Wheel hop?? help

Hey guys, i'm kinda new to this and to gm's. i've been a ford guy for the longest time and recently switched over to the dark side. I couldn't love it more exept for some small problems.

My cars got a good deal of mods; i should have it on the dyno later this month. But its far from stock. I know there are a bunch of other threads about wheel hop and stuff but i already have a bunch of things the guys said to replace to eliminate it. Its got Pedder shocks and springs (Comfort). Energy bushings all around. And i recently swaped out those crappy eagle F1 for some Nitto Neogens. Tires have helped but the wheel hop is still there.

From what i can see, the only way to completly get rid of it is to fabricate and upper control arm to stablize the rear. I've been talking alot to my auto teachers and they've all said the same thing: when you accelerate, the ring gear in the rear is tring to climb the pinion which makes the nose of the rear move up and down. when you loose traction (depending on the tires), it will do one of two things. Either roast the tires real well, or as the tires try to get traction it will start to hop. They all also tell me that the car is not made for straight line acceleration so i'm pretty much screwed.

This car is a dual purpose, autocross and drag, combined with an everyday driver (even though its only out on nice days).

I've heard everything from getting two different size half shafts, to drag bags and everything in between. Thanks for your help.

Wow, you have a sunroof? Sorry to get off topic

Unfortunately, an IRS is always going to hop. It just depends on how much. I would switch out the comfort springs for some drag springs.
I have big bore shocks, drag springs, sub frame bushings, and a differential mount, and she will still hop.

I heard good things about the different sized half-shafts. Some people have tried them on here and have had good success. Hendrix Engineering designed different-sized half-shafts for our car. A bit pricey, though. Then again, for these cars, what isn't?

lol yea i bought the car from a dealership the way it sits and they told me it was stock lol. i knew it had a cam and little thing but it cracked me up when i brought the car back because the moon roof would whistle on the highways. then they told me gto's don't come with moonroofs lol. otherwise ive had little problems and they fixed it no questions ask. i got a real steal.

yea i hear that. Hear anything about those harrop dif covers that eliminate the bushing and have a solid mount? Also do drag bags do anything for this? i mean its cheep if it will help limit some of it. I hate loading up the parts shotgun and start firing away, and hope something will fix it. Right now i don't have enough money for that. thanks

yea drag bags will help

I'd try drag bags first and since the Lovell diff insert is fairly cheap, slap that in too. Energy Suspension master kit (if that's what in it) has a wimpy insert.

drag bags def helped .. but didn't eliminate.. we are plagued my friend

haha thanks guys i think drag bags are next investment and then we'll see about that expensive dif cover lol gotta ask the wifes permission some of you know how that is

Drag bags are a relatively cheap fix. May not cure it totally, but it sure as hell won't make it worse.

I'm going with drag bags and the Lovell's diff insert as my first steps to curing it.

i hardly have the dreaded wheel hop since i modded my car. i am still on stock everything. front and back. street tires just smoke, and the nitto's well they smoke too, when i get on it. all i have done is put the spacers under the springs for clearance for the 285/50/18's in the back. i even have monroe gas matics in the back right now and the factory stock struts up front. unless something changes drastically i will not change this settup. as it is working for me.

when you have partial traction the tires grab and let go, grab and let go, so tires with ultimate traction that won't let you spin would solve it. tires not being perfect help but don't address the GTOs IRS weaknesses so mods are in order. not all GTOs respond the same way towards "fixing" the problem but the areas first attacked in order are:
tires
drag bags
springs
shocks
sub-frame bushings
diff insert (or the more expensive and much better Harrop cover)
rear inner control arm bushings
drive shaft (replacing the rubber donut couplers)
rear outer control arm bushings
tranny mount stiffening (Windo Weld mod)
engine torque stiffening (new motor mounts or on '04s as Ingall's Stiffy)

try them one at a time starting at the top until you achieve results that will make you happy

I have changed to a 3 1/2 in aluminum drive shaft that seams to make the biggest difference since you eliminate the rubber bushings on each end that flex when you get on it hard. good luck

thanks guys. i know my tranny does bounce alot and the carrier bearing is on its way out. it is starting to get cracks and crap but i never thought that would relate to the wheel hop. also i've heard good and bad things about switching to a solid drive shaft. one is that its expensive and someone i was talking to says that it puts much more stress on the t 56 resulting in a blown tranny, and i sure as hell don't want to rebuild that.
Also whoever installed the gears i think fudged up the back lash. i gotta get under it and measure it but i know there is too much! any one know what the spec's should be?

