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Pontiac GTO
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Took my car to dealer in brooklyn,ny...after buying new Potenza Tires .
Showed him all the "BLOGS" on GTO Inner Tire Wear problems...also told him I wanted a proper wheel alignment ....he had a blank stare.......He said he will speak to Pontiac on the matter........Made an appointment for the following week.
Following week brought the car in.....spoke to service manager...he said "pontiac has no comment" leave the car for inspection...Lateron, called me ...told me car needed new controlarms/bushings/bearings.........also wheel alignment......had to wait for new parts........2 days later picked up car.................NO CHARGE...............covered by warranty
Here is the Rub:
No where on my invoice did it say ....INNER TIRE RUB....JUST "noise in front end....car pullsto left"
How about that???
Car drives great.....but for how Long???
I had located in Massachusetts a silver six-speed 2006 GTO with 10,600 miles. The dealer was willing to let it go for 24,750. I had never driven a GTO prior to visiting the dealer and boy what a surprise. The car is a power house! I felt like I went on an amusement ride after I test drove it. Right there my mind said: 'this car is so impractical - what!? with all that power- at a time when gas is so expensive' and I told the dealer no. Then next day called back said I'd take it, called another day again and said no and then called and said yes and lastly called and said no. In the end I went to look at another car (Acura TL) that I thought I'd like but I kept thinking about the GTO. Unfortunately the dealer had sold the car when I called. I'm now here in mourning. I'm gonna get a GTO because I'm smitten and it's a rare ride. Somebody pass me a tissue please. ;-(
Air Filter/Plugs? Gas Filter???
:confuse:
(i change the oil every 10k to 15k, usually mobil-1-extended-service.
i've got valvoline syntec in there now and will change it after 10k.)
I suppose I'll consider pedder-izing the goat suspension if I can manage the logistics for that, and if the cost is similar to factory repairs/replacements. but probably I'll have the dealer replace whatever with the factory parts, because that's just how I roll.
ps - vive la france!
on csi miami they had the psycho road rage guy driving a 6-spd 05 or 06 GTO,
and the clueless doofus driving a BMW 3.
and it looks like the wrecked the GTO for real - no last-minute splice-in of a repainted 1982 4-cylinder camaro getting wrecked instead. torrid red is such a painfully bad color, so the ratio of good to crappy colored GTOs should be slightly larger now.
Also, the LS-series engine is exactly what we need right now and the G8 is here just in time to satisfy consumers' insatiable demand for another sedan with no legacy and combined mileage in the teens.
I'm so dissapointed with everything GM and Ford have been doing, killing the GTO being the smallest issue of them all. I would just let them die quickly and save them long agonizing death (though I think it may actually be quick after all) with the possibility of a bailout paid with my money. Thank you but no thanks.
i've got new NIXON tires on it. they flatspot pretty bad but are excellent once smoothed out.
how could the G8 possibly handle better than GTO? it's so similar, & bigger & cushier ? !
There will be "NO NEW FIREBIRD OR GTO".......highperformancepontiac july2008
There soon will "NO GENERAL MOTORS"........daily newspapers /no "NEW"oildrilling allowed thanks to our DEMS.
Be seeing the GTOs on "BARRETT JACKSON" auctions....10-15 years
I will be in my GTO-motorized wheel- chair powered by a "wind-sail"
By the way, the G8 is a nice car but it comes in second to the GTO in every category as far as I am concerned.
The alignment is apparently nontrivial according to local dealer who charged $250 for my 05, and had to redo it after delivering it out of spec after the first try - the $250 later reimbursed in full by Pontiac without me asking. I bet the factory would cover your 06 alignment, even if it had way more than 12k miles - and with less than 12k miles, no doubt!
Apparently alignments requires special parts via outrigger canoe from Australia. "Consumable bolts" or something like that. These cars do eat tires. Thankfully I've discovered the good value of Korean tires lately. I get 25k per set and they are quite bad after 25k.:) enjoy your 06 goat as well as your 'beater' goat !
