Category Archives: 2. 2014 Camaro SS/RS

2014 Camaro Tail Lights

My 2014 Camaro SS

The 2014 Camaro tail lights are mounted in a way to allow water on either side of the trunk to freely flow and exit under the rear bodywork.  Two plastic covers finish off the installation and give a nice appearance, however their design is piss-poor.

But first, why did I remove the rear tail light plastic covers to begin with?  Turns out, I recently washed my 2014 Camaro SS and noticed not only a handsome scratch but also a dent on the tip of the rear driver’s side fender.

That should buff out…

Thanks to Covid, my driving has been reduced dramatically and I just can’t place where this damage happened.  I am very anal when it comes to this type of thing, so I made a few phone calls and found a local paintless dent repair shop not far from my home.  I visited the shop and after a few minutes, the fellow said “no problem, we can fix the damage”.  I was not too thrilled about the price, but hey, the fellow at the repair shop has to make a living.

Back to the plastic covers…

Here is the driver’s side covers before removal.  They are held in place with three of those expanding plastic tabs – the damn things are a pain to remove.  As you can see, the plastic cover is designed to direct water (and any debris) to flow under it.  And there lies the design issue…

This is what the cavity looks like, and you can now see the problem.  This area is a magnet for dust, debris, pollen, you name it.  I pulled out two good hand fulls of crap from here.  I can see in the future one day, folks finding major rust areas in this cavity.

And so, i’ve learned the hard way to keep this area clean.  I will make a point to keep this area clean by removing the covers more frequently.  After a quick search on eBay I found a vendor that sells the plastic clips for not much money.  Those things are so easy to break. so I will have a few replacements going forward.

How did the dent removal go?  Pleased to say it was worth every penny.  They found a couple of other places that needed attention and I could not be happier.  Amazing what they can do!

Life continues in our new “normal”.  F1 is back – yay! – sure is nice to watch it again.  There is some close racing, just wish some of the other teams were closer to the Mercs.  HAM is great but it would be nice to see others reach the podium.  Then again, there is some great racing in the midfield.

I just finished reading “Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story Of The Atomic Bomb And The 118 Days That Changed The World”.  Once you get past the opening pages, the book reads very fast and is amazing.

Here are in no particular order some take aways…

Harry Truman had no clue of the Manhattan Project at the time of FDR’s death.  After assuming office, Truman meets with War Secretary Henry Stimson and General Leslie Groves (director of the Manhattan Project and incidentally overseer of the construction of The Pentagon) and in in 45 minutes is briefed about the tool that will end WWII.  I sincerely doubt modern-day politicians would have the ability to do that.  And on top of that, the ultimate decision to use the new weapon in 118 days.  Think about that…

Of course, the book explains in detail the 509th Composite Group and the man in charge of it: General Paul Tibbets.  Quite a few years ago, Paul Tibbets hosted a talk here in Greenville SC.  I made it a point to attend and after the presentation ended, I took the time to stay so I could shake his hand.  I remember he talked about the effort and determination on what had to be done and how that altered the course of the war.  As a result of the talk, I made it a point to go see the Enola Gay as well as Bockscar.

And finally, the book discussed the predictions the War Department made regarding casualties from an all-out invasion of Japan.  This hit very close to home…  My Dad didn’t talk much about his service during WWII but every now and again, he would break his silence.  A few years before he passed, we took a road trip to the AirForce Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB and that is where we saw Bockscar.  On the way back home, Dad explained how he was on leave in mid-1945 after serving in Germany.  He had been told by his superiors to enjoy the time off and get his shit together, because if needed he would be part of the invasion force against Japan.  Dad then told me the casualty predictions were better than 50%.  That is what this book mentioned.

I’ll have another update soon on my next book…  Stay safe.

 

New Set of Tires for My 2014 Camaro 2SS

BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S

So the factory Pirelli P-Zeros finally gave up the ghost – time for a new set of tires for my 2014 Camaro 2SS.  The TireRack is my favorite tire supplier and I used their website to see what’s available…

Given the Camaro is my daily driver and it won’t be tracked, I made the decision to view all options on what tire choice to make.  You see, the P-Zeros are summer-only and given the temps fall below freezing here in the Upstate of South Carolina, I decided to buy a set of “ultra high-performance all-season” tires.  BF Goodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S fit the bill.

