Wheel hop...does it hurt anything?

The problem with going back to a same location is that it would be impossible to know what changes have taken place. Oil, dampness, heavy rain followed by dry will all give present different surfaces to the suspension.



Agree with other about increasing tyre pressure will not improve grip (under normal circumstances).
 
O4cobra said:
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.
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I have added tubular lower control arms with greasable polyurethane bushings as well as lower control arm relocation brackets (since the car is lowered) so I can not give you a stock comparison but even with my drag radials mounted I get no wheel hop...either wheel spin or "hook n' go". My car also has full legnth subframe connectors, a strut tower brace, tubular panhard rod and a boxed chrome moly torque arm so it is very "solid" (if that term can be applied to an f-body ;) ) with very little "play" in the suspension and chassis.



You are right though...solid axles can suffer from hop but it is no where near as prevalent then a car with an independent suspension receiving power to its drive wheels.
 
The Volkswagen 1.8T community feels for you man, this is a prevalent problem in my circle. Reduce your tire pressure to just below average and change those motor mounts. The only thing is you'll have more ride vibration after changing out the motor mounts so as usual comfort suffers for performance.
 
My Chevelle used to wheel hop like mad. 4.11s and a 4000 stall converter didn't help. I had to replace the rear anti-roll bar with ladder bars to stop it. Broken axles will ruin your day.
 
If you have a 95 maxima, have you changed the struts and springs? If they are original, as well as the bushings then it is high time for replacement. Of course, with stiffer bushings you will have less wheel hop but you will have more noise vibration and harshness every other time. Find out for yourself if it is worth it. On my car, I want to put in a tein ss coilover setup, new polyurethane bushings and new ball joints. I don't know if I will do this this spring though, even though I can feel the struts are worn (76,000 mile integra gsr four door, 98 model year).
 
Bad motor mounts can also cause wheel hop in FWD cars. I had that problem in my Accord when the front 'dogbone' mount went bad.
 
1 Clean WS6 said:
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.
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My Chevelle was a solid axle car and the problem is the 4 link coil suspension does not prevent the pinion from climbing the ring gear. The front of the pumpkin is trying to twist up while the wheels are rotating in the opposite direction and that is what loads and unloads the rear tires. I'm guessing GM made some changes to the suspension geometry in the newer F-bodies to help prevent it.
 
So does anyone know if wheel hop negatively affects anything?



To answer the original question, yes. The stresses caused by this type of driving will shorten the life of various components. The stress is amplified because of wheel slippage. The grip is not constant and therefore the stress levels will vary very quickly and dramatically and has already been pointed out, is a very inefficient way of accelerating quickly.
 
i've had wheel hop problems in the past but mostly on rwd cars. each time i was able to get rid of the problem by staggering the tire pressure, or just experimenting with tire pressure. You can try to decrease the pressure on the tire that spins by about 1psi, or maybe increase the other one by a pound. sometimes rotating them will help.



other than that you may need to replace some loose/warn out parts in the front end. Bushings that are softer than new, and/or loose parts allow everything to move around more than they're supposed to. When parts start moving they are not controllable and end up bouncing back and forth against their stops. This is where the wheel hop begins. The tire grabs and moves fwd or bckwd until all the excess play is taken up. Then the tire slips and loses traction for a split second. While its slipping the rest of the suspension is under less pressure and the tire suddenly regains traction. it's pretty violent on the drivetrain and can cause extreme damage depending on your power.
 
I'm finally checking out this thread and you guys make me feel *so* responsible and conservative :D Heh heh, I used to side-step the clutch in muscle cars and slip the clutch in turbos and otherwise abuse my cars but then I got tired of fixing things all the time ;)



When you overload/over-stress a vehicle so that it doesn't "work right", you're abusing it and it's not gonna take it forever. Yeah, that sounds old-fogey but it's true (heh heh, I have the bills to prove it). And you generally don't *eliminate* stress via modifications, you just move it somewhere else.



When magazines test cars they basically abuse them. Plenty of cars need repairs following magazine testing. A *lot* of magazine test cars need a clutch after just a few 0-60 tests.



