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I have tried doing some research and can’t really get a clear answer in regards to wheel hop. When it’s dry outside and I gun it the wheels spin and I come into a little wheel hop which isn’t pleasant but not terrible. When it’s raining out side totally different story-
Giving the car gas and getting on it in the rain feels like the car is going to just explode. The rear end hop is the worst I have ever experienced in any car. All I can find is people mentioning better tires, well I want to enjoy the LS1 with rear wheel drive and burn some tires off but with the wheel hop I don’t want to damage anything serious to the drivetrain. Does anyone have any experience themself on how to help correct this? I’m buying a solid differential mount once I sell old parts from my old car and fingers crossed that helps.
Any help is appreciated
I has two issues that contributed to wheel hop:
- a rear shock failed and I didn't discover it for awhile, as it didn't leak, and worked Okay when pushing down on the fender.
- limited-slip clutches in the diff failed, and power was not being evenly routed top both wheels.
Removing the shock and pumping it fully quickly revealed zero damping in the top 3 inches of travel.
Bits of clutch material in the drained diff oil gave that away .
But...... cold wether and tires are the most common by far.
Are you getting wheel hop from a stop/dig or when you're already in motion?
While barely going 5mph, i have yet to dump the clutch or launch the car due to my experience of broken drivetrain and don't want to break anything on my C5. But if I just take off like normal then gun it, the car just hops like crazy in the rear
I have tried doing some research and can’t really get a clear answer in regards to wheel hop. When it’s dry outside and I gun it the wheels spin and I come into a little wheel hop which isn’t pleasant but not terrible. When it’s raining out side totally different story-
Giving the car gas and getting on it in the rain feels like the car is going to just explode. The rear end hop is the worst I have ever experienced in any car. All I can find is people mentioning better tires, well I want to enjoy the LS1 with rear wheel drive and burn some tires off but with the wheel hop I don’t want to damage anything serious to the drivetrain. Does anyone have any experience themself on how to help correct this? I’m buying a solid differential mount once I sell old parts from my old car and fingers crossed that helps.
Any help is appreciated
My C5 only did this one time, and never did it again. But that one time.......It was the right rear wheel/tire (pass. side). It sounded like somebody had a 10lb sledge hammer under the car, and was just wailing the bejesus out of it. Rocked the entire car. Beautiful car, btw.....
Last edited by grinder11; Nov 11, 2022 at 11:48 AM.
I have tried doing some research and can’t really get a clear answer in regards to wheel hop. When it’s dry outside and I gun it the wheels spin and I come into a little wheel hop which isn’t pleasant but not terrible. When it’s raining out side totally different story-
Giving the car gas and getting on it in the rain feels like the car is going to just explode. The rear end hop is the worst I have ever experienced in any car. All I can find is people mentioning better tires, well I want to enjoy the LS1 with rear wheel drive and burn some tires off but with the wheel hop I don’t want to damage anything serious to the drivetrain. Does anyone have any experience themself on how to help correct this? I’m buying a solid differential mount once I sell old parts from my old car and fingers crossed that helps.
Any help is appreciated
You can't find or get clear answers because there isn't really a "silver bullet". Possibly coilovers with the best one fix outcome. Some have resolved this with new tires, others with a trans brace and or a diff brace, some with coilovers and poly bushings. Others with new motor mounts that resolved the issue.
Some have tried most of the above and still got hop. Apparently it really depends on the specific car.
Typically colder temps outside and cold and or aged out tires will exacerbate the issue.
Some have resolved this with new tires, others with a trans brace and or a diff brace, some with coilovers and poly bushings..
I was waiting for someone to mention the differential brace.
This solution has me curious but there are several manufactures (ATM, Hinson, Pfadt, HPI...) and after studying I can not find a clear direction. My current '04 has 20k and I'm thinking of an upgrade. Reports of increased vibration and noise has me WAY hesitant to switch from stock.
I was waiting for someone to mention the differential brace.
This solution has me curious but there are several manufactures (ATM, Hinson, Pfadt, HPI...) and after studying I can not find a clear direction. My current '04 has 20k and I'm thinking of an upgrade. Reports of increased vibration and noise has me WAY hesitant to switch from stock.
