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my '90 GP LE and its rims


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hello, I recently turned 16 and got my G1 licence (in canada)

The car I drive (which isnt mine...yet) is a 1990 Grand Prix Le, the car is overall pretty good I guess, but the rims look extremely ugly because they have this wierd build up of something on the them or maybe its the paint coming off, I dont know exactly what it is, but maybe some one here has had a similar problem, and do you know how to fix it, what to use to get the stuff off? here is a picture I found on google to show you what kind of rims i am talking about, they dont have the build up though,

http://www.frankiestowing.com/5pont.jpg

 

and also the tires seem to deflate very fast! is this a problem with the tires or the rims?

 

thanks!

 

PS can anyone point me into the right direction to getting this car to be in an overall good condition by using DIY tune up jobs? my mom used it before me and didnt take too much care of it. thanks again!

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Guest Anonymous

-As for the rims, I would say what you are seeing is the clearcoat coming off. Is the "buildup" a yellowish color?

 

-How old are the tires?

-Check the valvestems and make sure they're not loose. I had some come halfway out on me before.

-If the rims look good around the edges then it's probably the tires. Or just a bad seal between tire and rim. Has the car sat not being driven for any extended amount of time?

 

Tune Up

-New plugs

-New wires

-K&N Filter

That's the first 3 things I would do. What motor does it have in it?

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ok for the rims, today I took a closer look at them and yes you are right it is the clearcoat coming off. Is there a way to make it look better? because right now it looks extremely ugly.

 

I dont know much about the tires, all I know is that my dad got them used :( at a junkyard to save money. Thats probably why they suck so much :) .

 

thanks for all the tune up ideas! the plugs I will do but what are the cables? are you refering to the spark plug cables? and for the filter, I am looking to replace the standard airbox with a cold air intake from a design I found at carsdomain.com so I do have to worry about that for now

 

Thanks!

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Guest Anonymous

Actuall I said wires, not cables. Yes I mean the spark plug wires. I would just stick with AC Delco plugs and plug wires.

A cold air intake is a good upgrade.

If you want to get all of the clearcoat off get some aircraft remover (i think that's what it's called). Use that and some very fine steel wool. It should all come off with a little effort. Just be careful not to get any on the tires.

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sorrry missed your question about the motor - its the 3.1L V6 n/a.

Good news today my dad took the car to a mechanic to get new shocks for all 4 corners! will this do lots for the car?

so its called aircraft remover? will I be able to find it in Wal-Mart or Home Depot? if I can ill try that. then I can just respray the wheels right?

 

thanks!

btw, about the cold air intake, could someone tell me some benefits and some bad things about the cold air intake? I need to convince my dad that its a good thing, cause he says its useless, is he right? ( i dont think he is :P )

 

thanks again

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I got the paint stripper/aircraft remover from wal-mart. I didnt even need steel wool, just let it sit for a minute and used a plastic scraper. Using that will not scratch the finish at all. Do the more important things first, remember the stock airbox is already Cold air intake!

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alright the car came back from the repair shop and now the rear end is up real high because of the new springs, it looks kinda funny but oh well. I said he will get shocks for all four corners and then he told me that the front doesnt even have shocks, sorry for the mistake :oops: .

anyways, my dad said that he changed the spark plugs and wires 2 years ago, do u think now is a good time to change them?

I will buy that paint stripper/aircraft remover tommorow and get that ugly stuff off, but I still need to know, should I respray the wheels with clearcoat or leave it the way it is after the remover?

 

Yeah, i know about the alternator, we've had avout 4 different ones in this car already, they always seem to die on us :x .

Oil change was done by me :D about 2 weeks ago so its all good,

i dont know about the rear brakes ill check on it. Ill check the PCV valve too!

 

thanks!

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The W-bodies have struts on all 4 corners!!!

 

The rear height changed? Did they install a NEW Transverse leaf spring?????

 

I bet I know what happened...if you had those auxiliary rubber/metal springs (for your car they would be "8" shaped) they might have removed them....that will instantly raise the ride height if you have a stiff spring without a rear sway bar! Being that you have a '90 LE that's definetly possible

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I bet I know what happened...if you had those auxiliary rubber/metal springs (for your car they would be "8" shaped) they might have removed them....that will instantly raise the ride height if you have a stiff spring without a rear sway bar! Being that you have a '90 LE that's definetly possible

 

I'm almost certain Grand Prix's didn't have those.

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I only considered it because he has an LE, and it's a 90. They did a lot of crappy things to the suspension in '90+ like soften the rear spring a lot, so maybe the GP got the aux springs too? And I see these springs more often in cars with NO rear sway bar.

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Maybe, but I've looked under the ass end of many base and upper end GP's, and I think GP's never go the aux spring. They were a Cutlass/Regal/Lumina thing. For that matter, I don't think anything except early FE3 Cutlass got the cylindrical aux springs either.

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k i got some paint remover, but it didnt work :( , the only thing that happened was the clearcoat that was on the wheel came off and left the part that I tried doing white, so it still is bad. It seems that its more than just the clearcoat thats chipped off and is making the wheel look ugly, oh well I guess Im gonna have to live with ugly wheel.

 

As for the shock I have no clue what kind we got or anything about them for that matter, but if anyone wants me to look for some sort of specific feature about them i could check them out

 

I think thats it!

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Sounds like the clearcoat got so bad, the finish of the alloy got exposed and damaged. Just make sure you remove all the clearcoat, then grab some 1500-2000 grit sandpaper, or to be safer, aluminum polish. That should do the trick

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This is out of my Haynes Repair Manual:

 

The front suspension is composed of MacPherson struts, three point control arms and a stabalizer bar. The rear suspension is in-dependent, with trailing arms, strut/shock absorber units, a transversely mounted leaf spring, and in SOME cases coil springs.

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After reading in a little bit further:

 

"Both types of suspensions are located by trailing arms and parallel lateral link rods, and an OPTIONAL stabalizer bar."

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the only sway bar that was an option was the rear. Every car got a front one (though different diameters and some are hollow) otherwise you'd be having quite difficulty trying to take a corner without one!

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Yeah, I knew you were talking about the rear suspension with the sway bar. I once had a 92 Grand Am for a year or so, the connections on the control arm for the sway bar broke on both sides, it really didn't make the much difference in corners at all, I could still go at a good speed. But maybe that's because the Grand Am is much lighter than a W body.

 

 

Aaron

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