I’ve purchased BF Goodrich tires in the past with good results.  Specifically my Honda S2000 is wearing a set of the summer-only version Comp2’s (you can read about it here). The S2K is a garage queen and seldom (if ever) has been out in anything that would remotely be called “bad-weather”, so the summer-only tires is not an issue.

I made a few calls to find a place that would mount and balance the new tires.  I was quoted several prices and settled on Costco:  they told me they would do the work for $15 each.  After locating the proper locations for the jack stands I lowered the Camaro and eventually got the tires over to Costco.  About 3 hours later, I had them back.

Several things I realized:

  • They boys at Costco don’t have a clue how to read a tire pressure gauge:  I had four freshly mounted tires with four different tire pressure readings!.
  • The rear tires are w-i-d-e!!  275/40ZR 20’s are huge.
  • The rear tires are h-e-a-v-y!!  Came close to giving birth to my colon lifting these things.

It is way too early to tell anything – hell I only have about a week so far on these tires.  I barely have scuffed them but they are very quiet and the car feels sure-footed once again.  I haven’t pushed them yet but so far I am very pleased.

And finally…  I found this:

This is the brake cooling duct mount.  Turns out the 2014/15 Z28’s came (from the factory) with a duct mounted in this area that enables cool air routed into the front rotors.  Pretty nifty.  I checked on this – the kit is not too expensive.  The kicker is the install:  it requires removal of both front fender liners as well as the entire front fascia.

I think I’ll pass.

New tire mileage…

 

That Magic Moment…

IMG_3306I’ve had my 2014 Camaro SS (RedRock) for six months now and it has been everything and a bag of chips – today though, was that magic moment.

Slowly but surely, I’ve been testing the limits on RedRock.  Pulling at the tail of the beast if you will…  Today, driving home from work I decided to take a spirited drive.  I selected “sport” mode and switched the Range Device on.  For those of you that don’t know what that is, well…  That is the “on” switch that GM forgot to include.

The Range device enables the Active Fuel Management (AFM) to be disabled.  This means the L99 is in full 8 cylinder mode all the time.  With the Range device “on”, RedRock takes on a different personality.

So, there is this off-camber left-hander on the way home that if you catch “just right”, will put a perma-grin on your face of epic proportions.  I’ve taken this all wrong before in bowtie6 and the result was a nice loop:  I ended up facing the wrong way.  Well today was special…  I was able to get RedRock in most impressive oversteer drift.  Nothing stupid, mind you…  Just right!  Just the kind of stuff that makes you want more…  :mrgreen:

I just love this car!  400hp at your beck and call is just intoxicating.  That magic moment indeed!

Race Ramps Product Review

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67″ RaceRamps two-piece model

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a set of Race Ramps made by BruteTechnologies and I thought it might be helpful to write this product review…

I’ve owned RedRock for 6 months – traveling some 4200 miles – and this weekend I decided to do an oil change even though the “Oil Life” indicator showed 45% remaining.

When I purchased RedRock last December, the dealer had done an oil change.  However I had no idea what quality oil they used.  Ditto for the oil filter.  So I headed to the parts store and purchased 8 quarts of 5-30 Mobil1 oil with a matching K&N oil filter for the 2014 Camaro.

I quickly found out my trusty, home-made, wooden ramps were just not long enough and the slope was all wrong.  I did some research and found Race Ramps.  Race Ramps come in various sizes and slopes to fit just about any application; they also have all kinds of accessories.  After further reading, I selected the two-piece, 67″ long version (RR-XT-2).  The slope is very gentle and this allows proper clearance for the front overhang on my 2014 Camaro.  They will also work perfectly on my S2000 and with bowtie6.  A win-win on all counts!

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RaceRamps – the ramp is detachable…

The ramps arrived in a very large box, as shown (bought via Amazon Prime).  You can also see they are made like a jigsaw puzzle: the “ramp” part is detachable from the part the car rests on.  These ramps are also available in one-piece, but I selected the two-piece to make it easier to store.  I am glad I did!

The ramps are made from very dense plastic material.  The plastic material is lightweight and very easy to handle.  The ramps are rated to handle 1500lbs and are also “grippy” – they did not slide at all when I drove RedRock on them.  Working under the car while on the ramps was a good experience with enough room to place an oil pan.  I was able to reach the oil drain plug easily as well as the filter.  Finally, the ramps are wide enough to handle all but the widest of racing tires – in fact, I had no issues with the tires on RedRock.

