Wheel Hop
 

Hey guys! I track my car but only for the drag strip, but this last time I went to the track I had some serious wheel hop and I am assuming it is b/c I have all the upgrades on my car now. So it was mentioned to me by a buddy who was talking to a guy that has a 350 and he mentioned that I should look into upgrading my by bushings. Any and all help will be appreciated.

Only had wheel hop once. It was in a 1971 Ford Capri with super thick swaybars and just when I put them in. Never happened again. Maybe the bushings where a little sticky and stuck to the swaybar increasing spring rate. Haven't looked into swaybars for the Z yet but a little graphite in the bushing might do the trick.

There aren't any upgrade kits available from what I've found. What tires are you running? Usually you can get rid of it if you can maximize traction.

Also make sure you pre-load the car when you stage. If there is any slack that can exacerbate any wheel hop issues and the shock to the driveline can result in damage.

I've done some calling around, talked to the guys at Z1 and we went back and forth on a few things but it came down to upgraded bushings. Does anyone know if there are any out yet for our car? I called SPC and they don't have any but they said they will give me a call back once they find something. CZP is doing their research on this as well to help with my situation. Z1 suggested the Kinetix tractions arms or upgrading the toe bolts.

M4a1 Mustang- I have the RE-11s. Would you mind going into detail about pre-loading? I believe you are referring to an auto-x track? I only do dragstrip.

Believe he is talking about riding the brake and gas while staging (as much as brakes will allow) which should eliminate drivetrain slack. Probably pretty tricky in a 6spd. I might be missing the point though.

I'm talking about drag racing. What you want to do is put load on the drivetrain while you are staged so you don't "shock" it when you launch. This is more about keeping stuff from breaking, but as smooth a launch as possible will help with the prevention of wheel hop. It's a little difficult without a line-lock, but I've found the best way to do it is to deep stage and hold the clutch out just to the point where it barely begins to engage.

You just want to avoid rolling up to the staging box and then waiting there. If you've got slack in the drivetrain when you launch, it's going to take up very quickly, shock the rear end, axles, etc, and likely get the rear tires spinning right away. Can kill a launch, or worse it can kill the rear end.

Takes a bit of practice but it should help some. I would send jnaut a PM and see if you could get him to describe to you how he launches his car. He runs RE-11s and has put down the quickest bolt-on 6MT times in the 370 so far.

Matt, you're right. It's easy in most autos (though the 370 won't allow you to have throttle and brake on at the same time unless you pull the ABS fuse) and it's trickier with manuals that don't have some sort of line-lock or staging assist.

I've emailed SPL about the solid diff bushings for the 350Z. The front bushings should fit without a problem but the rear one will take a little bit of elbow grease to get in there since subframe in the 350Z is slightly different. They did mention that they will be releasing a set specific to the 370Z soon.

I do get some wheelhop when launching at the track, it seems to depend on how I modulate the clutch & gas pedal. If you look at my times, I've managed 1.8x and 1.9x 60-ft times at the track consistently. I'm still on the stock RE050 potenzas.

You might want to check your rear diff bushing. Even though our 370Z's are still pretty new, there's still a decent chance that you might have a busted rear diff mount. Nissan decided to fill it with some fluid to soften the ride. If you abuse your car enough, it'll rip open and spill black fluid all over the diff cover.

the diff mount is offset towards the drivers side, you can kinda see the streak of black fluid in this picture:

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1329813_n.jpg

Hey guys just a heads up. SPL just came out with some solid differential bushings, they will be released on Monday. I have ordered mine already through CZP. Something that some of you might want to consider.

Sweet, good to know. Let us know how they turn out.

The 2003 Mustang Cobras had really bad wheel hop issues with their IRS. Bushings fixed the issue completely.

Good find! Not on the CZP site yet, I assume you just called to place the pre-order?

Ya it is not to be released until Monday. I had been talking to Kyle at CZP about my situation and he got back to me with this great find and I was able to put an order in so that way it will ship on Monday. So I guess I'll have the first set!!:tup:

Do you know how much they will cost?

Give Kyle a call at CZP and he will give you a quote, depending where you are and how fast you want it the price will be under 200.