One other thing, I decided to keep my 04. It's in perfect shape and I don't like the idea of them charging me for minor little cosmetic things. I don't know if anyone here has had the problem but a couple of inches of stitching had come apart on the drivers seat up on the left shoulder. They said it wouldn't cost much but they won't tell me how much. Anyway, what the hell. I'll just hang on to it for now.
with my 05 (17s) a couple times i thought there were front-end or alignment issues, but really it was just tires. at around 20k and again around 45k/50k.
New tires made all the difference - no more 'wandering' feeling from the right front, especially on very crowned roads. (rotating the old tires hadn't helped - one time I rotated left to right in order to avoid the inner-tire-wear - requires remounting tires - didn't help with the tire-related handling issues).
Pulling/drifting to the right sounds to me like expected behavior on a crowned road, especially with semi-worn or very-worn tires . there are a variety of good value/performance tires available for the 17" size, btw!
way earlier on the thread i posted alignment specs/#s for my 05.
it could be cool if you would post your recent alignment #s, before & after & spec.
(Pontiac had revised the specs over the original/factory/negative-camber specs.)
ps - my squirrel-grey GTO still gets enthusiastic raves from pedestrians and other drivers about 99 44/100% of the times I drive it, so there are plenty of folks out there who appreciate these goat-naros along with the h8rs out there too!)
What do you think about the coming CAMERO?
Big new LS3 engine.....gas prices falling.....economic depression....so we can drive our big V-8s...to the food lines......if GM survives. :confuse:
Yes, I agree my 2005 grey still gets stares and everybody wants to race me when they come upsides.....still good fun :shades:
What is GTO Robert upto? what is his latest "pearls"?
Robert's ls2/ls1 site is doing fine from what i've seen !
TTFN !
Hippe non-chick, that's cool. I kinda like it. But let me introduce myself. Long ago and far away, before Edmunds hosed up my account, I was sputterguy. It's good to see you guys are still around as this place is like a ghost town. I waited a long time for the Challenger to come out but when it came out in barge trim I was so disappointed. I am so happy to have gotten my hands on a low milage 06. Now it's the best of both worlds (no not Miley Cyrus).
when it rains it pours GTOs on you! niiiice...
good to know the tires are working out nicely like mine and also that you find disney-radio (sirius?) unavoidable like me. i'm looking into sirius satellite tv next.
no pressure on typing in all those alignment specs, but hey, if you get around to it. ps - selena gomez #1!
actual/before actual/before
camber -.3 / -.2 -.3 / {-.8}
caster 8.1 / 8.1 8.7 / 8.7
toe .09 / {-.07} .08 / .04
SAI 13.1/ 13.0 12.8/ 13.2
cross camber .0 / .05
cross caster -.6 / -.6
cross SAI .3 / -.2
total toe .17 / {-.03}
rear left right
camber -1.5 / -1.5 -1.0 / -1.1
toe .18 / .19 .23 / {-.03}
cross camber -.4 / -.4
total toe .41 / .16
thrust angle -.02 / .11
I hope this makes sense to you. The numbers in brackets are the ones that were out of spec. I tried to make them bold or in red but couldn't do it here. It looks like they tried to hit the middle of the range for most of the values. It works good on my car......
and compare side-by-side with yours. cheers!
in other news, my GTO seems even more awesomely aligned now that it's running on $2.50 gasoline instead of $4 gas.
If I sell a car to pay my property-tax, maybe I'll sell TDI instead of GTO.
About two weeks ago my 06 started popping out of first gear. Really freaked me out. I think I mentioned that the dealer I got it from went out of business. I know they would have fixed it no problem. I was afraid the local dealer would void the warranty because of the after market shifter. Some dealers are like that. I'd start out in second gear so at least I could drive it around. Kind of a bummer though. That took the fun out of it. Anyway, I was able to locate the service manager who had taken care of my 04 all these years and who did a good job of it I must say. He is now the service manager at a Chevy dealer which is about 70 miles away. I took it in this week and it turned out that it was the shifter and not the tranny. He fixed it for no charge. So, this story has a happy ending but it could have been a disaster.
$1.99 for 87 octane... i feed my GTO 87 octane all winter and it is pleeeeeenty cold now.
