Top Camaro Mods

You finally bought your first 5th Gen Camaro and you are ready to make some mods. The retro restyling of the 5th Gen Camaro makes it hard not look at and admire – which is why you probably got yourself a Camaro to begin with. Now you know that a Stock Camaro is not what you want because it can be so much more and you can design your Camaro to be just what you want it to be. Where do you start? There’s thousands of options when modify your new Camaro. What can you do now to your new ride that you can build from into the future? At Phastek Performance, we recommend four different areas that will help you in the long run. Watch our live chat from this week to see Davey discuss his first upgrades. 

COLD AIR Intake

The Cold Air Intake has been a staple in First Mods when improving the performance of a Camaro. When you add a Cold Air Intake to your Camaro it will breath better, allowing more air into your engine which then produces an increase in Horsepower and Torque. Depending on which brand of CAI you chose you can expect up to 18 HP on the SS & V6 models and as much as 25 HP on the Supercharged ZL1. You will also find that most of the CAIs do not require any tuning unless stated and can be installed with minimal tools in under an hour. Again depending on the brand and quality you can expect the price point to be anywhere from $279 to as much as $750 for Carbon Fiber versions. So with any CAI you will see an increase in horsepower over the air-choking factory design. 

WHEELS

Nothing makes your Camaro stand out like a nice set of wheels. Usually the first thing to get noticed on your ride is the wheels and making the right selection can be easy when you know what you are looking for. The common sizes on the Camaro are an 18” wheel on the base LS models. The LT,RS & SS come with a 20×8 Front wheel with a 20×9 Rear wheel and the ZL1 has a 20×10 Front with a 20×11 Rear wheel. The 20” referring to diameter and the 8,9,10,11 referring to width of the wheel. Now that you know what you have on your Camaro, let’s go over some of the things you should consider to get the right look. First thing is to eliminate the fender to tire spacing. Right now you will see that your stock wheel does not allow the tire to come outward to the fender leaving a 1” gap. A good aftermarket wheel for the Camaro will be built so that it closes that gap making for a more flush look when looking down the body line of the Camaro. The second thing to consider is the stance. You can safely go as big as a 20×11 wheel for the rear and really get that big tire muscle look in the back of your Camaro. If you are looking for a set of wheels that allows you to rotate your tires then you might want to consider a square set option with sizes like 20×9 or 20×10. This will allow you to run the same size wheel all the way around, but you will find that the traditional staggered option like 20×9 front 20×10 rear or 20×10 front 20×11 rear will get you the best look. Now a good set of wheels will start out around $995 and can range up to $1800 for off the shelf designs. Custom wheels is another option as well. A set of custom wheels would be priced higher, somewhere in the starting range of $2000+. The best way to get your new wheels installed is to locate a tire shop in your area and arrange a time to bring your new wheels to them to get installed on your Camaro. 

LOWERING SPRINGS

A great way to improve the look and handling of the Camaro and get rid of that wheel gap is to install lowering springs. Lowering springs can be used for 2 different reasons. First would be to get a better handling by lowering the center of gravity of the Camaro. The second reason would to get a great look. If you are shooting for handling and a good appearance then you will want to choose a set of lowering springs that falls in the 1” to 1.25” drop. If you are looking for that really low look for style then a 1.4” to 1.5” drop will give you the best look. Installation on lowering springs should not take more that 2 to 3 hrs . Once the springs are installed, you will need to get a wheel alignment to put the Camaro back in spec. You will find that lowering springs are by far the least expensive way to lower your Camaro. You will find that most sets of lowering springs will be priced in the neighborhood of $210 to $300 range for the various drops and brands. This makes for a great way to improve your look without breaking the bank.