How do you fix Wheel hop

I have a 80 and an 83 fairmont with 302's and they wheel hop really bad. so bad that i shelled the T5. How do you kill the wheel hop problem??? Its driving me crazy!!! Thanks...

is the car a 2dr coupe or boxtop?

are the tires at the correct pressures?

what condition are your shocks in, are they worn-out? are they for this car or something else, does the car bounce a lot?

are the upper & lower control arm bushings in good shape?

are the rear springs correct for the car and in good condition? does the car lean/sag, or have a lot of movment?

is the car raised in the rear or is at stock ride height? if it is raised too high, this can put the driveline in an awkward postion and invite wheel hop on a 4 link suspension, in effect it increases the angles and reduces control.

are the rear spring insulators still there and not worn-out?

one tire fire or limited slip? one wheel peels can take their toll on the control arm bushings.

do you have a rear anti roll bar?

with the parking brake set, does the diff rock when the car is pushed back & forth?

is there a lot of movement when pushed side to side?

this should keep you busy for a while, sometimes it's real easy to overlook the small stuff. remember these cars are over 30 years old, so they are going to need a bit of work on arthritic joints.

I put Lakewood upper and lower rear control arms in my car. Nothing but smooth tire smoking burnouts. I have original coil springs in the rear, and '98 Stang GT stock shocks with my '98 8.8. The lower control arms I have are for a '98 Stang GT and have 3 different settings for traction.

another question i would like to ask is: did you check the driveline angle.

i was wondering how you destroyed the transmission, if you cobbled the transmission mount without checking the driveline angle. perhaps the 2 are not related, i think the max angle is something like 5 degrees, you dont want it perfect 0 as this can cause issues as well. it's as simple as using a plumb bob with a degree wheel. you may find one at the auto stores like harbor frieght.

I put energy suspension poly bushings in boxed uppers and I have MAC lower control arms with poly bushings too. I know its bad to have poly bushings in all of them, but I couldnt drive it with the wheel hop. I will be getting upper control arms with grease-able heim joints or I will be getting a torque arm...


Its nice to be able to dump the clutch and not worry about wheel hop. I broke two distributor rotors on my car from wheel hop, its was f-ed.