Wheel hop...does it hurt anything?

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White95Max

New member
As any Maxima drivers know (particularly 5spd), there is a real problem with wheel hop upon quick takeoffs. In case someone doesn't know what I mean by wheel hop, it's when the front wheels slip, and the tires gain/lose traction frequently. The front end of the car jumps up and down quickly.



So does anyone know if wheel hop negatively affects anything?
 
Wheel hop probably won't hurt the car, but it doesn't do much for 0-60 times. Basically, the power is not getting to the ground very efficiently.



I have a 2004 Acura TSX and wheel hop is a know problem with that vehicle. Not suprisingly, the 0-60 times are low, even though the car feels quite peppy around town.
 
Do you think stickier tires will help, since the tires won't slip as much? I guess my rationale is...if the tires don't slip in the first place, they can't hop. :nixweiss
 
Wheel hop is not inherent to front wheel drive vehicles. It IS inherent to independent suspensions that receive power to their attached drive wheels (in your case it is the front suspension). My WS6 = no wheel hop because it has a solid axle. Ask any Corvette, Mustang Cobra, GTO...etc. owner about wheel hop and they can sympathize with you. Your suspension is loading and unloading as your drive wheels get power applied to them. This will typically only happen on hard launches at WOT or close to WOT. As long as you are not treating every stop light as a drag strip Christmas tree I think you'll be OK...no broken parts. I am not all to familiar with the Maxima but I am sure a company like Stillen sells suspension parts to limit the amount of hop your are experiencing (i.e. better bushings...stronger A-arms...etc.).
 
That's correct it generally happens at WOT. No I don't treat every stoplight as a drag strip. I just like to have fun on wide open country roads once in a while. :)
 
White95Max said:
I just like to have fun on wide open country roads once in a while. :)
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I can relate to that!!! ;)



Try slipping your clutch when you launch and rolling into the throttle at the same time. The smoother you can transition to full power the less wheel hop you should experience.
 
It's definately not good for stuff, can lead to broken CV joints, etc. Don't know about the maximas, but hard starts are notorious for killing some cars (see sig).
 
1 Clean WS6 said:
I can relate to that!!! ;)



Try slipping your clutch when you launch and rolling into the throttle at the same time. The smoother you can transition to full power the less wheel hop you should experience.
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roll into the throttle? But I like the instant full power experience of a manual transmission, and the torque pushing me back. I'm sure you can relate to that one as well!:D
 
The Uncle said:
Wheel hop probably won't hurt the car, but it doesn't do much for 0-60 times. Basically, the power is not getting to the ground very efficiently.
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It IS bad for your car, is an excellent way to break an axle or wear the CV boots, among other things. I've seen too many cars hop bad off the line and then snap an axle.
 
I upped my tire pressure from 29-35psi a few days ago, and returned to the same spot where I had the wheelhop problem, to see if there was any improvement as far as wheelhop.

There was! I got very little hop this time, and the conditions were just the same as the time when I got bad wheelhop. The only difference was the increased tire pressure. After a couple seconds of tire squeal, the front hopped slightly, but nothing near what happened a couple times last week. :up

I tried it twice at the same spot, and I got the same results the second time as well. I'm convinced that the tire pressure really did help.

I'm hoping that my new tires/wheels will make an additional improvement, and nearly eliminate the problem.
 
1 Clean WS6 said:
suspension). My WS6 = no wheel hop because it has a solid axle. Ask any Corvette, Mustang Cobra, GTO...etc. owner about wheel hop and they can sympathize with you.
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Former Cobra owner here, wheel hop sucks. Although the only time I got wheel hop was when I went out to the track.(Only time I really launched it :D ) Wheel hop in an 03/04 Cobra can be very dangerous as far as broken parts. A lot of guys with performance mods have killed a couple of axle in the Cobra. A lot of Cobra guys have a pulley on SC, intake, full catless exhaust, tuner, ported SC, TB,etc....... A lot of Cobra's that look stock, have over 500 HP at the wheels, imagine what a stock axle goes through. Some guys have over 600 HP to the wheels and still run stock axles, but I wouldn't. There was a joke in another member sig over at svtperformance.com, and it goes.



