The Auto Garage- Tips and Advice: Performance 101: Suspension/Traction Continued 3
by Eric Bonneman
FeedTheVillage.com - Tips and Advice: Performance 101: Suspension/Traction
As I mentioned in the beginning another reason for wheel hop is engine movement. There are plenty of ways to stiffen motor movement. You can upgrade engine mounts to poly urethane or even fill your factory mounts with the same. They sell solid motor mounts for certain applications. What I recommend for the mild street car, if available, is an engine damper. This is basically a strategically placed 5th motor mount, which gets progressively stiffer with movement. Expect more engine noise transference to the cabin area. The last and least productive suspension mod, though the most affordable, is front and rear strut tower braces or bars. These are solid beams that tie both strut towers together to eliminate body flex in cornering. This is especially true of uni-body cars. Some vehicles see very little flex here, others see a lot. In general it will always help in some way. I have seen an Acura Integra type R that had the factory strut bar mounts break loose. While that bar was loose on one side, it was scraping the body. We measured a 1” movement of that bar (via measuring the paint scratch). That is quite a bit. Anything that is moving due to weight shift in your vehicle is robbing power to the ground. If you have tightened up your suspension components, lowered your CG, installed wider low profile tires, and braced any moving portions of your body, you will see a dramatic change in how fast you can take a corner. Control of the vehicle is increased. Safety in speed has increased. You will cut run times even in a factory tuned car, with just suspension modifications.
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