Wheel Hop - Causes and Cures
 

I'm really disappointed today. Perfect weather, excellent track prep, and no matter what I did, every time the car hit the power band, it started to wheel hop. What is it about the stock geometry and suspension that makes these things prone to hop? And it's getting worse. Could I have broken or bent something under there?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated as always.

Thanks. :cheers:

:lurk:

Coilovers=no more wheel hop.

A search turned up this:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...ing-broke.html

Guess it's time to check the mounts.

Yes, I've heard that before, too, but not sure I want to go to the coilovers just yet.

The cause of wheel hop is the rapidlly repeated grip/slip of rear tire's traction accompanied buy reverse torque of the rear differential.Regarding Corvettes, it has been stated that a cure is to install coilovers as they "plant " the vehicle to the pavement.Tires also enter into the mix.I get less hop with my "Stones" then my OEM GY's

The cure is to have 2 different size half shafts as on the ZR1. Outside air temp seems to be a factor when launching. I've had it happen at the dragstrip when hitting second but not every time. Warm weather seems to help.

Just searched out several other threads, and according to Ranger, it's all driver. Guess I really suck. But, like I said, it has never wheel hopped this bad, not even when I ran that 10.90 at this same track. Reducing tire inflation did help in the past, but today nothing helped. Not feathering the throttle or dropping to 21 PSI or soft launching. As soon as it hit that power band, BAM BAM BAM BAM!! Grrrr. :mad:

I suppose in some situations you can 'drive' your way out of it. I have coilovers and no issues. Trying tranny/motor mounts wouldn't hurt either. Or working on your technique but who knows - might break stuff in the process of getting it perfected.

My oh my, gents. The place to start looking for clues on wheel hop is set out the base-line information:

(1) Power of the car
(2) Rear tires on the car
(3) PSI of those tires measured before the wheel hop incidents.
(4) Temperature of the racing surface
(5) Were the tires heated by a burnout?

That info will give us something to go on.

Ranger

(1) Power of the car(2) Rear tires on the car(3) PSI of those tires measured before the wheel hop incidents.(4) Temperature of the racing surface(5) Were the tires heated by a burnout?

:bs on the "it's all the drivers fault" myth.

When my car was new I got zero wheel hop. ZERO
After a while it started gettin some hop, then more and more.
Then it would get uncontrollable massive wheel hop (aka driveline shake). There was nothing the driver could do to stop it.
I finally figured out that it was being caused by broken mounts.

I replaced the motor and tranny mounts with the Pfadt solid mounts. The hopping BAM BAM BAM BS is a thing of the past!!!! I can't make the wheels hop now, no matter how hard I spin the tires.

Sounds to me like your tranny or motor mounts have broken like mine did (see Pix below).
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/DSCF0031.jpg


Pfadt Motor and Tranny mounts delete the drive line shake that causes the tires to bounce like freakin basket balls

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/DSCF0002.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/DSC07885.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/DSC07877.jpg

Maxx, I really don't want to go to solid mounts. I don't need the shake and vibration of the cam amplified. My wife is already giving me strange looks from all the clutch noises. I still need the car for date night, and thus it must remain somewhat well behaved. :)

No problem there, but if your mounts are broken you should replace them with new OEM mounts.

My solid mounts actually cause very little vibration at all. Mostly just a little at idle.

Putting a Z06 with 100 rwhp beyond stock on street tires that are worn (20% tread left) onto a well-prepped race surface like HRP, and being aggressive with the throttle is a prescription for how to make the car hop.

Actually, no worn street tire will likely handle that power.

A correctly-sized and properly heated drag radial tire is the prescription at your power level for avoiding wheel hop on the drag strip.

I've made >250 passes in my stock Z06, it doesn't hop except through driver error. I've coached quite a few drivers at the track to refrain from dramatically overpowering available traction. Once they learn to sense what the rear wheels are doing, wheel hop disappears as an issue.

Ranger

Wheel hop is the one thing I dislike about my Z. I'll check my mounts, but my car showed moderate to severe hop with only 2800 miles. Part of the reason I don't drag race it anymore.

The cure is: driving:yesnod:

A trained/experienced 1/4 mile assult driver knows how to quaterback the balancing act between wheel spin, clutch slip and throttle application all while evaluating track grip and gear shifting hand speed.

Once you master this balancing act then no matter what power level you have, you will NOT wheel hop on street tires.

Practice and practice some more and you'll be fine. Granted, you will not go as fast as you would like to on street tires with lots of power vs. sticky tires but at least you will drive home in one piece.

Hope this helps

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

Vince.. try some tires first... also as stated above it would not hurt to check you engine and trans mounts for any signs of wear...

To put it in layman's terms: Poor traction=wheel hop. Doesn't matter if you're making 300 hp or 600hp, if you don't have the means to harness the power to the track, you will spin or worse, hop.

When I had my C5 coupe I would get wheel hop. I replaced the shocks with some Bilstiens and it went away. I have read a lot of articles on wheel hop and many point to the shocks... If your mounts look fine I would say replace the shocks....

Mark :flag: :flag:

Did you try tires? R u using older worn down tires that have been through lots of heat cycles? Get a new set of tires and I'd bet you would be all set.

Remember, tire manufacturers put the soft sticky (good) rubber on the outside layer, then after several thousand miles once you wear that away, you get to the hard compound that makes them last longer, but provides significantly less traction. This is one of the big reasons why new tires always feel better. You have probably worn out the soft outer layer and are now at the hard layer of rubber.