How bad is it in the GTO?

I haven't launched it a lot but have not experienced it yet.
:ph34r: :ph34r:

Ahh I have noticed a few complaining...

I would rather have than trying to drag race this FWD GP.

I have also heard that the new Cadillac CTS-V has a wheel hop.... :unsure:

CTS is real bad I have heard...

Yeah, its a shame that GM cannot get it right the first time.. <_<

I never hear Vette guys complaining of wheel hop...

CTS-V hop is very bad. You cannot break the tires loose w/o slamming the axle into the bottom of the chassis. You feel it in 1st, 2nd and 3rd each to a lesser degree. There is absolutely no way to 'light up' the rears.

Well as far as the wheel hop, mine has calmed down alot since I took the car in for the thunk in the trunk Service bulletin # 04-03-09-003 It all depends on the driver on how much wheel hop you get.

One of the reasons I don't like my SVT Contour (relatively strong FWD car) is because of wheel hop. It's very tricky to launch and smoothly spin "burning rubber" and not : hop, get off gas, take off normally.

Is the GTO just occasionally subject to hop or is this what usually happens on a hard launch? I remember a certain mag pic where the rear end was hidden from a smoky burnout.

If clean burnouts are next to impossible, I may have to re-think this.

Brian

I don't do a lot of smoky burnouts but I've done a few. (OK, OK, maybe more than "a few"...) What I found is that there seems to be an "anti-sweet-spot" were wheelhop is horrendous but that it is largely avoidable with a little care to RPM and rate of clutch release. It's all about harmonic oscillators, you see. Think of the drivetrain and suspension as a bunch of interconnected springs suspended in Jell-o. Shake them in just the right motion and they start jiggling all over the place. This is essentially what any dynamic mechanical system is like - find one of the natural harmonic frequencies and sympathetic vibrations begin to amplify. Strange and destructive things can happen...

Avoid those frequencies and life is good!

A quick fix would be better tires...something wider or softer (although BFGs are usualy soft, I understand the g-forces have a 400 tread wear rating). Bigger/softer = less spin/more grip = less wheelhop.