Okay, so I've had my 1997 v6 camaro with chrome 5stars (stock) for a little over a year now. Just bought a "wrecked" z28 that insurance totaled out for $1500. I fixed it for $53 at the junk yard, and swapped my fender and bumper to it. So now I've got a Z28. Go me.

Anyway, so I was switching out my rims, getting rid of the salad shooters on the Z and putting my chrome 5stars on it, the front two bolted up just fine, as expected. However, the rear two wheels had a fitment issue. The metal rod that goes through the center of the wheel (I assume this is the axle?) was barely too large for the wheel's opening. As we placed it on and tightened the lugs, each lug forced the wheel on the axle a bit further, creating metal shavings from the wheel. Eventually, I stripped 3 lug nuts in this process. I pulled the wheel off, took a metal file to the inner circle of the wheel, and it bolted right up after that.

Now, I ask, what the ****? Shouldn't they be easily interchangable? '97 chrome 5stars swapped with '94 salad shooters? The 97 had drum brakes on the rear, whereas my '94Z has discs all around, I figured this could be the problem. Either way, it was a strange account.

 

They SLIGHTLY changed the mounting diamter of the rear wheels in 96? So some people will have rear wheel issues that are EASILY fixed by filing a little bit of the inner surface away, which you did.

 

Glad to hear I didn't just have a factory fluke, easy enough to fix. Thanks for the reply. Now if only I had an answer to my other thread in gen. tech. Heh.

 

This topic is covered in the FAQ "stickied" at the top of the Wheels and Tires topic page.

 

Be prepared to break out the file again when you rotate your tires.