Golf GTI : Moving off

[thenoblenoble]

I got a white 5dr golf gti recently. Was on a empty wet road yesterday, so for the fun of it, i floored the throttle when moving off. The front wheels had a bit of a spin, but then the front started to have like some really hard knocks before the wheels regained traction. It didn't feel that good for the car.

I'm not quite sure whether it was the suspension or anything. Does anybody have any idea what those hard knocks were? i would really really like to know. Abit worried for my car here .

[Firecat]

I'm assuming it had something to do with traction control (ASR?)

[bone]

driving shaft with some play?


or what a friend had on his MKII, the point where the top of the suspensions is botled to the frame (under the hood, where the roll bar is connected to), the metal plate was rust away, and the spring could jump from left to right, to front to back

still don't understand how that never popped through the hood, ended up a few times backwards because of that, and also gave loud bang each time it changed

[mmap]

Shock absorbers gone?

When the wheel spins it "goes up" when it achieves some grip, normally the shocks keep the wheel to the ground but if they've gone then that COULD be at least a part of the cause...

Dunno though

[thenoblenoble]

mmap, could the wheel "go up" what high to hit the shocks that hard?

[patrick10]

wheel hop.... common with independant suspension

[thenoblenoble]

oh ok, and i assume that's not very good for the suspension...

[patrick10]

its about as bad as hitting a pothole so no its not too bad but wheelhop prevents fast acceleration.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by patrick10

wheel hop.... common with independant suspension

yep, beat me to it... no biggie

[flyingfridge]

yep, every front drive car gets it, comes from not having the weight over the driving wheels. If i get too excited in my Prelude, i get it. It's not just the Golf, it's all front drivers with independant suspension.

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by flyingfridge

yep, every front drive car gets it, comes from not having the weight over the driving wheels. If i get too excited in my Prelude, i get it. It's not just the Golf, it's all front drivers with independant suspension.

Even my Palio does that depending on the surface and how I lauch it.
It part of driving a FWD car!

[thenoblenoble]

oh ok. thanks alot guys, was quite worried about that.

[bone]

Originally Posted by flyingfridge

yep, every front drive car gets it, comes from not having the weight over the driving wheels. If i get too excited in my Prelude, i get it. It's not just the Golf, it's all front drivers with independant suspension.

i guess you first need at least some power, caus i've never had it

[patrick10]

Originally Posted by flyingfridge

yep, every front drive car gets it, comes from not having the weight over the driving wheels. If i get too excited in my Prelude, i get it. It's not just the Golf, it's all front drivers with independant suspension.

i get it on slick surfaces in the 240 so its not just fwd

[flyingfridge]

well it's more prevalent on front drivers then...

[Buba]

Originally Posted by bone

i guess you first need at least some power, caus i've never had it

Well, I can tell you out of experience, that it might happen on a a GolfIII with 75 bhp...

[watto]

Originally Posted by Buba

Well, I can tell you out of experience, that it might happen on a a GolfIII with 75 bhp...

Twill also happen in a 90bhp Golf MkIII

[sandor_]

Originally Posted by flyingfridge

yep, every front drive car gets it, comes from not having the weight over the driving wheels. If i get too excited in my Prelude, i get it. It's not just the Golf, it's all front drivers with independant suspension.

its kind of from weight distribution, but remember, the front wheels have the engine over it-thats a bit of weight. its more from the "squat" that happens on hard acceleration, the weight shifts back, front lifts, decreasing traction and load on the front tires. when they finally catch, the suspension is already decompresses, so the wheels hop.

in a rwd, acceleration will cause the weight to shift back, compressing/loading the rear suspension, so when the tires finally catch the compressed suspension doesnt allow the wheels to hop. this is the reason you dont lift in a turn with a r/r car like a 911. you go into a turn with the suspension already compressed, weight back, and when you turn the weight shifts, decreasing grip in the back and causing the rear to swing out in front of you-if it starts to happen, you hit the throttle (as odd as it sounds) to balance out the weight and reload the suspension. some 911 drivers instincts are to hit the brake even more, which simply shifts even more weight to the front, and creates even less traction on the drive wheels.

[flyingfridge]

in an ideal world 'hitting' the throttle would be the answer to sliding in a rear drive car, but traction is the other big problem. Instead, you're better off to graduly apply the throttle so as to shift the weight to the rear, yet not increasing the wheelspin which will make the slide worse.

[sandor_]

Originally Posted by flyingfridge

in an ideal world 'hitting' the throttle would be the answer to sliding in a rear drive car, but traction is the other big problem. Instead, you're better off to graduly apply the throttle so as to shift the weight to the rear, yet not increasing the wheelspin which will make the slide worse.

yes. "hit" shouldnt be as drastic as it came off in my post. ease is better (but you have to ease in under .5 seconds, before the engine of the 911 suddenly flips to the "front" of the car. the 911's are interesting, with decent rubber it is tough to lose grip in turns, most of them have more grip than the driver does balls. but you lift that throttle even ever so slightly after you have turned the wheel, and the rear will snap around.