Ponywars

Has anyone out there come across LCA,s that actually ELIMINATE!!!!!!, not reduce wheel hop without any squeaking? I,ve read a **** load of posts who swear that there LCA got rid of 100% of there wheel hop,and others with the same car and arms that say it just helped to reduce it a little.I hear the UCA,s do a better job but theres a lot of vibration.I,m looking from an answer from someone who has done the mods, not someone who read up on it as i have.Can you have your cake and eat it to when it comes to eliminating wheel hop without any NVH?

NTXRockr

My car specifically does not have that much wheel hop - either on the street or the track - but more often wheel spin instead. It usually varies but when I'm heavier in the rear (stuff in the trunk or full tank of gas, etc) it does neither and hooks up like crazy. When I'm really light and on crappy surfaces is the only time I've seen any hop, and it's manageable. At the track I've played with tire pressures, burnout intensity and launch control, and found that I can get good launches with ZERO wheel hop and almost no tire spin (on stock Pirellis). However, it varies between a bad 1.9 60' time to horrible 2.1s so I'm installing the FRPP LCA's later this week to see how much it'll help out of the dig. Supposedly people are seeing 1.65-1.8 60' times with the LCA swaps, but again it's more about technique than anything else but LCA's will make good technique better. If I get out of whack on a run I literally could spin the entire 1/8 mile (i.e. too soft of a burnout) or hop for 300' (too hard of a burnout) so driver error/skill to me makes all of the difference. I'll let you know how my install and track TnT goes this Friday, hopefully it'll be good news.

Ponywars

Thanks,looking forward to it.

Mirad_GT12

Yes i do think proper technique can reduce or eliminate wheel hop. I'm no expert having only gone to the strip twice, but each time i have improved and reduced wheel hop. I still need to practice launches and i'm looking for good rear LCAs to be my next mod. So far i have not read anywhere of a clear and definite brand for better LCAs. I'm leaning towards Hotchkis or Steeda though.

SteedaBrandon

Wheel hop is not a one size fits all situation and can be approached in different ways to be resolved.

Depending on your horsepower level and how you drive you car, you may get wheel hop or you might not.

The most common cause of wheel hop is typically the deflection that occurs from soft bushings and flexing of the trailing arms themselves. However some of you have reported just doing springs and having wheel hop go away. The reason for that is the change in geometry that occurs when you lower the car.

In simple terms, lowering the car changes your rear suspension geometry and reduces weight transfer. If you have stock control arms and you are reducing weight transfer you are reducing the loads on the suspension that produce the suspension deflection associated with wheel hop, hence wheel hop tends to go away.

However the underlying cause is really the rear trailing arms and their soft bushings. Whenever I get a customer on the phone trying to resolve a wheel hop issue I immediately suggest a set of rear lower arms. For most people this alone will take care of 90 to 100% of their wheel hop issues.

Higher horsepower and aggressive driving styles can still leave room for some wheel hop if you still have the stock upper 3rd link and bushings. Replacing the upper 3rd link after the lowers are done or doing both at the same time will eliminate wheel hop completely at any power level for a street car on street tires/drag radials. If you regularly drive on slicks you will have to compromise on your bushing choice and move away from full urethane to a urethane/spherical bushing combination if you want longevity. Bushing failure can become an issue with slicks/high rpm launches and you will also introduce significant NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) into the vehicle.

Now concerning NVH, that is also a common issue that makes customers hesistant to change their arms and simply live with the wheel hop. There are several sources of noises that can come up from a rear control arm swap. Most are driveline related.

The most common driveline related noises are rear end noise in the form of whines and groans, or actual driveline clunks. Ford allows for a pretty wide production variance in rear end setup knowing the stock control arms will do good job of soaking up any noise if the rear end is slightly out of spec. Put a set of control arms on and if you have a car with a gearset on the outer edge of setup you may hear a gear whine or groaning that wasnt there before.

The other noise you get in an actual driveline clunking. Usually occuring during low speed driving where you are engaging and disengaging the clutch, but also can occur during shifting at speed. This noise is driveshaft related.

The rear shaft where it connects to the rear end does not use a U-joint, it uses a rotating coupling. If you were to take the driveshaft and disconnect it from the car, then put your hand on the rear joint and try to rotate it by hand, you would be able to feel the slop that is there with your hand alone. That is the cause of the noise.

To solve this issue I don't recommend taking a step backwards and installing the stock arms back into the car, but to actually replace the driveshaft with a 1 piece unit.

A 1 piece shaft will typically get rid of 85 to 95% of those noises, plus its worth 20+lbs of weight reduction and will improve acceleration times by 2 tenths of a second through the 1/4 mile. Any remaining noise will depend on how tight the rear end was set up from the factory. It makes a huge difference and I had customers call me back just to tell me how the driveshaft made their car feel better than new with all the noises gone.

Speaking for our trailing arms specifically, we have both our chrome moly alloy steel arms and billet trailing arms. Both use similar bushing packages and we claim that both will not increase NVH when installed in the vehicle.

However we also have our billet rear trailing arms. The billet aluminum construction vs chrome moly alloy steel has a significant advantage when in comes to NVH control. Best way I can describe it is the aluminum acts like a tuning fork and helps soak up the frequencies that produce NVH.

Our billet aluminum arms despite their urethane bushing package are the closest to O.E. when it comes to being quiet and noise free. You may still get the drivetrain clunk I mentioned above with any aftermarket control arm including ours, but gear whine/groan should be virtually non-existent on our billet trailing arms unless you have some serious issues inside the rear end.

We do not recommend using relocation brackets on a car at stock ride height. We only recommend them on lowered vehicles. Too much relocation and you can introduce control issues under hard braking. Specifially, wheel hop under braking.

So if you want to control wheel hop and are afraid of noise, our billet arms are your best bet for near O.E smoothness and quiet operation. Just also be aware of the drivetrain clunks that could occur as mentioned earlier and the driveshaft solution. I know that may be out of budget for some, but if you can save up and do it right, you will be rewarded with a noise free vehicle that accelerates harder and is more responsive as well making your vehicle a joy to drive hard and a pleasure to just cruise around in.

Ponywars

Thank you very much Brandon!!!!! i will DEFINETELY take your advice,and i will make my purchase with STEEDA also.

t-fatty

I have the Steeda billet 555-4406 with the spherical bearing and it's a little noisy but zero wheel hop. They look all business, people notice these more than i thought they would.


Edit: I also have BMR lower control arm relocation brackets because i lowered it too [Steeda sports], you need these to maintain proper lca angle.

Ponywars

Did some research on the Steeda driveshaft.This is something i am seriously thinking about when i have the funds.I,ll do this mod before i even think about a tune.

SteedaBrandon

Not a problem, thanks! Let me know if I can help you with anything.

unas2k5

I have Steeda LCA. THEY'RE PERFECT.

Resolution78

Relocation brackets and lcas together took care of alllllll my wheel hopp ..... I use UPR stuff and BMR relocation brackets

Ponywars

unas2k5 what steeda lca,s are you using?