Wheel Hop with aftermarket wheels..

[green94mtx]

On my 94 MTX. I have a set of 17x7.5 40mm offset wheels, with 225/50R17 Continental SportContact2 tires (which are a very stiff tread & sidewall)

It's not like i purposely try to blow my diff doing burnouts all the time, but i get severe wheel hop with these wheels & tires (taking off aggressively around a corner). I have NO wheel hop whatsoever with my slicers and 215/60R16 Falken ziex-ze512s (very soft tread & sidewall).

Wondering if the wheel hop is occurring due to the offset of the wheels or due to the very stiff tires?

I just installed Intraxs/Sensa-Tracs and the wheel hop virtually didn't changed from before and after.

((I accidently posted this in the Performance Upgrades section, but figured i would put it in the correct spot here on the forum.))

 

[zach44102]

No, its the tires, hard tire hard rebound and hop. Soft tire flex's so less hop

 

[green94mtx]

No, its the tires, hard tire hard rebound and hop. Soft tire flex's so less hop

Yeah that's what i thought. Thanks alot.
Whats a good softer tire for overall handling?

 

[RonPorter]

Those Contis have better bite. Your front suspension is soft, so it can't control the better traction.

Same problem with the stock suspension on my '89 with the sticky evo V12s. I won't take it to the strip until the new struts/springs go in.

 

[RonPorter]

Yeah that's what i thought. Thanks alot.
Whats a good softer tire for overall handling?

Those are great tires for overall handling. You WANT stiffer sidewalls for handling.

FWIW, I believe the 2s are near going out of production. I had to do a lot of searching to find a set for my SVT (they were the original factory tires, and I wanted a 215/45/17 set to go on the stock wheels for the future).

 

[green94mtx]

I have new intrax/sensa-tracs and its pretty stiff with -1 coil up front. The tires also skip on corners whenever there is a crack in the road.

 

[shobote]

The bump steer in corners is due to the cut Intrax up front, so you can shim the rack to raise it up and reduce the angle, and it should help.

 

[RonPorter]

I'm also not sure those sensatracs can keep up with cut Intrax.

 

[green94mtx]

The bump steer in corners is due to the cut Intrax up front, so you can shim the rack to raise it up and reduce the angle, and it should help.

It did it with stock suspension/ride height. And the back skips just as much. BEcuase the tread on these tires are so damn hard its ridiculous

 

[RonPorter]

It did it with stock suspension/ride height. And the back skips just as much. BEcuase the tread on these tires are so damn hard its ridiculous

That is NOT a hard tread, that is a relatively sticky summer tire (rated 280 treadware). It was a summer tire that the factories used on various performance cars. My SVT had them, and my buddy's wife, who drives easy, went through them pretty quickly.

The suspension can't keep up with those (excellent) tires. The ONLY strut option on the market today, apart from coilovers, that can keep up with aftermarket springs are the Konis.

The sensatracs are minivan struts. They just "happen" to be a "bit" better than most other stock struts, and they can barely adequately handle stock progressive springs like the Eibachs or the Intrax.

Cut off a coil (or more), and you have produced a linear spring (no longer preogressive) and those sensatracs are way out of their league.

Those tires just uncovered the weakness in your suspension. BTDT when I tried a set of KYB GR2s years ago on a SHO with Eibachs.

 

[K-Dawg]

I don't think the problem is with your tires. It's either because your springs are underdamped, or you have some other problem with the suspension, or both.

Check your swaybar endlinks, and strut rod bushings.

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=56503

 

[green94mtx]

I have no wheel hop at all whatsoever with the falkens on my slicers, which is a much softer tire all around. And my end links are brand new, and i do have subframe connectors. Personally it feels like the entire subframe hops more than the suspension.. Aluminum Subframe Bushings???

 

[K-Dawg]

The tires aren't your problem. They're revealing another problem.

A couple other potential culprits could be subframe bushings and strut mounts. The broken subframe thread I linked above has to do with the strut rod bushing cups being loose in the subframe. Your car almost certainly has that problem.

 

[green94mtx]

Can't those just be welded, if they are loose?

 

[green94mtx]

Nevermind, just saw the thread. Mine don't make any noise and the steering/suspension both feel very tight at all speeds, but i might as well get them welded since i have easy access to a welder!