Traction Fixes
Thread Starter
Cobra Member
Joined: July 27, 2004
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 2
From: Bakersfield, CA
Traction Fixes
Like many of you I have traction issues. Wheel hop and even traction loss on aggressive shifts, not to mention launch. Obviously I could get drag radials, but I don't see that as an option as a daily driver (at least not for me).
Now I am COMPLETELY without knowledge on this issue, but it seems from reading that LCA's are recommended to reduce wheel hop. Does this this aid traction on all fronts. Would Uppers help as well. Further would relocation brackets aid even more.
Keep in mind I'm not really interested in a car that goes only in a straight line, but a car that I can power out of corners effectively as well. I'm not interested in tracking my car in any fashion, but want a well rounded car which launches more aggressively and handles well.
Open the flood gates to informed intelligent opinions and a couple of those other ones. Thanks in advance.
Now I am COMPLETELY without knowledge on this issue, but it seems from reading that LCA's are recommended to reduce wheel hop. Does this this aid traction on all fronts. Would Uppers help as well. Further would relocation brackets aid even more.
Keep in mind I'm not really interested in a car that goes only in a straight line, but a car that I can power out of corners effectively as well. I'm not interested in tracking my car in any fashion, but want a well rounded car which launches more aggressively and handles well.
Open the flood gates to informed intelligent opinions and a couple of those other ones. Thanks in advance.
Bullitt Member
Joined: July 27, 2012
Posts: 304
Likes: 6
From: Perkasie, PA
A lot of people are liking the Roush upper to fix wheel hop with little to no NVH increase. I DD my car, so to me that's a big selling point.
There seems to be a lot of mis-information on this topic, some will swear you must do LCAs+UCA. Others say the UCA is really where the slop is at, so it's only worth replacing that. Might want to start with the UCA and see if you're happy with the results. If not you can still do LCAs and/or relocation brackets.
There seems to be a lot of mis-information on this topic, some will swear you must do LCAs+UCA. Others say the UCA is really where the slop is at, so it's only worth replacing that. Might want to start with the UCA and see if you're happy with the results. If not you can still do LCAs and/or relocation brackets.
Bullitt Member
Joined: December 11, 2012
Posts: 482
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From: N'awlins/SoCal
I've been researching this in anticipation of my 2014 GT/TP arriving next month. From what I've seen, lowering the car can eliminate this attribute. I'll be putting Steeda/Koni Sports and an adj PB on my car asap. If I exp wheel hop, I'll dive into control arms.
Thread Starter
Cobra Member
Joined: July 27, 2004
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 2
From: Bakersfield, CA
I'm getting tons of good advice on specifically WHEEL HOP. Appreciated! However I want to go farther to significant traction improvement. It seems obvious that getting your tires to stay on the ground would absolutely improve traction, but are there other improvements which will give notably better traction.
I was kind of thinking of not lowering my car as my 2005 stang was lowered and I ended up purchasing 3 chin spoilers as speed bumps and driveways were not built with chin spoilers on lowered mustangs in mind. I guess I could just keep my foot off the long skinny pedal on the right. Or, at the very least be judicious with it's application. It sure seems unlikely, but I guess I could.
I was kind of thinking of not lowering my car as my 2005 stang was lowered and I ended up purchasing 3 chin spoilers as speed bumps and driveways were not built with chin spoilers on lowered mustangs in mind. I guess I could just keep my foot off the long skinny pedal on the right. Or, at the very least be judicious with it's application. It sure seems unlikely, but I guess I could.
Bullitt Member
Joined: December 11, 2012
Posts: 482
Likes: 0
From: N'awlins/SoCal
Hey, brother.
Your traction woes may be attributed to rear suspension geometry or weight transfer issues. I have read that people have used upgraded control arms to help reduce wheelspin. I've also read that if you are under tired or over sprung/damped in the rear, weight transfer can be inhibited from a dig.
Your traction woes may be attributed to rear suspension geometry or weight transfer issues. I have read that people have used upgraded control arms to help reduce wheelspin. I've also read that if you are under tired or over sprung/damped in the rear, weight transfer can be inhibited from a dig.
I'm getting tons of good advice on specifically WHEEL HOP. Appreciated! However I want to go farther to significant traction improvement. It seems obvious that getting your tires to stay on the ground would absolutely improve traction, but are there other improvements which will give notably better traction.
