Wheel hop solutions.

[Reaper1]

I know I've read this time and time again over many years on the forums. I've even been a participant in quite a few of the discussions. While that's all fine and dandy, I now would like some input from other experienced TM'rs about this topic.

My problem is that I can't seem to rid my car of wheel hop. Now, I don't drag race much, and honestly I don't care to. I've set the car up to handle and be fun on the street, but I still like to launch hard on the street every now and then...I mean, who doesn't!?

I've done all the "easy" suspension mods I can think of, and even some intermediate ones:
Eibach springs
Konis struts/shocks
new strut mounts
uprgraded to double-pivot A-arms with poly bushings & new ball joints
strut tower car
poly engine/tranny mounts w/solid bobble
LSD
lightweight wheels (Enkie RPF1's)
sticky tires (Kunho XS 225/50/16)

NONE of this seems to have had any real impact on the car having a wheel hop issue. I'm simply tired of the problem and worrying about possible breaking an axle or worse when I'm in a "spirited" mood or at the track (if I ever get money). I even switched up my alignment to see if that made an improvement.

So, shy of using street raidals or slicks, or turning my boost down until I can't even think about spinning the tires, am I missing something?

The ONLY thing I can think is that it might have something with the suspension being too low. The only thing is that it "should" actually be almost "ideal" during the launch due to how the car squats and unloads the front.

Thanks for the input. I'd just like to have worry free launches when I choose to drive like that!

[turbovanman²]

Weird.

Ok, how did you adjust the BS?

Which LSD?

Maybe try less sticky tires and see what happens!

[Reaper1]

The bobble strut has a little bit of preload, but not a ton due to it having the poly front engine mount. That in itself makes it pretty hard to twist the engine even a little bit.

I'm using the OBX LSD and it seems to be working 100%.

Less sticky tires....EEEWWWW!! LOL I do understand the logic, but I don't want to give up my cornering and braking performance.

[badandy]

It's the fact you now have a dual pivot control arm setup.

I converted my CSX-T to the same K-frame and I have roughly the same suspension setup as you sans I have Koni coil overs in the front with Rich's camber plates. At one time I had your same exact setup and just as soon as I switched over from the stub strut setup to the dual pivot I would get wheel hop. It's not as bad with slicks but it's very bad on radials.

The only solution I can come up with is maybe aluminum bushings for the control arms or a harder durometer of poly bushing.

In speaking with Jay he showed me the difference between Polybushings product and Energy Suspensions product. Energy's has less poly and a bigger metal inner sleeve which in theory would cause less deflection than the inverse however I have yet to try them out.

He has a web link to all of this....if I can find it I'll update my post with the link.

I hope this helps

EDIT: Get in touch with GLHNSLHT2 about the differences in the bushings.

[puppet]

Getting rid of wheel hop completely is going to be tough. You've probably done all a guy can do reasonably, without killing the suspension movement you want for road racing. My advice is to lower the boost threshold for a "launch" and reset it after the suspension has stabilized ... maybe bag the rear end?

[GLHNSLHT2]

Please excuse the crappy no light in the house and no flash on the phone pic but it still speaks 1000 words IMO.



Not sure what bushings you are running though. Personally I'd convert you koni's to a coil-over setup and run some stiffer springs up front. Might have to go to a rear setup like CS-Racers on the rear to match up the handling but that should help the wheel hop IMO. Are you running 2801 or 2804 eibachs?

[Reaper1]

Thanks all!

I'm running one of Johnny's very first set of bushings made for the stamped double pivot arms. Yes, I do know that the Energy Suspension ones have less Poly, but at the time those were not even available and I already had these around. I eventually want to go all out and get rid of bushing all together and possibly tubular arms and K-frame, but that's YEARS away for me.

I'm running the Eibachs for P-body's (the ones that they still make), but I also removed some of the progressive coils to get the car lower. It works well for auto cross, track days, and is reasonable around town, but I do think for drag racing it might be a bit too low, and even in those other types of activities it could go up just a hair. Converting to the later spindles helped out a LOT by pushing the ball joints down and getting the roll center back in check.

I will eventually convert to full coil overs and such, but budget is key right now. I absolutly don't have one! Mainly I was wondering if I'd missed something in my set-up or adjustments. Guess not! LOL

Oh, and this car has ALWAYS had a wheel hop issue, even when I had the old original stub strut K-frame in it.

I suppose for now I'll just not launch it that hard. Not like I need to be spinning my new tires anyway...it took me almost a full year to save up to get them and I STILL needed some help! Ugghh...I HATE being a broke-@ss student!

[bakes]

You need to put and vid cam under the hood and do some hops ( i know destructive testing but) then look to see what is flexing ( Fame and towers , motor mounts ., drive shafts wraping up)
then you can come up with a fix.

[turbovanman²]

The bobble strut has a little bit of preload, but not a ton due to it having the poly front engine mount. That in itself makes it pretty hard to twist the engine even a little bit.

I'm using the OBX LSD and it seems to be working 100%.

Less sticky tires....EEEWWWW!! LOL I do understand the logic, but I don't want to give up my cornering and braking performance.

As a test, lol.

Maybe its the auto or weight or both but no wheel hop for me.

I am using a rubber dog bone instead of a poly one, maybe that helps the powertrain absorb some shock?

[contraption22]

Using drag slicks eliminates all wheel hop on my SRT-4.

[black86glhs]

Remove turbo.


Fixed!

[turbovanman²]

Using drag slicks eliminates all wheel hop on my SRT-4.

So yours wheel hops with street tires?

[contraption22]

So yours wheel hops with street tires?

Oh hell yes.

[Reaper1]

Yeah, my van never had this issue either. Come to think of it, NONE of my other cars have ever had this issue! They were all auto cars, except the '92 Shadow...it was a V6 5-speed car though. Fun and quick, but it was a pile! LOL I've driven other turbo 5-speed cars though, and none were this bad either, but all were on the mostly stock side of things as far as suspension and mounts were concerned, and none used as sticky tires as what I've got now. Almost makes me want to bolt on some crappy tires and see how bad I can shred them! Oh wait...that costs money DARN IT!

[turbovanman²]

Yeah, my van never had this issue either. Come to think of it, NONE of my other cars have ever had this issue! They were all auto cars, except the '92 Shadow...it was a V6 5-speed car though. Fun and quick, but it was a pile! LOL I've driven other turbo 5-speed cars though, and none were this bad either, but all were on the mostly stock side of things as far as suspension and mounts were concerned, and none used as sticky tires as what I've got now. Almost makes me want to bolt on some crappy tires and see how bad I can shred them! Oh wait...that costs money DARN IT!

Used tires, you should be able to get those for almost free,

[Murphy]

If you were closer I'd lend ya a set of tires to fry away

[GLHNSLHT2]

getting rid of the bushings won't cure it.

[black86glhs]

Stiffer rear spring would keep the weight transfer down to a minimum and keep more over the front tires.

[thefitisgay]

my datyona used to wheel hop to.... its a 91 with cast arms maybe its the dual pivot thats the problem.... mine was so bad i swear i could see the fenders go up and down

[contraption22]

My brother's 89 Daytona used to wheelhop on street tires... till we ditched the 555 for an automatic.