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"Wheel Spin" or lack there of!!

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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 06:02 PM
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Default "Wheel Spin" or lack there of!!

I just bought my dream car! A 2002 Coupe with Corsa Pace Car Exhaust and a SLP Blackwing air filter. I had to buy an Automatic since I am 6'7" and letting the clutch out would be like performing a gymnastics move every shift. I am extremely happy with the car but have noticed a few issues.

The first issue that concerns me is that off the line acceleration feels somewhat sluggish. I can punch the throttle and the car seems to slowly lurch to its full potential. This leads me to my other question. Why in a car with 350+ HP can I not spin the wheels? Am I that fat I weigh the back end down? I turn traction control off and punch the accelerator yet I never break loose.

Another strange occurrence is when at WOT and the car shifts there is a loud sound coming out of the back. The best way to describe it is having 300 baseball cards on a bike while the bike tire is going 60mph. It happens under hard acceleration and seems somewhat alarming. I have been told that the H pipe is causing this sound due to the restriction and that I should purchase an X-pipe.

Does anyone have any hints as to what might be wrong? Also, if this is normal does anyone have any suggestions on getting immediate power to the pavement?
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 06:07 PM
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What is the rear axle ratio? A change in gears will certainly give you a quicker response.

No idea about the sound - I never heard anything like with my H-pipe nor my X-pipe.

Welcome to the corvette world
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 06:25 PM
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The car has 10" wide tires with positive traction and 18" wheels. It's not going to spin like a 14" tire on a non posi rear. If you have the 2:73 rear, that also cuts it down. The 3:15 is quicker. I personally like the fact that while the other guy is spinning his tires and burning off rubber, I'm on down the road.
Having said all that, it will certainly spin the tires if you want to. There are lots of things you can do, I'm sure you'll get lots of advice from others here.
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 06:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Smooth9883
I just bought my dream car! A 2002 Coupe with Corsa Pace Car Exhaust and a SLP Blackwing air filter. I had to buy an Automatic since I am 6'7" and letting the clutch out would be like performing a gymnastics move every shift. I am extremely happy with the car but have noticed a few issues.

The first issue that concerns me is that off the line acceleration feels somewhat sluggish. I can punch the throttle and the car seems to slowly lurch to its full potential. This leads me to my other question. Why in a car with 350+ HP can I not spin the wheels? Am I that fat I weigh the back end down? I turn traction control off and punch the accelerator yet I never break loose.

Another strange occurrence is when at WOT and the car shifts there is a loud sound coming out of the back. The best way to describe it is having 300 baseball cards on a bike while the bike tire is going 60mph. It happens under hard acceleration and seems somewhat alarming. I have been told that the H pipe is causing this sound due to the restriction and that I should purchase an X-pipe.

Does anyone have any hints as to what might be wrong? Also, if this is normal does anyone have any suggestions on getting immediate power to the pavement?
I have an 02 Coupe with the optional 3.15 Performance Ratio Axle and I have found that even with the 3.15's it is indeed hard to break the rear tires loose from a dead stop.

With the traction control off or in Competitive Driving mode I found that I need to floor the accellerator extremely fast to get the tires to spin. If I floor it at any other speed the car just squats and goes with very little wheelspin.

Now that I think about it this is probably a good thing.
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 06:30 PM
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Yep, grab the RPO codes off the sticker and see which rear you have. The rear gear ratio is the one that starts with "G".
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 08:21 PM
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Just try power breaking with the traction control off!
Hold the brake moderately with your left foot, and as you rev it up in drive, you will feel it wanting top break loose.
As it starts to spin, let off of the brake more.
You should be smiling by that time!
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 08:45 PM
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Jason@EnglandGreen has a 2.73 automatic, and bone stock it would smoke the tyres for 100 feet at will.

My own 2.73 automatic - even after a cam install making 385rwhp - absolutely refused to spin the wheels. Ever.

Went to 3.90s and a 3600 stall and there was zero traction.