I was kind of thinking of not lowering my car as my 2005 stang was lowered and I ended up purchasing 3 chin spoilers as speed bumps and driveways were not built with chin spoilers on lowered mustangs in mind. I guess I could just keep my foot off the long skinny pedal on the right. Or, at the very least be judicious with it's application. It sure seems unlikely, but I guess I could.
I was kind of thinking of not lowering my car as my 2005 stang was lowered and I ended up purchasing 3 chin spoilers as speed bumps and driveways were not built with chin spoilers on lowered mustangs in mind. I guess I could just keep my foot off the long skinny pedal on the right. Or, at the very least be judicious with it's application. It sure seems unlikely, but I guess I could.
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Joined: February 18, 2011
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From: South Carolina
Originally Posted by fdesalvo
Yah, but I think his problem is with wheelspin, not hop.
Banned
Joined: July 4, 2012
Posts: 2,982
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From: Washington, DC
some of ya'll must constantly beat the **** out of your cars. It's raining today. It's 41 degrees outside, and I'm on my summer only tires.. No traction issues. I'm also driving reasonably.
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Bullitt Member
Joined: December 11, 2012
Posts: 482
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From: N'awlins/SoCal
Almsot forgot - OP:
"LCA Angle. There has been a lot of discussion about how adjustable LCAs let you change your pinion angle. But what about LCA relocation brackets? What do they do? LCA brackets attach to your rear axle, at the rearmost end of the LCA. They have multiple different bolt holes that you can choose between, allowing you to choose what the angle of your LCAs is.
The LCA angle is important because of what the LCAs do. The main job of the LCA is to transfer the force from your rear axle to the body of the car. They are literally what pushes your car forward when you accelerate. (The UCA contributes too, but to a lesser extent). The LCAs have a pivot at each end. This means that they cannot apply a torque or "twisting" force. They can only apply force in a straight line, along their length. You could not, for example, use an LCA as a wrench. But you could push against something with it.
When an 05+ Mustang rolls out the door at Ford's plant, the car is configured so the LCAs are basically parallel with the ground. They are horizontal. Thus, when the axle starts to push forward, the LCAs push along their length--horizontal--and they push the car straight forward. Makes sense, right?
So what happens if you change this angle? The most common case of this is if the car is lowered. When you lower the car you lower the car's body. But, the rear axle stays put. This has the effect of lowering the front of the LCA. Instead of being horizontal, the LCAs are now lower in the front and higher in the rear. When you accelerate, the LCAs push in a straight line, just as they always do. But now the straight line is angled downwards at the body connection of the LCA. This means that MOST of the force from the wheels is still pointing forward, but a portion of it is actively pushing the body of the car down towards the ground. Newton taught us that every action has an equal an opposite reaction. And it's this reaction that's bad. The reaction to the body being pressed down, is that the rear axle is being pressed UP. This force actively lifts the tires off the pavement....as if you had a big helium balloon tied to your axle. The harder you accelerate, the more your axle gets lifted up...and that costs you traction. A car that is lowered without LCA relocation brackets has LESS traction under acceleration than a stock-height car because of this! The angled LCA also causes a rougher ride.
How can we fix that? LCA relocation brackets let you change the position of the rearmost end of the LCA. By switching them to a lower mounting position, we can restore the OEM horizontal configuration on a lowered car. That means you can have your car lowered, but without suffering the ill effects I just described.
But we can also change things to our advantage. If we lower the rear end of the LCA even more, so now it's lower in the rear than at the front, we get a similar situation to what I described above...but backwards. Now, the force from the rear axle is pushing up on the body. The reaction force pushes DOWN on the axle, planting it to the pavement. In this case the harder you accelerate, the more the tires are pressed onto the road...providing more traction. This is excellent for drag racing, and this kind of adjustment is key on all successful drag race vehicles. This is why all serious drag race cars run a multi-link rear suspension or ladder bars (if the rules allow it), because it enables better traction at launch.
Thus, using LCA relocation brackets lets you correct your LCA angle if you lower the car. They also give you the option of running an even more aggressive setting (lowered or not) which will enhance your traction at launch.
Note that running the LCA at an angle (any angle, good or bad) will result in slightly ride harshness on rough roads."