The downside to all this awesomeness is the price:  the Race Ramps are quite expensive.  Unfortunately, these seem to be the only ones available that fit my needs and thus I suppose one must “pay the price”.  The alternative would be to build a set of home-made ramps, but quite frankly I just decided to deal with it and get them.  I’m glad I did and I must say, Race Ramps are made in the USA so I feel I am also helping the local economy.

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Gotta love the supplied sticker – LOL!

Finally, I during my research I found the folks at Brute Technologies have a special offer (expires soon) that requires printing a form and filling it out.  Then, attach the sales receipt and for this they will send a pair of wheel chocks made of the same material as the ramps.  The condition is that this applies only to certain ramp models – mine being one of them.  Hopefully soon, I’ll have a review of the chocks when the good folks at Brute Technologies receive my form…

2014 Camaro CoverCraft Sunshade Review

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Honda S2000 CoverCraft sunshade

UV and heat will destroy an automobile’s interior very quickly especially if it is leather in direct Southern sunshine.  In the case of my Honda S2000, not only is there plenty of leather but the interior dash, trim, door panels and carpet are all red.  So to prevent it all from eventually becoming “pink”, I purchased a rather pricey custom-fit sunshade from Covercraft called the UVS-100.

I’ve been very pleased with the material, workmanship and overall the sunshade has a been a very worthy investment.  The way I see it, I rather sacrifice a sunshade for the sake of preserving the interior.

As you can see in today’s featured image the sunshade fits the windshield opening of the Honda S2000 perfectly and the only cut-out is on the top edge and that is to allow room for the rear-view mirror.  All edges are perfectly hemmed with a very soft material and the stitching is flawless.  So far so good.

Well, when I purchased RedRock (my 2014 Camaro SS), the first thing I ordered was a custom-fit CoverCraft UVS-100 sunshade.  The sunshade arrived and as expected, it fit perfectly.  However, I soon discovered a problem.  You see, the Camaro’s dash has one of these little doo-hickies:

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Camaro light sensor dome

That is the dome over the light sensor the BCM uses to turn on the automatic headlights when the sun sets.  Unfortunately the good folks at CoverCraft did not account for this little device being in the way when deploying the UVS100 sunshade.  I had to be very diligent not to accidentally hit the little dome over the sensor with the sunshade.  Needless to say, it would be my luck that the entire dash would need to be pulled out to replace the dome if it became damaged by the sunshade.  And I am very convinced, to boot, the good folks at GM would immediately dismiss any warranty work on this kind of claim.  Since this is not something I would be looking forward to experience…

I decided to do a little surgery on my $60 CoverCraft UVS-100 sunshade.  I made a few measurements and with the aid of a fresh (and surgically sharp) X-Acto blade, did a little “alteration” as so:

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Sunshade cutout to allow for the light sensor dome on the 14 Camaro

I removed the excess material after cutting it, however this left the edges exposed and they needed a little dressing.  Since I did not want to leave them exposed to wear-and-tear (I don’t have a sewing machine like the one CoverCraft uses), I looked around and found some leftover scraps of headliner material used when I restored the hard top on bowtie6.  After fiddling with this for a while (damn, took longer to cut this than to alter the sunshade!), this is what it looks like now (I know, it is not perfect but it is better than the alternative)…

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Headliner material secured with a little contact glue so the edges won’t fray…

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View from the inside, after the alteration…

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And finally a view from the outside.

In Summary

I really like the way this looks now.  I wish there were an option from CoverCraft to allow for this, especially since they do such a nice job at dressing all the edges on the sunshade.  I suppose this would not take much effort, especially since they accounted for the opening for the rear view mirror.

And so, a couple of advantages from the alteration I made:

  • The little dome will not become damaged in case I forgot to hold the edge up.
  • The automatic headlights won’t turn “on” during daylight hours due to the sunshade covering the sensor preventing wear and tear on the electrical system.

Overall, the CoverCraft sunshades are a good value.  I have not financial gain from this review, but I just wanted to post this in the hope it might be of interest to anyone using these shades.

The alteration I made, does solve the problem of a possible costly damage to the light sensor dome.