Road trip from South to North

[ashutoshkotha]

Hi Everybody, Am Ashutosh.
Well coming to the point directly, I planned of buying a new 2014 CAMARO from the dealer and for some reasons i couldn't get my hands on even with a down payment of $6000 which i had made from selling my 2007 R1(Turbo charged). So, i roamed around all the car dealers in South Texas for a couple of months to find a car. No, I had no luck. So, i decided to buy an used 2010 CAMARO 1LT. It had 85,000 miles on it when i first bought it. Interior was all cloth and had a sunroof and there were stains all over the interior, the doors are bad but the only reason i bought that car i that the engine is in good condition perfect you can say. Guess what to my wonder after reaching home from the local dealer i foudn that the windshield was broken and when i ask him about this he says "It was fine when it was with us, you must have broken it back way home" which is 1 mile away.

The car came with a decent catback exhaust and 22 inch wheeels with some raw tires and rest all is stock. So, that's when i decided to get my hands dirty every day. I open the hood removed every single part which covers the engine. Cleaned it made it look good. Plasti dipped a few parts under the hood but i really wanted to get it tuned and properly done. I am new to this country and i had no resources.

I have been using the car for 4 months and everything was going good. I had these installed:

1) 20 inch GM stock rims(22 inch are bad and makes the ride hard)
2) RS spoiler
3) plasti dipped few parts

now the car has 93000 miles on it.

I don't know if this is a good stage for the car but am in a dilema to sell the car and get a new one or keep it to myself. I have to move from texas to north. I planned to drive the car from the prresent place to boston which is like 31 hours.

can you please suggest me things that i have to take care of before istart...? like
1)should i clean the engine(valves,cylinders?)
2)should i replace any belts or chains?
3)Should i replace the exhaust?
4)should i install a catch can and CAI ASAP?

Please help me with this guys. I live in Kingsville TX. Am in a dilemma a big dilemma. Cause this road trip is very important for me. It will make me win the heart, it will help me understand myself, but at the ending i don't want to end up in a car which is having the prroblems it should have at 95000 miles.


This is the thread that i posted a trade in request. it has the pictures of my car

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=363574


Thanks in advance guys.

Love Camaro5 forever.

peace.

[ashutoshkotha]

Hi guys, I know everyone is busy with their own works and other things. If some has a suggestion please throw it while you pass by.

[K1SSRSS]

I would change the oil, air filter and serpentine belt. If the tranny fluid and differential fluid haven't been changed, I would go ahead and change those also.

Other than that check all your fluids, tires and brakes and you should be good to go. A catch can and CAI are nice to have but not necessary for functionality.

You shouldn't have any problems at 93,000 miles as long as regular maintenance was done and the car wasn't beat on constantly which it doesn't look like from your pictures.

[ashutoshkotha]

Originally Posted by K1SSRSS

I would change the oil, air filter and serpentine belt. If the tranny fluid and differential fluid haven't been changed, I would go ahead and change those also.

Other than that check all your fluids, tires and brakes and you should be good to go. A catch can and CAI are nice to have but not necessary for functionality.

You shouldn't have any problems at 93,000 miles as long as regular maintenance was done and the car wasn't beat on constantly which it doesn't look like from your pictures.

Thank K1ssRss for your reply...airfilter and Oil i will thanks for reminding. should i decarburise the engine with some methods like flushing the engine with some fluid?
I will for sure change the differential and tranny fulid i completely forgot about that. My car stopped giving gas mileage it dropped down like 6 miles all of a sudden am wondering what the reason might be for this.

[ChrisBlair]

Are you moving to Boston, or just visiting? Sounds like you are moving.

If you're driving a Camaro in the Northeast in winter, you may encounter snow. Potentially a LOT of it. Look at what happened to Buffalo New York. Boston doesn't get the Lake Effect snow like Buffalo but it can get major snowfalls of a foot and more per storm.

A road trip is a bad time and place to discover you need snow tires. Have you driven a rear wheel drive in snow that is 3 or 4 inches deep before? Massachusetts can feature roads on fairly steep hills.

[ashutoshkotha]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Are you moving to Boston, or just visiting? Sounds like you are moving.

If you're driving a Camaro in the Northeast in winter, you may encounter snow. Potentially a LOT of it. Look at what happened to Buffalo New York. Boston doesn't get the Lake Effect snow like Buffalo but it can get major snowfalls of a foot and more per storm.

A road trip is a bad time and place to discover you need snow tires. Have you driven a rear wheel drive in snow that is 3 or 4 inches deep before? Massachusetts can feature roads on fairly steep hills.

