I had a couple questions about shifting when you're about to do a 1/4. Well I recently launched my car from 5-6k and it wheel hopped and once it calmed down my tranny was completely destroyed... I had a cracked housing and gears and synchors were damaged. So now I have a whole brand new tranny and I would want to know exactly HOW TO launch and speed shift so the tranny won't get damaged again. I heard about side stepping the clutch and feathering, if someone can go into more detail about these it will be really appreciated. Cuz I think next time mazda gets my car in for a destroyed tranny they will certainly think it was abuse, I was lucky they didn't think that the first time.

 

between 4-5, and feathering means to slightly let off where you're not 'popping' your clutch, but not burning it either..

below 4 and you will 'bog' down.

yes, you are lucky to have gotten a new tranny. but why are you doing 1/4 anyways? it's the slowest 14 seconds ever! hah.

g/l with launching. and don't forget to turn off dsc!

 

How long did your car wheel hop for before you let off the gas?

 

1/4 with these things suck, I've been 1/4 tracking the last couple weeks, besides the fact that i'm tracking with 19s on.

 

I would have to say it was 3-5 seconds of EXTREME harsh wheel hopping. I won't EVER do that again! But does anyone know of something to help reduce wheel hop? I am buying new higher gripping tires so i know wheel hop is going to be more extreme so I was thinking maybe engine dampers would help. But that's only because i have seen a cobalt ss with wheel hop and it got fixed from engine dampers.

 

My good friend owns a Cobalt SS that he's setting up for STX. What works for that car won't necessarily work for the RX-8. I've been told by a couple different sources, that koni dampers 'reduce' wheel hop in the RX-8. The stock shocks are under damped for the car and exasterbate the problem.

Also, try talking to a few guys with STU RX-8's, sometimes switching to stiffer chassis/subframe bushings can help as well.

 

You're referring to a FWD vehicle. Does not apply to the 8.
Work on your footwork launch technique and experiment with differet tire pressure before buying parts.

 

Holy crap man. Yah, if you even get a hint of wheel hop, back out and let off completely. It's not worth it, obviously! It's just a drag strip run. Screw it.

Don't drop the clutch! The GTO is similar to the 8 in that it has an independant rear suspension, and also suffers from wheel hop if you don't know how to drive it. You want to see REAL wheelhop? Go watch a newb try to launch a 3700lb car with 400lb-ft of torque and an 6MT.

I learned how to launch my 8 and the GTO with no wheelhop. It's all technique. There's a lot to it, but you would almost have to see it to understand. Somebody had to teach me. If anybody is really interested, I'll try to explain. I'm long winded on these posts as it is.

 

Holy crap man. Literally 5 seconds? 1-2-3-4-5?

Wow.

FWIW, sways and stifffer coilovers seems to ameliorated my car's hopping tendancies.

 

i have a technique......kinda.......but would like for you to explain yours...........mine only works sometimes and burns a little clutch(heavy feathering)

 

Okay, best shot at describing it, and you tell me if it's the same. This worked for me. You gotta rag on the car a bit to get a good launch, but the point is to minimize the stress, and have a consistant technique.

Raise the RPM's to about 7 grand. When you release the clutch, you want just a slight pop to get off the line, but still feathering it. Obviously, you should start spinning . Here's the important part where I think people make a mistake. DO NOT hammer the accelerator at this point. That's where you induce wheel hop. Instead, either hold partial throttle steady or modulate by backing off the accelerator just slightly. Release the clutch fully, keeping it linear. No point in burning the clutch. The time you feather should be held to a minimum. The RPM's will drop and you start to get traction back. JUST before you gain traction (and I mean fractions of a sec) get back on the throttle hard, and if everything went right, you'll still be in a high enough RPM to be in the powerband, and you'll feel the car pull very hard out of the hole.

How's that sound? How are other folks doing it?

 

thats pretty much exactly like my tech..........when i do this the tires spin but dont hop......i learned how from going to the track then tried it on the street the next day

 

Well it is kinda hard to try that out around here right now cuz it's below 20 degrees... but i am going to try to find a spot to try it... i will get back in like half hour.

 

that's great... i don't think I could figured it out without seeing it done. When my buddy drove my car, he knew to experiment by starting at slightly lower RPM and increasing incrementally until it didn't bog. It doesn't feel like youre destroying the car because its the inertia of the drivetrain causing it to spin.

We he caught the right RPM, and traction catches, I swear it felt like we had been shot out of a cannon. I remember saying "I had no idea the car could even do that."

 

LOL Don't break it!!! It's fun and all but hope you have some pennies put away for parts!

 

20 degrees......youll just be spinning and spinning

 

Yah, I hope all he does is try the technique at a much lower rpm just to see what it feels like. 20 degree road and cold tires, you can't launch anywhere near 7K.

7K would be for a prepped track, not street. I guess we'll see

 

Well i was driving around for a bit, I found a HUGE!!! parking garage and tried it in there... I started at 2k up to 5k, I didn't want to push it any further cuz that's what i pushed it to last time i broke it. Well anyway... i lowered the front psi in the tires to 30 and the rears had 25. I had MUCH more grip. I was actually surprised at how much grip i got from just lowering the psi. I still don't have it down perfect, but i kept trying and i didn't burn clutch once, and it only wheel hops once and then it gains traction. The only problem i would have to say is how it bogs down from 5k to 2k and it doesn't feel very fast... So if someone can help me out with keeping the rpms up or if someone can post a link to a video on how it's done... It would be appreciated. Thanks for all the info, and I am pretty sure i won't break it this time around.

 

Im going to just tell you this.. If you plan on launching, and can't get the technique for it, and you DO get those high 'grippy' tire (whatever that is).. then you knocking on hells door just waiting to kill your tranny again.

 

kk thanks!

 

This is good advice. I used to launch similarly in my F-bod and would cut 1.7x's all night.
The biggest mistake people make is going WOT right away. Wrong. One must get the car rolling forward first, then modulate to WOT. My method was: Tach at 5K, drop clutch, hold throttle at 5K, get car moving forward, then modulate to WOT. Similar. But then again, my car had a Moser 9" rear end to pound on.

Vette, GTO and CTS-V (and Cobra) guys deal with wheel hop issues due to IRS. Difference is that they have a lot of torque on tap, so their technique may not directly translate to the 8 without some adjustment.

 

all things in modulation ...

 

mod·u·late (mj-lt)
v. mod·u·lat·ed, mod·u·lat·ing, mod·u·lates
v.tr.
1. To adjust or adapt to a certain proportion;

 

Cavalier driver's tend to be oversensitive when it comes to being joked with ...