Guys, I was just wondering if wheel hop is a sign that your tires are ready to go, or if its really cold is that just normal. My tires still look pretty good, but today in the morning, I took off pretty hard from and light and had some bad wheel hop. Is it just pretty much the temperature or could it be something else.
It might be the temp. I have noticed that too when its cold and I just started driving. I also just got 19" CCWs. I never got any hop on my stock 18s. But then again it was warm then too.
Originally posted by z06_23_45 ... I took off pretty hard from and light and had some bad wheel hop. Is it just pretty much the temperature or could it be something else.
Nothing wrong with your car.
Wheel hop occurs when you overpower available traction and the wheels begin to spin and grab alternately. A very unpleasant feeling. It can occur with new tires too, so tread depth is not a significant factor.
It's easy to overpower traction, especially in cold weather or on tires that are not yet up to operating temperature.
Just need to be particularly judicious with the throttle on launch and the shifts.
It's the temperature of the road/tires. I've got 1900 miles on my Z, so the tires have virtually no wear. I got the car in October during mild Fall weather and almost never got any wheel hop under very hard acceleration. Yesterday, with outside temps below freezing, I got significant wheel hop with cold tires on very cold asphalt. As the tires warmed up, the hop was significantly reduced - but still there to some degree.
It's the temperature of the road/tires. I've got 1900 miles on my Z, so the tires have virtually no wear. I got the car in October during mild Fall weather and almost never got any wheel hop under very hard acceleration. Yesterday, with outside temps below freezing, I got significant wheel hop with cold tires on very cold asphalt. As the tires warmed up, the hop was significantly reduced - but still there to some degree.
It's funny........but I only have whel hop when the temp is below freezing. I think the tires are afraid to stay on the cold roads! Someone once posted that a change of shocks and bushings (poly) will stop wheel hop. For me.....I just won't pull holeshots in teh Winter time!
I had wheel hop on my T/A, fixed it with a pan-hard rod and poly bushings. Had it TERRIBLE on the Z06, fixed it with poly u bushings as well. Some cars have little or no wheel hop, others have it bad - I was the latter. You might also try to have the alignment checked. Track/road conditions will cause more or less wheel hop.
Les
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Originally posted by Ranger Wheel hop occurs when you overpower available traction and the wheels begin to spin and grab alternately.
Not so!
In a properly functioning system, when you overpower available traction, the wheel spins, it doesn't hop. If it did, you wouldn't be able to do burnouts!
The tire/suspension system (which is basically a dampened spring) wants to "resonates" at a specific frequency (it's "fundamental"). It's *exactly* like bouncing a basketball, only the rotation of the tire provides the "bounce" energy, instead of your hand. Just like a basketball bounces at different rates depending on how hard you hit it and how close your hand is to the ground, but only if you hit it "just" right, a suspension will also hop if you hit it with the "right" excitation.
Bottom line, a tire hops because it's being subjected to forces that cause it to bounce. In a properly designed/functioning system, you shouldn't be *able* to get that to happen. If your suspension is hopping, something isn't right (with the exception being TC, which can contribute because it changes the dynamics of the system in a way that makes it more prone to hop).
Thanks for the info, but personally Ranger's explanation seemed to work in my case. After I went out on the road for a while and the tires got up to temp., I did a hard launch and no hop, just some spin.
In a properly functioning system, when you overpower available traction, the wheel spins, it doesn't hop. If it did, you wouldn't be able to do burnouts!....
Thanks for your view of the "why" of wheel hop.
But I stand by my suggestion that wheel hop on a Z06 is largely driver induced and can be easily avoided by exercising care to not overpower available traction. This applies to cold weather and cold tires and to circumstances when it's warm out.
At the dragstip on stock tires, I can induce wheel hop easily at will, just by too aggressive a launch or banging 1-2 or 2-3 and not lifting much. When that happens, I don't blame the Corvette Engineering Team. Instead I try to figure out what I can do to keep that from happening again.
Modding the suspension or visiting the dealer to pursue some mechanical correction are alternatives.
But the path that has worked for me, and for countless other Z06 owners, is to recognize the characterics and behavior of the car and then to find methods for extracting its maximum performance without changing its rather marvelous engineering design.
In a properly functioning system, when you overpower available traction, the wheel spins, it doesn't hop. If it did, you wouldn't be able to do burnouts!
The tire/suspension system (which is basically a dampened spring) wants to "resonates" at a specific frequency (it's "fundamental"). It's *exactly* like bouncing a basketball, only the rotation of the tire provides the "bounce" energy, instead of your hand. Just like a basketball bounces at different rates depending on how hard you hit it and how close your hand is to the ground, but only if you hit it "just" right, a suspension will also hop if you hit it with the "right" excitation.
Bottom line, a tire hops because it's being subjected to forces that cause it to bounce. In a properly designed/functioning system, you shouldn't be *able* to get that to happen. If your suspension is hopping, something isn't right (with the exception being TC, which can contribute because it changes the dynamics of the system in a way that makes it more prone to hop).
Wish I had the scientific knowlege you do. But a properly functioning nonadjustable system, is tuned in a defined range. So if you have COLD shocks, the dampaning rate is affected, same with the tire.(realy a spring in this example) So you can "fix" it within reason, with driver technique; or matching tire pressure with a good double adjustable shock, if it's not within driver technique range. Hop is when the tire bounces, so decressing the tire pressure, and/or increesing the rebound of the shock is the 'hot' ticket to try. Ric
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Nothings wrong w/ your car. When it's cold mine hops like a raped rabbit, even worse on concrete. When it warm and on asphalt it hooks and goes w/ some spinning on the shifts!
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Someone once posted that a change of shocks and bushings (poly) will stop wheel hop. For me.....I just won't pull holeshots in teh Winter time! 
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