After suspension mods, still have wheel hop

[mtbikerinme83]

So far I've installed BMR swaybars (middle setting front and rear) which worked great to get rid of body roll. Then I installed BMR trailing arms with BMR outer bushing, in an attempt to eliminate wheel hop. Many said this cured it for them, but for me it doesn't seem like they've helped at all. The wheel hop seems to occure more easily if the pavment is slightly damp to wet. There is no straight line spinning the tires in the rain, all it does is wheel hop bad. What should I try next to eliminate the wheel hop? Keep in mind this is a daily driver and I do drive on some pretty rough roads so I don't want to make the ride really harsh or add any drivetrain noise into the cabin. I'm not wanting to do differential bushings for the reason of I hear they will add drivetrain noise into the cabin. I'm thinking rear cradle inserts next, what do you guys think?

[Apex Paul]

sub frame bushings. Follow that with some rear toe rods, but probably not necessary in your case.

[Apex Motorsports]

Give this article on our blog a read. It is all about Camaro curing wheel hop. Basically the wheel hop trifecta is trailing arms, sub frame bushings, and toe rods. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

[ssmike]

[BMR guy]

Before reading your sig, I knew it was a manual. Stick cars are always the hardest to cure. The advice above is the best route. Cradle bushings then toe rods if you still have hop. I am a little baffled though that the wheelhop was not reduced at all. Stick cars sometimes require more than just trailing arms but typically the trailing arms reduce it significantly...

[JusticePete]

Before we throw any more parts at your 5th Gen, could you please post the alignment specifications?

[mtbikerinme83]

I haven't re-aligned it yet. I have 20K miles on the car and about 12k on the stock tires (have winter wheels/tires) Both sets of tires have been wearing super even so for street driving the alignment from the factory seems ok. I've been trying to find a good alignment shop that wont just asjust it so it falls within factory spec. Any suggestions on what the front/rear alignment specs should be for a car that is 99% of the time on the road as a daily driver, but may seem some spirited driving?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by mtbikerinme83

I haven't re-aligned it yet. I have 20K miles on the car and about 12k on the stock tires (have winter wheels/tires) Both sets of tires have been wearing super even so for street driving the alignment from the factory seems ok. I've been trying to find a good alignment shop that wont just asjust it so it falls within factory spec. Any suggestions on what the front/rear alignment specs should be for a car that is 99% of the time on the road as a daily driver, but may seem some spirited driving?

Absoluetly sir.



A huge contributor to wheel hop is alignment. Getting the rear tire conact patch square to the surface of the track or pavement is mission critical. Negative camber loads the inside shoulder of the rear tire. Breaking loose the inside shoulder is easy and leads to loading and unloading or wheel hop. The more tire we put to the ground the more traction it will have. More traction means more even loading and reduced wheel hop.

We see this across the 5h Gen forum and in other forums. People are more than willing to buy parts to address problems, but tend to be reluctant to pay for alignemnt services. My guesss is becuase you can hold the part in your hand or see it it has more tangable value. I try to remid everyone that no matter how good the parts are, if the car is not well aligned they won't perform as well as they should. Alignments won't solve every problem, but unless we know hat the alignment is we may be buying parts when what was required was an alignemnt.

Just a few words about factory or general alignments. The alignment machine will have a programed in green range, an acceptable range for a given vehicle. An example would be front camber. -.5 to -1.5 is the green range. That means one front tire could be set to -.5 and the other to -1.5 and the lights on the mcahine would be green indicating it is done and good to go. That is completely unnacceptable for a performance driver and a performance vehicle in Pedders opinion. We would want the alignment to be tight to spec. If the LF is -1 we want the RF to be -1. You get the idea. When you take your car in for an alignment you want to be clear to the shop what you expect. You want a print out with the before and after results and you want it to be done to these particular specifications. They may charge you more than the $69.99 alignment special proce becuase it will take more time to get it just so.

[DietCoke]

Curious why you go 0.0 for rear drag camber. For a serious drag car, a few tenths to half degree of positive camber at ride height generally will produce a better result, as the tire will lean in as the suspension squats.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by DietCoke

Curious why you go 0.0 for rear drag camber. For a serious drag car, a few tenths to half degree of positive camber at ride height generally will produce a better result, as the tire will lean in as the suspension squats.

You are correct sir so we go as far as we can because there is insufficient adjustment to get there.

[DietCoke]

That makes more sense then.

[PfadtRacing]

I would look into some sort of solution that reduces or eliminates rear subframe deflection. Here is a video we took from under the car illustrating why it's important to eliminate the subframe from moving around in a performance application.

You can see how this would be a major contributor to wheel hop. Although we manufacture solid mounts, we know through our testing that they do not have an adverse effect on ride quality, and mitigate wheel hop on launches and cornering.