I really appreciate your analysis man. Yea am movin to Boston so that is why am having an idea of sellling it man. But i don't want to sell my car. I'd like to have it. I've never driven in snow before i was in Texas all the time.

[ChrisBlair]

People will tell you that you can't drive RWD cars in the snow. Even people that have lived here 40 years or more might say it.

Those people don't know what they are talking about. Your car will be OK in snow. I saw guys with front wheel drive cars get stuck last winter. And they were stuck in places I had just driven out of!

But you want to seriously consider snow tires. "Performance winter" tires are not snow tires. Neither are "all season" tires.

[K1SSRSS]

Originally Posted by ashutoshkotha

Thank K1ssRss for your reply...airfilter and Oil i will thanks for reminding. should i decarburise the engine with some methods like flushing the engine with some fluid?
I will for sure change the differential and tranny fulid i completely forgot about that. My car stopped giving gas mileage it dropped down like 6 miles all of a sudden am wondering what the reason might be for this.

An induction cleaner like sea foam wouldn't hurt then you could put a catch can on to prevent the oil and carbon from building up again. Not sure when you last changed your air filter, but that very well could be the reason for the decreased mileage.

[ashutoshkotha]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

People will tell you that you can't drive RWD cars in the snow. Even people that have lived here 40 years or more might say it.

Those people don't know what they are talking about. Your car will be OK in snow. I saw guys with front wheel drive cars get stuck last winter. And they were stuck in places I had just driven out of!

But you want to seriously consider snow tires. "Performance winter" tires are not snow tires. Neither are "all season" tires.

Yeah man! And now people started posting snow acceidents on my wall and now am even more worried.

now i have
245/45/20 front
245/55/20 rear
all season.
Can you suggest me some tire sizes. I've been trying to find one set onm perelli but they have none.

[ashutoshkotha]

Originally Posted by K1SSRSS

An induction cleaner like sea foam wouldn't hurt then you could put a catch can on to prevent the oil and carbon from building up again. Not sure when you last changed your air filter, but that very well could be the reason for the decreased mileage.

Yeah. That is what am thinking about. Cleaning the carbon with seafoam for now. And then install a catch can.

I changed the stock airfilter and put a K&N one at 85k miles. Do you think there will be transmission problems in the coming miles for the car?(like the gears may have worn out?) such kinda stuff?

[K1SSRSS]

Originally Posted by ashutoshkotha

Yeah. That is what am thinking about. Cleaning the carbon with seafoam for now. And then install a catch can.

I changed the stock airfilter and put a K&N one at 85k miles. Do you think there will be transmission problems in the coming miles for the car?(like the gears may have worn out?) such kinda stuff?

I'm not a big fan of K&N filters anymore, hopefully though it is just dirty and that's where your loss of mileage is coming from. I don't know if your car is an auto or manual, but either way unless you have done something to actually damage the transmission I don't foresee it not lasting another 100k miles.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by ashutoshkotha

Yeah man! And now people started posting snow acceidents on my wall and now am even more worried.

now i have
245/45/20 front
245/55/20 rear
all season.
Can you suggest me some tire sizes. I've been trying to find one set onm perelli but they have none.

Pirelli makes a snow tire that will fit an SS's stock wheels, front and back. They were made for SUVs I think. They are Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow. I have a set on my car right now, all four are 245/45/20

There is a section here for wheels and tires. Post what you're looking for in that section, Rudy from Tire rack will probably help.

[ashutoshkotha]

Originally Posted by K1SSRSS

I'm not a big fan of K&N filters anymore, hopefully though it is just dirty and that's where your loss of mileage is coming from. I don't know if your car is an auto or manual, but either way unless you have done something to actually damage the transmission I don't foresee it not lasting another 100k miles.

I agree on the fact of not liking K&N it's pretty bad. I'll check on the air filter. I didn't do any MOD which might damage the transmission. But i drive it quite rough at times. It is an automatic transmission BTW. Thanks for the update. I was very worried about the miles on the car and was planning to sell it and get a new one.

I'll check the post in the thread. Thanks Chris!

[ashutoshkotha]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Pirelli makes a snow tire that will fit an SS's stock wheels, front and back. They were made for SUVs I think. They are Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow. I have a set on my car right now, all four are 245/45/20

There is a section here for wheels and tires. Post what you're looking for in that section, Rudy from Tire rack will probably help.

That sounds great but do you think that 245 on the rear would be enough to hold the tires without spinning? Cause when i usually rains in my place i often feel like the car is flying a bit.