I just installed a few bushings and they helped allot. In the front, I did RR and LCA. Tightened the car up considerably. In rear I added the Pedders extreme subframe bushings and control arm bushings inner and outer. The rear is MUCH tighter and the car doesn´t wiggle its rear under acceleration. The Wheel hop is all but gone, I´m sure playing w/tire pressure and inflating the airbags will eliminate, for now. Before this I had violent wheel hop when ever the rears broke loose, but now it´s just slight studder. I think the inner control arm bushing in rear is a must.

Quote: Originally Posted by svede1212... when you have partial traction the tires grab and let go, grab and let go, so tires with ultimate traction that won't let you spin would solve it. tires not being perfect help but don't address the GTOs IRS weaknesses so mods are in order. not all GTOs respond the same way towards "fixing" the problem but the areas first attacked in order are: tires drag bags springs shocks sub-frame bushings diff insert (or the more expensive and much better Harrop cover) rear inner control arm bushings drive shaft (replacing the rubber donut couplers) rear outer control arm bushings tranny mount stiffening (Windo Weld mod) engine torque stiffening (new motor mounts or on '04s as Ingall's Stiffy) try them one at a time starting at the top until you achieve results that will make you happy

Svede, I've heard this explaination before and something about it doesnt sit too well with me. If this were the case, everycar would have crazy wheel hope because all they would need to do is apply the right amount of power to the wheels. Our cars seem more prone to this through a wide range of applied power and I think addressing the weaknesses as you stated is correct. In our case I think it has a lot to do with all the weak rubber in our suspension, and they are compressing too much under torque then releasing their energy all at once and not evenly on both sides of the car leading to a domino effect of compressing and decompressing under load. blah, just my 2 cents

I belive hendrix engineering has a upgraded 2 piece drive shaft thats supposed to be easyer on the t56 then a one piece.

Ill post a link when i find it.

found it:
http://www.hendrix-engineering.com

check that out, I cant link directly to the driveshaft but its in the gto section.
ill probably be upgrading to one of these eventually.

as i said the most interesting thing about this is not all GTOs seem to be the same. the bushings are piece of the puzzle but the IRS in particular as well as the suspension geometry seem to play a part. the things i listed all play a part in the bound/rebound scenario. as far as "fixing" it i've done everything listed except the half shafts and each made the problem a little less noticeable so i have real world experience. i get a small stutter now instead of violent wheel hop.

I've sold alot of singe half shafts for wheel hop problems.
I also have the carbon fiber driveshafts that are a direct bolt in without adapters. It takes alot of the slop out of the drivetrain.
Let me know if I can help.
www.shop.gforce1320.com

Had wheel hop bad stock. Now have SLP sway bar and King rear springs. I have not experienced it any more. I am still waiting on energy suspension body mount bushings to come in. The springs made the biggest difference since my stock ones were sagging badly.

Drag bags at 200psi

I'd probably say if you wanna save some good money go first with a set of drag bags, some drag radials and a diff insert.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/C...ion_165628.htm

Check out this link. Great explaination as to why the suspension develops vertical travel during hard launches for us 6 speed guys. The new Camaro uses a similar set up.

Quote: Originally Posted by IBM05GTO... I'd probably say if you wanna save some good money go first with a set of drag bags, some drag radials and a diff insert.

+1 after installing my drag bags/diff insert i have had zero wheel hop. Of course this was in conjunction with pedders springs and shocks at the same time but it was the dif insert and drag bags that really made the difference.

diff insert, drag springs or bags, subframe bushings, and a good tire fixed my wheel hop issues.

after watching that video, the 2 different sized axles makes more sense to me, before I never knew how or why it helped.

drag bags, koni shocks, pedders 0 drops, diff insert, x member bushings, drag radials, still hops like the day I picked it up. Maybe its time to try the different sized axels I guess.

Nobody mentioned the Harrop rear cover ? It gives 2 points of support for the rear end about 8-10" apart instead of just the one point on the stock cover. It sure helped me and alot of others.