange, I can find 18s but I am probably going to pay a few bucks and go with the black tail lights. I prefer them too but I asked the Ol Lady and she prefers the red ones. Since its basically half hers anyway, I may have to give this some thought.

Any links to the overlays GTOJudge? Dealer is not painting the car. It is being done by a great friend who owns a body shop. He does all my stuff. I generally have experienced knicks on all the GM cars I have owned. Just the nature of the best I suppose. Car had some ugly scrapes from bottoming out so since the hood most certainly needed to be repaired, might as well do the nose too.

Woman by the way has an 07 Solstice GXP that she bought new so we now have a Pontiac garage.

Any other advice or recomendations anyone can give would be great. I still have a lot of lurking to do on the forum. I test drove an 05 when they were available but never pulled the trigger. Always wanted one and always looked at the used inventory out there. Last week came across a deal I couldn't pass up so I moved on it fast. Don't know too much about them but anxious to learn.

Nick

NJSierra · 05-12-2008, 07:16 PM

Welcome Nick!

GTO JUDGE · 05-12-2008, 07:18 PM

Overlays >> GrafxWerks.Com - Custom Automotive Products

If your buddy used the same type paint the dealers use, I think you'll find the paint chipping on these cars is worse than others.

TIP: Use the search engine to find just about every answer to any question asked on here. It's a valuable tool. Happy trolling!!

Nick! · 05-13-2008, 08:34 AM

Ok, body guy is using a urethane enamel based paint, not water based. From what he says, only 1 shop in CT carries it but no one wants to use it. CT has to 2010 untill the state starts cracking down. Also told me CT is having a lot of issues with the paint because of the dramatic temperature changes.