So I get in my car to go to lunch today, it's been raining lightly so the roads are plenty slippery.
It stop at a stop sign and then I launch it, accelerating hard enough to cause some wheel spin.
I did this mostly because I've never owned a car with an LSD before and I want to get a feel for it.
All of a sudden the backend of the car starts shaking/chattering like crazy! Really hard. Enough so that I'm worried it will break something (if something isn't already broken).

Is this normal? I don't think it is. The level of shaking going on would be really bad for the car's handling.

A search yielded something about "differential mounts" but the symptoms described make it seem like that may or may not be the problem.

It seems to only happen when I spin the wheels. I haven't noticed it happening under hard acceleration which doesn't break the tires loose.

Ideas?

 

its called axle hop. the rear tires are actually bouncing up and down. check your struts and springs. and consider getting new diff mounts.


ej

 

Yep, its most likely worn stuts. My car wheel-hopped horribly , especially in the rain with my worn-out stock suspension. Once I got my tociko setup, it hasnt done it since.

 

I had that problem. It wen away with a new set of Tokico HP's , and Eibach Pro-kit springs. I never had that problem, EVER. Even with Slicks.

 

Thanks guys.

I'll crawl under it tonight and check the mounts. I've been planning to change the oil in my diff anyways.

What's the best way to tell if my shocks are okay?
Is there a simple test?

IMO, the car handles very well, but my previous 3 cars were:
198? Volvo 740 wagon, 1985 Chevy Caprice Classic, 1987 Buick LeSabre

so I'm not the best judge of handling. What should I be checking for?

 

Chances are that if they're stock, then they're about dead. Fact is that the car is now 17 years old, and suspension equipment just doesnt last that long. My car still felt like it handled very well even with my worn out stock suspension, but it was a world of difference when I upgraded to my Tokico HPs and Tokico springs. Something you can try though.. Give the rear end of the car a very hard shove downward. Does the car squat once and then come back to normal position, or does it bounce a couple times before settling ?

 

Pushing down on the back of the car, it goes down, comes back up past its original position and then settles back into its normal height.

The mounts don't seem to be broken either.

My dad was just explaining to me that with and LSD, you can get both wheels hopping in the air at once, and that some amount of wheel hop is going to happen when you loose traction.

Is it possible to do have serious wheel hop with nothing broken?

 

Some times mounts can look good but in fact that is broken. You can see where the rubber is stretch and start to degrade when you take it out and twist it. As far as the shock test goes. Does it really work?? I had a mx3 that had blown shocks all around and it rides alright. I mean it did feel better with the new shocks. But the car didn't wallow at all, whats up with that. Is there another way of testing the shocks??

 

If youre wheelhopping, your shocks are dead. Thats what theyre supposed to stop.

 

Like has been said, if youre wheel hopping, youve got dead shocks. Just replace them.
Yes its possible to get wheel hop without having anything broken.



P.S. Your dad is wrong. Wheel hop is not because of your LSD and many cars lose traction and DONT wheel hop. Its only because they have good suspension though.