Wheel hop. Whats the cause?

[Addicted2M]

Wheel hop caused by the driver not the car.... no one pointed out the obvious never a problem here

[1MOREMOD]

your full of it purposefully overpower the rears in the wet and it bangs like all hell.

[asw19]

Originally Posted by chriszeh

your full of it purposefully overpower the rears in the wet and it bangs like all hell.

Perfect description. Annoying and other cars dont do it....will check tire pressure but I doubt thats the cause.

I assumed there was a simple solution to this but no one seems to have an answer. And no it's not driver error, I'm launching at different RPM's and do the same slides in my E46.

[J08M3]

This car does get a lot of wheel hop in comparison to many other cars. It is caused by the gaining and losing of traction rapidly. Not sure why this car experiences it more than some other cars do. It seems cars with independent rear suspensions get if far more than solid axles or older muscle cars that are really setup for drag racing.

[FVM3]

Originally Posted by Krozi

Just give it more gas like a man and it'll smooth out past 5000-6000rpm.

[LateBraking]

Originally Posted by NJBMWM3

If you have never ever done that then you are not fully enjoying your M3 or any performance related car.

I haven't done this in the M (in my Camry with it's shitty tires, sure), but I'm fairly certain that I fully enjoy my M3 in other ways that don't involve driving like the elderly.

My only true worry regarding this thread is that the OP is making comments that make it seem as if he commonly slides his car sideways on public roads and not in a controlled setting....I understand that he takes a precursory look before drifting around these corners and such, but really, it only takes one guy on a motorcycle or one pedestrial to ruin your day. Also, being in second and third gear and sliding around means that you'd definitely be going fast enough to ruin your day. I mention this because an acquaintance of mine slid his M3 around a corner while practicing drifting in second/third gear in a residential, lost it, and hit the sidewalk. About a grand in suspension damage.

Just be careful....

Originally Posted by asw19

Houston but dont worry ... Although I like to get it very sideways, I only do it if there are no cars and typically pretty low speed stuff...2nd gear, occasionaly 3rd on a perfect turn near the office.

And regarding the post that if I'm getting wheel hop cause I'm doing it wrong...I'm all ears...is there some other way to do it? I never had the issue in previous cars.

And to clarify, its not wheel hop when sideways, its wheel hop anytime the rears spin...straight ahead acceleration with dsc off in the wet....Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang....sounds terrible, feels damaging. Trying to avoid it for now but doesnt seem right.

Originally Posted by asw19

Because learning to control a good slide in my opinion is an art. Lots of fun when done properly and when you can make a full 90 degree turn sideways while staying in control...and in your lane etc..

[rttn]

i know this is a really old conversation, but if anyone still cares, GM fixed this problem in the corvette and second gen cts-v by giving the cars asymmetric half axles. the problem is that the harmonics created by the suspension and drivetrain combined build up constructive interference since both sides load up equally and then release their energy equally. a lot of guys with 1st gen cts-v's have bought asymmetric axle kits and that has solved the problem for them. from a layman's perspective, it works because the side with the stronger axle will break traction first and will therefore not load up the same as the other side. this means you don't get a standing wave like you do with the symmetric system. so any of you guys wanting to fix the wheel hop issue should look into getting asymmetric half axles. that said, every mechanical system has a natural frequency. that means you have to choose the axle diameters carefully. they should be significantly different thicknesses, and their natural frequencies should be such that they don't have constructive interference at any expected loading.

[///M Power-Belgium]

It's all about traction...
Wheel hop is created by traction loss !
PSS tires will give you traction even in the wet => no wheel hop because traction with PSS !

[Devant]

You can almost eliminate wheel hop with solid subframe bushings.

The cause is the rubber bushings which flex under power.

[rttn]

it's true that harder bushings help a lot. it's because they take some of the energy absorption out of the system and thereby change the natural frequency of the system. the traction gain/loss cycle is part of the effects of the bounce caused by the cyclic loading and unloading at the natural frequency of the system (i said interference issue earlier, but my engineer friends would mock me for talking backwards if i ever said that to them in person). harder or softer tires will also change the natural frequency of the system. a more decoupled solution is asymmetric half axles.