Oh, and not that I'm against stiff bushings/mounts/etc. (I've used such things on the b-bodies), but when you install stuff like poly engine mounts, where do you think all that stress/vibration/etc. goes? It doesn't disappear ;)



And polyurethane can act funny in cold weather.



1 Clean WS6- I had *terrible* wheel hop in an '85 WS6 TA, but that's a bit older than yours ;) and I was driving it like a jerk.



ScottWax- Heh heh, yeah, guys like us used to put ladder bars/traction bars/pinion snubbers/etc. on cars to keep the suspensions from working as designed so we could play drag racer, huh :D Aren't we all grown up now :o
 
As a sort-of related aside, I assume your Max does not have a limited slip diff (rare in FWD cars). So if you are doing peel outs, hop or not, you are likely peeling one wheel which can be bad for the differential/tranny. I believe this is mainly due to the large amount of heat it creates.



You might just try to enjoy your car more without hard launches. Roll onto it gradually but hard, then open it up once you are rolling and have good traction. It's better for everything. :)
 
White95Max said:
So does anyone know if wheel hop negatively affects anything?
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As the other Cobra (and other car) owners have said, wheel hop is VERY bad for your CV joints and drive axles. And, any car with an independent suspension (ie two drive-axles instead of 1) is usually more prone to wheel hop than solid-axled cars.



With my Cobra, I have broken 1 of my half-shafts due to wheel hop at the track. Most likely it was due to the less-than-good stock tires that come on the '03/'04 Cobras. It's not an extremely wonderful sight or sound. The grease from the CV (referred to as "smurf puke" for its purple color) splatters around the rear of the car and it's a mess. VERY EASY to replace thanks to the modular-ness of our IRS, but a real mess and that $300 half-shaft will put a nice dent in your wallet.



White95Max said:
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
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Stickier tires (drag radials, etc) significantly help us Cobra owners with our wheel hop. However, stickier tires merely negate the real cause of wheel hop in our cars. If you really want to solve the problem, the only way to go is with stiffer shocks, control arm bushings, differential brace and possibly even springs (not needed, but they help too). At least, that's the way we solve it with the '03/'04 Cobras.



I would venture to say your problem can be fixed similarly, but since it's a front-wheel drive, the solution may be slightly different.



But that's what I would suggest if you really want to get rid of the problem AND get the power efficiently to the ground :xyxthumbs
 
to get rid of my wheel hop, i added polyurethane engine mounts, and polyurethane suspension bushings... huge difference
 
No my Maxima does not have a limited-slip differential. It was available on 2002+ Maximas, but not before that.



navindra - did you do the poly mounts yourself? How long did it take you?
 
1 Clean WS6 said:
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.).
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Wheel hop is extremely common with solid rear axle vehicles. Stickier tires only add to the problem because your shocks arent capable of damping the extreme movements of your rear end. I have a 2000 TA and with nitto 555's on it had horrible wheel hop and hop that bad can and will damage your rear end, suspension, etc... That is why solid axle cars use Torque arms and lower control arms. Front wheel drives as far I know have problems because of motor mounts. Hope this helps.
 
bluews6 said:
Wheel hop is extremely common with solid rear axle vehicles. Stickier tires only add to the problem because your shocks arent capable of damping the extreme movements of your rear end. I have a 2000 TA and with nitto 555's on it had horrible wheel hop and hop that bad can and will damage your rear end, suspension, etc... That is why solid axle cars use Torque arms and lower control arms. Front wheel drives as far I know have problems because of motor mounts. Hope this helps.
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Even before I upgraded my suspension with BFG drag radials on stock components I never had that problem.



Each car is different though...
 
White95Max said:
No my Maxima does not have a limited-slip differential. It was available on 2002+ Maximas, but not before that.



navindra - did you do the poly mounts yourself? How long did it take you?
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I'm pretty sure my moms 93 maxima has a LSD:nixweiss could be wrong tho!



As far as wheel hop, I wish I had wheel hop b/c it would mean I had at least a little bit of traction, I get none, in either vehicle...lol, but hey who can complain!
 
I'm not sure, but I thought the LSD was only available on the 5th gens and up. I could also be wrong though! I know for a fact that mine does not have an LSD. I can spin a one wheel wonder til the cows come home!
 
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