I am looking to see if anyone has found a simple, yet effective way of solving the traction problem in the rear of the 04 GTO. As I'm sure all of us have experienced, excessive wheel hop causes serious banging against the suspension stops in the rear, even when hitting second and third hard, it hits hard when trying to bite.

The clunk in the rear, that is a free fix at the dealer. they replace some bushings and you'll be fine.

We need to get some M6 guy's to give you better tips on launching. you might ask desertgoat. I believe he has an M6

My A4 does not wheel hop even under brake torqueing.

The hopping, in my limited experience, is really a problem in a fairly narrow RPM range - a bit higher or lower and hopping is minimal, even with stock rubber. So, depending on whether you want lots of smoke or want to draw minimal attention, you can either engage wound a little tighter or roll off the line and then nail it. In just playing around, I find easing off the line turning around 2.5k and then squeezing after the clutch is out gives me a nearly spin-free but rather quick stop-light launch.

Thanks for the advice. I have gotten the launch down pretty well, it is when hard shifting to 2nd and 3rd that gets real noisy. If the dealer has a mod that fixes the problem, why not do it?

The fix for the thunk-in-the-trunk definitely firms up the diff - only takes a few minutes of "tech-time" at the dealership, too. Dealership here started doing them preemptively as soon as they saw how quick and painless it was so the new GTOs hitting the streets in Wilmington (five on the lot right now) have the new bushings in place already.

HEY! I'm originally from the Wilmington area...up in SE Ohio now though...far as the wheel hop is concerned...it is the nature of the beast with this type of IRS setup. Mine is a M6...I have no fear of driving it as hard as it can be driven...when I get in a situation where it wheel hops bad, I simply let off the throttle briefly and then jump back in it with both feet. So far, haven't broken anything. If it does...it's under warranty. LOL!!!

P.S. I didn't buy this car to drag race it...I assume this where you all are having your most significant wheel hopping problems. I have heard that there ARE live axle bolt-ins already available for the GTO that eliminate ALL wheel hop.

Originally posted by mechanic58@Feb 12 2005, 07:20 PM
HEY! I'm originally from the Wilmington area...up in SE Ohio now though...far as the wheel hop is concerned...it is the nature of the beast with this type of IRS setup. Mine is a M6...I have no fear of driving it as hard as it can be driven...when I get in a situation where it wheel hops bad, I simply let off the throttle briefly and then jump back in it with both feet. So far, haven't broken anything. If it does...it's under warranty. LOL!!!

P.S. I didn't buy this car to drag race it...I assume this where you all are having your most significant wheel hopping problems. I have heard that there ARE live axle bolt-ins already available for the GTO that eliminate ALL wheel hop.
You may want to double check those, the IRS on the GTO is made for handling and overall good suspension, dropping in a live axle would kill some of your cornering ability without relieving that many problems. Wheel hop is nothing that cant be solved with some sticky tires.