Actually, the service manager races motorcycles and has never really known much about the GTO. But he will check around and makes sure things are done right. Well, they did mess up with my alignment but it is minor and I didn't want to keep going in for that. I'm glad I didn't start trouble over it. Fixing my shifter is worth way more.
I used to run the highest octane but after learning here that it is only an anti-knock measurement I tried 89 and it worked fine. I then tired 87 but the 04 seemed to knock so I stayed with 89. I've run all three grades in the 06 and it runs fine but I do detect some clatter with the 87 octanne but that probably has more to do with what gear I'm in. If the rpms are up it runs fine. But who cares, gas is virtually free now. just kidding
I would also like to know the break down of production numbers and if they can be seperated from the Lemans. The car is all original rust free, esitmated value range would be great also.
I've never seen the symptom you describe on 05/gto but just now I tried to trigger it, without success.
could it be a software feature being triggered somehow?
it seems to act just like euro-vehicle feature to satisfy particular state and/or courtesy requirements for leaving street-side turn-signal illuminated all night when parked on the very thin streets. this reminds me that illuminating parking lights 100% may use less power than flashing the flashers. counterintuitive? call mythbusters?
A way to turn on that feature on some German cars for example: hold the turn signal indicator left or right before you shut off ignition/engine. Maybe while holding brake pedal down. For Holden vehicles possibly it is also required to simultaneously recite the Monty Python "Australia we love you" skit.
Could it be that there is a particular wizard sequence to trigger the feature on GTO and you have found it, Harry Potter Paris ! ?
On a long-distance cruise the car is simply incredible, it amazes me every time. (Only downside is that stop & go with the 6-spd is not very fun unless the traffic is fast enough to leave it in 2nd gear.)
cheers...
With GTO and a wrongly-timed flick of the right foot, one can get into big-trouble/dangerous-situation with the traction-control off - even on dry roads.
The first is gas mileage. EPA says 16 city, so ike EPA says 17 for vette, I expected that to be on the low end of possibilities depending on how a car is driven. Of course the vette is far superior in fuel management technology and the fact that it offers a tranny capable of cruising at under 1100 rpm in high mids accounts for substantial gas savings too but my GTO gets far worse than estimated and I have to drive it with paranoid cautiousness to get that! If I drive like a little old woman, I can squeeze 16 out of it. Highway 16.7 to 19!!
If I bust off the line and drive it GTO style, 13.5 to 15 are the numbers I can expect.
Even a Dodge Hemi washing machine gets 19 and 20 driving in attack mode.
I run only 93 octane gas - albeit Kroger to save the 10 cents. I ran that gas in my vette. IT sipped on it like an iced bar-brand martini.
So what is this I see on all the boards from consumers that are pleasantly surprised about GTO gas mileage being better than they thought..posting 17,18,19 mpg in city driving. How does that happen? Based on the fuel avg digital gauge in the car? I have only figured it manually once against the gauge and the gauge didn't lie..
So I am wondering..could it be that the 16k low miles that came with the car have worked against me? Did the former driver not drive this car the way it should be driven to perform at optimum level..did it accumulate sludge prematurely?
IT doesn't act sluggish or idle rough. It doesn't blow smoke of any color. It doesn't run hot but it sure does eat my money.
Any suggestions? COLD AIR, a good engine cleaning additive, what?
AND WHAT MORON LET A HI-PO CAR LIKE THE GTO GO TO PRODUCTION WITHOUT AND OIL GAUGE!!
As far as I knew, it was identical fuel-management between GTO & vette.
With my 05 M6 I get 21 mpg all-around. Mostly highway, mostly with 87 octane.
For pure highway driving I get 23 mpg with E10 and 25 mpg or more with pure gasoline. Pure city driving, 17 mpg would be about right.
Sludge at 16k miles? I haven't heard of that being an issue even at 75k or 100k miles with these cars. If you are worried about it, probably good to swap the oil and get some fresh mobil-1 in there!
Btw your comment about lugging the vette at 1100rpm to get best mpg is right on - that's the way to get best mpg with GTO too. lug the motor in the top gear you can manage. (that's not the way i drive it!)