[SenorFunkyPants]

In my DCT car on PSS in the dry I avoid wheel hop by getting rolling then jamming the pedal to the floor, you can get some pretty decent power slides on if you aren't pointing in a straight line (in Euro MDM). In the wet its far more difficult to avoid wheel hop.

[808@702]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

the tires are too wet. As we all know, oil and water don't mix. To keep the tires from getting wet, simply oil them down thoroughly before driving in the rain. The oil will repel the water and you will eliminate wheel hop.

[BPMSport]

Solid subframe bushings did the trick for me

[ZEEM3R]

Originally Posted by heart_doctor

It's from coronary artery disease, you need a stent in your LAD ....

As a third year medical student, I find this funny haha

[Scharbag]

Bringing this one back from the dead.

I also get wheel hop - especially in the rain. I am running 275 PS4S tires. Typically the grip is just awesome but sometimes I will get into the loud pedal a little too deep and get some hop in first gear.

After reading this, the culprit seems to be the soft bushings. Which bushings would be best to change to solve this? And what kind of material is best to keep the car from becoming too harsh?

Cheers,

[pbonsalb]

Stiffer subframe and diff bushings will help. Stiff subframe bushings won’t affect NVH but stiffer diff bushings will result in diff whine, which can be obnoxious.

You probably won’t be able to stop it, though. Hooking up with a higher powered RWD car is an art. It may be due to bushing movement, insufficient shocks or springs, stiff sidewalls, traction of road surface, etc.

It’s basically a loss of traction. If you have lost traction, there has no point in continuing to try to accelerate. Drag racers do burnouts but they are using slicks or R compound tires with a little water, with optimized suspensions, on a sticky surface. You don’t have that.

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Stiffer subframe and diff bushings will help. Stiff subframe bushings won’t affect NVH but stiffer diff bushings will result in diff whine, which can be obnoxious.

You probably won’t be able to stop it, though. Hooking up with a higher powered RWD car is an art. It may be due to bushing movement, insufficient shocks or springs, stiff sidewalls, traction of road surface, etc.

It’s basically a loss of traction. If you have lost traction, there has no point in continuing to try to accelerate. Drag racers do burnouts but they are using slicks or R compound tires with a little water, with optimized suspensions, on a sticky surface. You don’t have that.

I do try not to spin, just been really rainy here and I guess I just need to lighten up on the skinny pedal at times.

The grip of these damn PS4S tires is just awesome, so it is easy to get cocky.

Cheers,

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Scharbag

Bringing this one back from the dead.

I also get wheel hop - especially in the rain. I am running 275 PS4S tires. Typically the grip is just awesome but sometimes I will get into the loud pedal a little too deep and get some hop in first gear.

After reading this, the culprit seems to be the soft bushings. Which bushings would be best to change to solve this? And what kind of material is best to keep the car from becoming too harsh?

Cheers,

Solid subframe bushings. Maybe also stiffer diff bushings.

[Bartledoo]

I still get some wheel hop with solid subframe bushings, purple powerflex diff bushings, and kw clubsport coilovers when the tires are cold in both dry and wet. This is with RS4 tires on the street [that had a lot of heat cycles last year before being demoted to street and wet only use] though. With a more temperature appropriate tire it would most likely be reduced.

[JetBlack_M3]

I also get wheel hop as well. I believe it could be due to cold temperatures and hard tires. I dropped my tire psi to 30 and seemed to help a bit. I am replacing my diff bushings with oem ones to maintain the comfortable ride

[Scythe17]

I will say this, I had wheel hop in my 2010 M3 convertible (6 Speed Manual)... I didn't lift cause I'm an idiot and never knew that it would end as bad as it did BUT I accept the consequences. I broke my right rear axle and CV boot $$$, Diff cover casting snapped $$, Parking Brake cable snapped, And the rear half of my drive shaft got destroyed $$$. Word of advice ~$3000 in repairs later (my uncle owns a shop and this was more than likely $5000-6000 worth of work) DO NOT KEEP GOING IF THAT B*$!# STARTS HOPPING. You have been warned. This sucked big time. And she's back in the shop now and I fear that the internals of the diff are shot because going around sharp corners in gear (even going in and out of parking spots) results in a harsh deep grinding noise...

[pbonsalb]

That is the main reason I installed stiffer diff bushings. Don’t want to break a diff bolt and cause much greater damage.