Ideas on combatting wheel hop?
 

So, I've been brainstorming ways on fixing the amount of wheel hop I suffer during launches. I'm sure other drivers also have the issue, and of course, if I had a bit more driver-mod, I might be able to fare better. But, as far as mechanical solutions go, do you guys have any ideas?

One idea that stuck is doing what the CTS-V does from the factory - they use unequal diameter axles (or halfshafts) in the rear to prevent harmonization of the wheel hop, and it prevents it from happening. Other than Driveshaft Shop, are there any suitable alternatives? Or could even a custom solution be made?

I've even noticed that some front wheel drive cars have rubber weights on one of the drive axles. Is that the same effect?

My buddy swapped out the diff bushings on his G37s with the Whiteline ones, and he mentioned there was a lot less wheel hop. As cheap as those bushings are, I'd start there. Aftermarket axles cost a mint.

Keep that differential planted for starters. Happens with G and Z owners as well. For the 350Z, there were additional bracing that can be added, but I heard those kept snapping off.

this. If you do not care about NVH get SPL.

I'll definitely look into doing differential bushings - I've been meaning to replace them before they blew out. I do take NVH into consideration, so I'll probably end up getting the Whiteline poly bushings. Seems the be a good compromise.

And yeah, my research for different axles all lead me to driveshaft shop, and they want my left kidney for a pair. I'm still curious about that rubber ring I've seen on FWD cars - that must have some effect in changing the dynamic of that particular half shaft. Maybe something like that is doable.

A small one could theoretically be machined out of steel and checked for balance, and then split in half so you could screw it together over the axle, and then with channel locks (sort of like the ones you see on swaybars, they don't have to be big or strong), to keep it from moving back and forth. Of course, this is all theoretical, and assuming that this was the intended design. I'll look into it. It seems like it's something worth trying, since I have access to a machine shop.

Yeah diff bushings, and then spherical bearings on the spindle side of the arms. Subframe bushings would help too. Redesigning the pickup points to reduce antisquat would help too. And the dissimilar axles was first done on the c6 vette. Your idea is idea is sound, if you dont want to clamp weight to an axle, you could have any axle shop like moser copy the center of your hslf shaft(you would have to remove the cv joints and send them the axle in the middle

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Subd..

I would assume swapping all of the bushings in the rear suspension out for sphericals would help just because you're taking any slop out of the rear.

yeah basically since wheel hop is caused when the rear suspension geometry is twisted to shove the power up instead of forward. it's much the same as springwrap on an old leaf spring car, so instead of adding torque arms we add spherical bearings.

So writing a large check to SPL would be a good place to start. Probably still cheaper than a set of Driveshaft Shop axles.

yeah i wouldn't get driveshaft shop axles, I would take one of the factory shafts out, cut the boot clamps, seperate the joints, remove the c clips, slide joints off and you end up with just the center of the axle, send that to ANY axle shop, and they can make you a new one with a larger center diameter, then reverse the process. The most expensive part of the driveshaft shop's axles is the upgraded cv joints, which aren't worth it in my opinion.

If your tires are bouncing like an overinflated basketball, you might want to try reducing tire pressures to decrease the bounce. At the strip with my old FWD turbo Probe and MX6 I found that dropping pressures to 22 psi stopped the bounce.