Are you figuring your gas mileage out using the gauge or the old fashioned way. I am assuming that the gauge is pretty accurate. I used it against my own calculations when I first bought the car and it seemed to line up.
Any suggestions?
I think I almost always get >20mpg for each tank because I use the car mostly for highway driving and long-distance-highway roadtrips.
The car spends more than 90% of its miles on interstates & state-highways.
Of the other 10%, much is actually "suburban" driving rather than "city". Suburban driving can actually yield mpg better than highway mpg for some cars!
(I have a VW TDI which I drive when my drive is sure to be city-ish or stop-and-go, or snowy/icy/etc, or all three.)
Ideas:
-Don't be afraid to "lug" the GTO engine and let it torque the car along at 1100 rpm just like you did with your vette.
- Oh, another factor. I have the 17" wheels/tires. Maybe you have 18s and they have more rolling-resistance? I inflate tires to 34 psi cold. Maybe your tires are low? Our president says "air up those tires" and I agree with him on that!
- and here's one. The gas cap - maybe it's that simple!
These cars eat gas caps since they don't
seal/lock like typical USA caps - I guess it's a Holden thing. If your gas cap is not sealing, this will cost you massive MPG due to the fuel evaporating! You can tell if the gas cap is bad if it just keeps spinning without any ratcheting sound. The ECM on these cars will NOT necessarily throw a code due to no gas cap seal - although I understand that "OBD-something" mandated they should.
- also try 87 octane and see if that saves you 10% cost without costing any mpg, like it does for me. my car runs fantastic on 87 at all temperatures but I do use premium during warm weather.
My 2004 M6 GTO had a lifetime 14 MPG but I drove it like a bat out of hell (part of the reason why I had to give it up now that I'm a Daddy) but I could get mid 20s on the highway easily at 75+ mile speeds. I was putting in regular too.
I absolutely love this car as much as I did the vette and the interior is even better.
I put a Pioneer Nav with about every bell and whistle you can get. It fit right in the Blauplunkt radio slot and looks like factory.
My car is an A4 and runs strong. I have been a bit worried since I read about the tire shredding issue with the way they put wider tires on the car that rub the struts. I have the original tires and wheels on the car..17s..although I don't much like them. I don't know what I will replace them with yet but for sure, something quieter than these BFGs. They sound like truck tires.
It doesn't help that my car didn't come undercoated to deaden some of the road noise. I am also in Houston where everything is concrete so you note every little variance in the grading as you drive.
I found a chip made by VOLO that seems to be the only possible legit performance-fuel economy chip that rally does anything, aside of a programmer.
http://yhst-19807630266082.stores.yahoo.net/vp12-performance-ch12.html
The VOLO says it retails for 149.95 but sells for 89.95 at the intro discount. I am thinking about getting one after I see what a few guys that bought them think.
I also noticed that before I bought the car, the dealer changed the oil and 1000 miles later, it looks to be a full quarter low. Is this normal and what kind of oil do you guys run that you find best for this car? The car doesn't smoke at all and there isn't a drop on my garage floor so ???
I am seeing more people saying that a Group 3 like Castrol GTX is the best for this car instead of synthetic. Many are also suggesting to ad a product called AUTO-RX to the oil at change and run for 3,000 miles then change and ad a small amt again. The product is ester based so isn't corrosive but cleans all the engine parts and rings.
Since my car wasn't driven that much over the almost five years the original owner had it and it was a woman, I think it could be possible that the car built up sludge from just sitting or not being run like an LS1 should be.
Your thoughts about any and all of this?
I have an K&N in my airbox but don't have cold air....and by itself, cold air doesn't help anything. Then I would need to change the exhaust and can't get away with anything less than about $800... so there is an easy 1200. dollars to get maybe a few MPG more.
Now that the economy is tanked, I give a lot of thought on everything i do and what kind of a return it's going to give me on my mone. I figure I could make that CAI-EXHAUST money back in 18 months but its always easier to pay for the gas as you go than plunk out 1200 and not even be able to get excited! ha.