Hey all, Was at the drags recently and couldn't get my launch right. One of the reasons was wheel hop (the other was my lack of aptitude ). I did a bit of looking around and the internet seems to suggest replacing rear lower control arms and rear traction rods. Just stiffen up the rear in general. Thoughts and suggestions?
Axle Tramp. Cover all the main causes, subframe and suspension bushings, tire pressures, and camber/toe angles before you go looking too exotic. These are your main causes.
A well know fact is 300ZX multi link rear ends hop and dance from brand new you can use a heavy foot and stuff the clutch also the tailshaft .
I got it in mine. Got the ES subframe and diff bushes. Got stiffer rear springs and it helped a little. Thinking next step is to check/replace rear arm bushes.
Lowering or raising the pressure? I assume the lower the pressure the less likely the tyres will bounce? But then there's less traction?
No one can answer that without knowing your current pressures, the type of tyre, etc. Anyway, it's more important that they are equal and within recommended pressures for that tyre. Then you play with lowering them or raising them...equally. Lower pressures will give you more grip, but more drag. Bigger contact patch.
I could be going crazy, but I thought for drag racing, you want a SOFT rear end, so the car squats rather than having no where else to send the force created except into a loss of traction at the rubber. Even things like running fat 16" wheels so you have a higher sidewall. And if you really look into it re tyre pressures, that is a black art. Ambient temp and track temp play a big part, so anyone serious about it will keep a log book and include track temp, amb temp, AND tyre pressure for each and every run. And then look back at those over time to build a formula that works for you. Meh it's all just stuff I read. Never did it myself. Was more interested in how my "street setup" ran. Including crap in the boot
^^This^^ However, my NA zed will bounce the rear end like mad even in the wet which takes a lot of the entertainment factor out of driving it................
Mine actually had really bad wheelhop. Suspension was stock, though the shocks were old pedders brand. As I was replacing with Tein coilovers, I noticed some of the top bolts of the shock had broken off completely. I also replaced the cheap tyres with RE003s... I haven't noticed any wheelhop yet, but I'm no drifter and I don't do burnouts... So from what I can tell, it seems to have helped. If I notice it again, I'll be replacing all the bushes.
J3bba, are you able to toggle the boost settings on your boost controller? As in launch with a lower duty cycle then toggle to a more agressive setting once you get launched? That won't fix any suspension issues but sooner or later you'll want to look into it.
Yeah, I've got a gfb gforce 2. I need to set up some buttons for that and launch control as well. I'll add it to the list
I've seen wheel hop in a zed caused purely by worn out shocks. Replaced shocks or added coil overs and hop became minimal.