AMT makes absolutely top notch products. You won’t be disappointed. I had purchased Hinson motor mounts after installing AMT differential mount and found the Hinson product to be home built, by comparison. I returned the Hinson motor mounts and purchased a set of AMT to complement the rear diff mount. You will likely find that you need to replace BOTH the motor mounts and the diff mount at the same time or the stiffer material in one end will not play well with the other softer, stock mount(s).
I was waiting for someone to mention the differential brace.
This solution has me curious but there are several manufactures (ATM, Hinson, Pfadt, HPI...) and after studying I can not find a clear direction. My current '04 has 20k and I'm thinking of an upgrade. Reports of increased vibration and noise has me WAY hesitant to switch from stock.
Thanks for posting this!! The one I was talking about is the one from ECS. IIRC, there was a company called Drivetrain Engineering, but I think they're defunct. Their brace was similar to the one ECS has. Good to know.........
How old are the tires? What are the tries and the DOT date codes?
As noted above, check the rear shocks.
Here is a video on how to check the LSD break away torque to make sure the Belleville washers are not broken or the clutches smoked
As far as the differential/transmission mounts are concerned, the design of factory unit leaves a lot to be desired. There are several aftermarket mounts out there that can firm things up. Some noted here here;
Keep in mind that the firmer rear mount works best with firmer engine mounts or at least points out weak or warn out engine mounts. Also keep in mind that with the wide stance rear mounts, they recommend removing the mass dampener on the driver's side of the differential. Doing so is the reason why 98% of the folks that complain about the increased vibration with these wide stance rear mounts, end up removing them. I tried something different with my wide stance rear mount. I modified the mass dampener mounting bracket so the wide stance mount and the mass dampener were not trying to occupy the same real-estate.
Here I was trail fitting the bracket as I elongated the bolt holes and reworked the edge to clear the cast in ridges / braces in the differential side cover plate
This is what the bracket ended up looking like. it raised the mass dampener up just enough and allowed for a slight rotation to clear the arm of the wide stance mount.
Last edited by JHrinsin; Nov 12, 2022 at 07:12 AM.
I would get wicked wheel hop with my old tires, new (albeit meh) tires pretty much solved that. But I'm more of the mindset that aside from that it's induced more by driveline rocking than the suspension giving way. I guess I can report more from my perspective when I don't live at 6500' elevation anymore as that does sap the life out of an engine.
@JHrinsin I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to probe you a bit about that modification you did to your dampener bracket... Could you elaborate a bit on that? I just installed an "Amazon HPI" (clone) HPI tranny/diff mount and while I absolutely love the hook and feel it gives, if adding that dampener back reduces the chances of someone hopping in the car with me and thinking something is *wrong* (i.e. reducing the vibration/nvh/gear whine), I'll do it! 😅
What did you use to widen the holes into slots like that? You mentioned it allowing the dampener to fit perfectly in harmony with the mount, does that mean you didn't have to cut the dampener? You also mentioned "rotation" being a plus with your bracket mod...where would rotation fit in to the equation?
I wish I could say I elongated the slots of the bracket on a Bridgeport mill, but since I didn't have access to one at the time, I used a drill press and a Dremel. Not fast or pretty, but effective enough. The U slot on the upper edge of the bracket is for clearance with a raised rib on the differential side case plate. With trial and error I was able to move the bracket vertically as well as rotate the bracket slightly (clockwise or counterclockwise?) so that the dampener weight finally cleared the body of wide stance differential mount.
I have tried doing some research and can’t really get a clear answer in regards to wheel hop. When it’s dry outside and I gun it the wheels spin and I come into a little wheel hop which isn’t pleasant but not terrible. When it’s raining out side totally different story-
Giving the car gas and getting on it in the rain feels like the car is going to just explode. The rear end hop is the worst I have ever experienced in any car. All I can find is people mentioning better tires, well I want to enjoy the LS1 with rear wheel drive and burn some tires off but with the wheel hop I don’t want to damage anything serious to the drivetrain. Does anyone have any experience themself on how to help correct this? I’m buying a solid differential mount once I sell old parts from my old car and fingers crossed that helps.
Any help is appreciated
So you have not disclosed anything about your car. How many miles? What type of tires(and how many miles on the tires and condition). Original suspension? Going right to a solid mount will only compound the variables, not solve the problem.
Horrendous Wheel Hop