Taken from: http://www.cherod.com/mustang/HowTo/LCA%20_adj.htm
Also a caveat for extreme settings of the LCA - apparently the steeper the angle towards greater traction, the more pronounced the nosediving will be.
"Many vendors sell a rear control arm relocation kit. Most of the kits have different mounting points to change the geometry of the rear control arms. For example, when taking your car to the track, you can change the rear control arm angle to allow the tires to plant harder. The tradeoff is that the car will have a much more pronounced nosedive when braking. This is not usually an issue at a drag strip, but the suspension setup can easily be changed to have more balanced handling while driving during the week."
"LCA Angle. There has been a lot of discussion about how adjustable LCAs let you change your pinion angle. But what about LCA relocation brackets? What do they do? LCA brackets attach to your rear axle, at the rearmost end of the LCA. They have multiple different bolt holes that you can choose between, allowing you to choose what the angle of your LCAs is.
The LCA angle is important because of what the LCAs do. The main job of the LCA is to transfer the force from your rear axle to the body of the car. They are literally what pushes your car forward when you accelerate. (The UCA contributes too, but to a lesser extent). The LCAs have a pivot at each end. This means that they cannot apply a torque or "twisting" force. They can only apply force in a straight line, along their length. You could not, for example, use an LCA as a wrench. But you could push against something with it.
When an 05+ Mustang rolls out the door at Ford's plant, the car is configured so the LCAs are basically parallel with the ground. They are horizontal. Thus, when the axle starts to push forward, the LCAs push along their length--horizontal--and they push the car straight forward. Makes sense, right?
So what happens if you change this angle? The most common case of this is if the car is lowered. When you lower the car you lower the car's body. But, the rear axle stays put. This has the effect of lowering the front of the LCA. Instead of being horizontal, the LCAs are now lower in the front and higher in the rear. When you accelerate, the LCAs push in a straight line, just as they always do. But now the straight line is angled downwards at the body connection of the LCA. This means that MOST of the force from the wheels is still pointing forward, but a portion of it is actively pushing the body of the car down towards the ground. Newton taught us that every action has an equal an opposite reaction. And it's this reaction that's bad. The reaction to the body being pressed down, is that the rear axle is being pressed UP. This force actively lifts the tires off the pavement....as if you had a big helium balloon tied to your axle. The harder you accelerate, the more your axle gets lifted up...and that costs you traction. A car that is lowered without LCA relocation brackets has LESS traction under acceleration than a stock-height car because of this! The angled LCA also causes a rougher ride.
How can we fix that? LCA relocation brackets let you change the position of the rearmost end of the LCA. By switching them to a lower mounting position, we can restore the OEM horizontal configuration on a lowered car. That means you can have your car lowered, but without suffering the ill effects I just described.
But we can also change things to our advantage. If we lower the rear end of the LCA even more, so now it's lower in the rear than at the front, we get a similar situation to what I described above...but backwards. Now, the force from the rear axle is pushing up on the body. The reaction force pushes DOWN on the axle, planting it to the pavement. In this case the harder you accelerate, the more the tires are pressed onto the road...providing more traction. This is excellent for drag racing, and this kind of adjustment is key on all successful drag race vehicles. This is why all serious drag race cars run a multi-link rear suspension or ladder bars (if the rules allow it), because it enables better traction at launch.
Thus, using LCA relocation brackets lets you correct your LCA angle if you lower the car. They also give you the option of running an even more aggressive setting (lowered or not) which will enhance your traction at launch.
Note that running the LCA at an angle (any angle, good or bad) will result in slightly ride harshness on rough roads."
Taken from: http://www.cherod.com/mustang/HowTo/LCA%20_adj.htm
Also a caveat for extreme settings of the LCA - apparently the steeper the angle towards greater traction, the more pronounced the nosediving will be.
"Many vendors sell a rear control arm relocation kit. Most of the kits have different mounting points to change the geometry of the rear control arms. For example, when taking your car to the track, you can change the rear control arm angle to allow the tires to plant harder. The tradeoff is that the car will have a much more pronounced nosedive when braking. This is not usually an issue at a drag strip, but the suspension setup can easily be changed to have more balanced handling while driving during the week."
Last edited by fdesalvo; Jan 16, 2013 at 04:20 PM.