"What did 500 HP say to the axle.............snap"



On the other hand Mike, just because you have a solid axle doesn't mean you won't have wheel hop. However, it should mean that it should be greatly reduced or minimized. Case in point, my mom's 2005 Mustang GT. She has a solid axle on it, I launched it from the line and got a little bit of wheel hop, when I grabbed 2nd, I got a couple of hops then. To me it sounds like Ford's stone age suspension could have somthing to do with it. Wheel hop can also be caused by just giving it to much throttle to hook, but not too much to spin hard, and right there at that breaking point. I can believe that you have no wheel hop, because GM seems to have a better grasp on suspension than Ford.



Paul, wheel hop can also hurt your tires. Everytime your tires are a victim of wheel hop, they take a pounding. Not only is it not good for the tread, but the structure and belts take a punishing force. Of course it should not ruin the tires, they may become prone to noticeable uneven wear, or even cupping of the tires
 
O4cobra said:
Paul, wheel hop can also hurt your tires. Everytime your tires are a victim of wheel hop, they take a pounding. Not only is it not good for the tread, but the structure and belts take a punishing force. Of course it should not ruin the tires, they may become prone to noticeable uneven wear, or even cupping of the tires
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Even more reason to figure out how to fix or reduce the problem before putting my new wheels/tires on this spring. These tires are history once I get my new tires/wheels on anyway, since the current wheels are getting Dunlop Winter Sport M3 snow tires for winter use.

So IOW, I don't care about uneven wear or anything on these tires. I would care about those things to my brand new tires though.
 
Paul,



You car is going to look good with those wheels. Just looking at your avator you can tell. Nice choice! :xyxthumbs
 
Unless you have a problem with your suspension wheel hop only takes place on hard launches from a standstill. If it was me tire wear would be the least of my worries on such launches because clutch wear, drive line wear and suspension damage is much more much more costly and rates much higher up on the damage/wear meter to me. Even without wheel hop WOT launches from a dead stand still are difficult on other parts of your car and can accelerate wear. That said everyone likes to do some hard launches. If you read some of the car magazines you will see them mention in some their shoot outs how some cars have difficulty with wheel hop and that by rolling the throttle on and slipping the clutch the wheel hop can be minimized or eliminated and result in better 0-60 times. Other options that work in some cars are higher RPM clutch drops that just light the tires up (very difficult on the car).



I know what you are saying about liking the feel of the torque and the push in the seat. But much less wear will take place on your car if you take the effort to get moving smoothly then âہ“punchâ€Â� the accelerator (unless you are slipping the clutch to accomplish this and then the clutch will wear more quickly). You can still feel the rush but with less wear and tear on the car. You said it best when you said wide open country roads are where the fun is at. The handling of your car should be really fun on those curvy roads.
 
My dad has a Cobra. The wheel hop was soo violent initially we thought our teeth were gonna fall out.



After talking around, we chose to go with urethane suspension bushings. This coupled with larger rims and wider/stickier tires proved to help his launches much better.



He doesn't track the car but if he pulls up next to an F-body or Vette, it's needed :).
 
If increasing your tire pressure helped the problem, I would think this is mostly due to a decrease in traction. Doesn't seem like the best solution to me.
 
Ben Z. said:
If increasing your tire pressure helped the problem, I would think this is mostly due to a decrease in traction. Doesn't seem like the best solution to me.
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Agreed. Upping tire pressure decreases you contact patch from a start at rest, decreasing available grip. Grippier (and/or wider) tires will help, but ultimately urethan mounts will be your best friend.

Because my B15 SE will be a track b*tch soon, I just filled the f/r mounts with 3M Windo-Weld for the same effect, for $8.:D
 
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