A term i just learnd about i'm curious what causes it and how one eleminates it.

thanks

 

Its the stiff sidewalls on the OEM tires which cause the majority of the problem. I used to get bad wheel hop until I switched to the softer sidewalls on the Michelin AS ZPs. At that point it improved beyond all recognition.

 

i got wheel hop at union grove 2 months ago on nitto,s dr,s 305x18 broke a pass side output shaft got the hop in 2nd just for a second and it was all over .i also got wheel hop real bad with those funny looking firestone wide ovels i only had on for a day , never got the hop on stock tires supercars . ride height , can also affect the good old hop , i hate the hop baaaaaaad keep it between the ditches

 

Here's a pretty good explanation of wheel hop:
http://www.competitionengineering.co...s/chassis2.asp
As I understand it, basically, it's caused by the flexing, or the twisting and spring back, of the rear axle under load, usually hard acceleration but braking as well. Every component of the rear end plays a role. Tires obviously both for grip and sidewall flex. Shocks to dampen the bounce. Bushings (urethane over rubber), control arms, etc etc.. But remember you're only moving the energy somewhere else farther up the chain until ultimately your twisting the axles, trans and differential, which gets real expensive real quick. When you get up to serious power you absolutely have to address this with bracing for the trans and diff housings, ladder bars or the like to stop/limit the twisting and so on. Basically transfering the energy to the frame.
Hopefully this makes some kinda sense, it is Sun morning after all. Plus I'm not an engineer or anything but that's how I understand it. If I'm off or missing something some-one correct me as I'm just studying this area myself and want to understand this.

 

nasty hourse power

 

I've been hoping it could be solved with shocks. Someone in a recent post talked about QA1 shocks solving the problem.

I've heard about double adjustable Koni's, which I think would be a good thing, to be able to adjust to several levels of stiffness.

I'd like to hear additional comments from you guys (and gals?).


Jim

 

Wheel hop is usually caused by lots of traction coupled with movement in the suspension and drivetrain. It can happen under both acceleration and braking but as most vette owners know, we usually see it when accelerating.

Picture the vette under power on a high traction surface. The tires want to grip. The suspension and drivetrain reacts by moving (or rotating) in the opposite direction from the tires. All that stuff then reaches it's limits and "springs" back causing the tires to slip. Then the tires grip again and it starts all over. This can be very violent and can break stuff.

Having said all this, I have also had wheel hop on cold surfaces, wet surfaces and bumpy surfaces. Except for the bumpy surfaces (and high traction surfaces), the wheel hop was not that bad.

Fixing it can be as simple as altering driving style or as complex as parts replacement. Changing shocks or tires (or both) may not be the best way to go if you want to maintain feel and handling. A drag racer may not care but a road racer will. So the road racer might change all the rubber bushings in the suspension and drivetrain out to urethane, to include the engine and differential mounts. The urethane doesn't have the flex in it like the stock rubber.

Anyway, there's my two cents.

 

I have a bad nasty wheel hop that is disgusting and embrassing too bcos the whole rear end bounces up/down so quick and horrible and at the same time car goes all over, luckily i=the moment i got wheelhop at the drag i lift off gas pedal and completely stop almost may be 10mph speed and abondoned the race drove slowly to pit area.

I had a plan to do Cam swap, now instead thinking of Pfadt inverted shocks, pfadt transmission brace which distribute load to frame, drag radial tires may be MT or BFG.

Pfadt bushing kit is questionable as i need more info on this as this is good for road race folks but will bushing kit will help in drag racing.

Hate this wheel hop, i wanted my C4 back which i never had wheel hop.

 

Plus sticky tires and an IRS.

 

its the IRS and wheel spin....no shock, tire, or any mod is gonna eliminate it. The more traction you have, the less it will occur though

 

Until that traction breaks loose for a few milliseconds and then re-hooks.

 

hence....why you need good traction

stiff shocks and DR's do help...but nothing will eliminate it. IRS is not made to get crazy like a solid axle

 

Vette IRS rear suspension is hard to get it to "hook" once you start the mod process especially more HP.
It can be corrected with more"mods" to the suspension, changing shocks, staggering shock presssure, loading the spring in some manner,(traction bar), different tire pressures.........

But definetly the more traction, the less it occurs....Been there!

 

Simply put, too much spin too fast makes it hop. Sticks are worse due to less weight transfer, but autos do it too. You can prevent hop by modulating the power and just avoid overspin.

 

I had never experienced wheel hop until I started running Nitto DRs. The more that they wear down the bigger the problem gets. It is definitely more prone to wheel hop on rougher streets and in colder weather.

 

I've never felt my Z wheel hopping, maybe just not very noticeable. If you want to feel some nice wheel hop you got to drive my 99' V6 Camaro . When I accelerate just a little on a bumpy road it turns into a mechanical bull. I guess I cant ask for much more from a solid axle, soft smoochy springs & shocks and stamped sheet metal panhard bar

I want to weld some reinforcements to the panhard and control arms of the RS and put new bushings and shocks. I don't intend to make it a performance car. Its a V6 and will remain a V6 as long as I use it for going to work as a beater but sure would be nice to have some better handling. Its not a 400HP Z06 but its fun to drive and looks pretty nice.

 

Don't rule out the bushing kit. Remember that everything that can compress is reacting to the tires trying to make the car move. When it all gets wound up tight, then the tires slip and everything unloads. Then it starts all over again.

As far as solid axles go, that's all we used to run and found relatively easy fixes, like slapper bars on leaf spring rears, or ladder bars on coil spring cars. Sometimes we would swap the bushings out (or added washers to tighten the existing bushings) on coil spring cars and get it to work. I always liked ladder bars because they do double duty. They help to prevent rear axle wrap and help with weight transfer. I even remember the old Shelby's having a link on the leaf spring suspension that went from the top of the axle housing into the back seat floor board.

FYI, I understand that the new Mustang has a solid axle because enthusiasts wanted a rear suspension setup suited to quarter mile abuse.