I preferred zero traction
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Old Mar 14, 2008 | 08:56 PM
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Like you I was a little disappointed when my new 04 coupe would not spin the tires. Spinning the tires with out power braking was always my personal benchmark for a "Real Car" . I changed out the 2.73 gears with 3.42 gears and it was a real improvement. Remember, we are losing almost 70 HP through the drive train with the auto so the 350HP is closer to 280 at the rear wheels. Finally I added a Yank 3600 converter and now I can spin the wheels any time I want. If your vette is a DD I would suggest 3.42 gears and a 3200 stall converter. You will need new rear tires ofter though,
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 05:47 AM
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have it tuned and remove the torque management. after my 01 was tuned it is a handfull out of the hole. will smoke tires when into 2nd gear.. my wife won't drive it anymore.. she is scared.. gotta love it

Last edited by 01 Vert; Mar 15, 2008 at 06:36 AM.
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 06:32 AM
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My 2:73 geared A4 will burn the tires at will.
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 08:46 AM
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You got to turn traction controll off to spin the tires. Thats what it is there for
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 08:57 AM
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For me the make of the tires and the rubber compound used has a lot to do with spinning. I learned all about traction, launching and spinning from the guys on this forum. They are awesome.
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 09:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Bop Bop
I learned all about traction...from the guys on this forum.
What is this thing called traction???
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 09:04 AM
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Originally Posted by 01 Vert
have it tuned and remove the torque management. after my 01 was tuned it is a handfull out of the hole. will smoke tires when into 2nd gear.. my wife won't drive it anymore.. she is scared.. gotta love it
What does this mean? Remove the torque management, what does it change........Thanks
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 11:27 AM
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Originally Posted by C5Pat
What does this mean? Remove the torque management, what does it change........Thanks
Torque Management (also referred to as abuse limiter) is designed to keep you from smoking a stock A4. It controls the torque output of the engine to be a bit more gentle with the transmission. On my A4 car, I installed the DiabloSport Predator (handheld tuner), and it dialed the TqM back a lot - the car became rather more snappy.

I think this is why, on the '02 cars, the A4 was listed as having 350 lb-ft of torque, while the M6 lists 375 lb-ft.

If you turn it off altogether, you should probably start budgeting for a performance-built trans. Rodney at RPM (forum sponsor) has a great reputation.
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 12:12 PM
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Originally Posted by BowTieRocket
Torque Management (also referred to as abuse limiter) is designed to keep you from smoking a stock A4. It controls the torque output of the engine to be a bit more gentle with the transmission. On my A4 car, I installed the DiabloSport Predator (handheld tuner), and it dialed the TqM back a lot - the car became rather more snappy.

I think this is why, on the '02 cars, the A4 was listed as having 350 lb-ft of torque, while the M6 lists 375 lb-ft.

If you turn it off altogether, you should probably start budgeting for a performance-built trans. Rodney at RPM (forum sponsor) has a great reputation.
Thanks........On the Corvette Museum Web Site it has the 2002, A4 listed @ 360 LB/t and the M6 @375
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 12:19 PM
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Default uh huh

Originally Posted by EnglandGreen
Jason@EnglandGreen has a 2.73 automatic, and bone stock it would smoke the tyres for 100 feet at will.

My own 2.73 automatic - even after a cam install making 385rwhp - absolutely refused to spin the wheels. Ever.

Went to 3.90s and a 3600 stall and there was zero traction.

I preferred zero traction
Some weird stuff going down.

my '98 2.73 coupe will spin them at will, no questions asked.. my Dad's 2000 2.73 was reluctant to do anything resembling wheel spin in a strait line.. of course 500+rwhp seems to have fixed his issue.

Chris
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 12:46 PM
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Maybe you just have very sticky tires?

Also, if its cold out Z rated tires spin real easy and the engine makes a little more power. If its a hot summer day then that's a different story...
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 05:24 PM
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I have 3:15 rear and it will easily spin the tires if I hold the brake for a second, but they don't squeal. Maybe that noise you hear is the tire spinning on the road. Have someone watch for you.
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Old Mar 15, 2008 | 06:34 PM
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If it was me I would be way more concerned with the transmission shifting noise than with spinning the tires.
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