I'm assuming that these brackets somehow give you better tracking but I'm not sure...can someone specify exactly what the brackets do...anyone have a picture of a LCA installed w/o the bracket and one with the bracket so i can see for myself....thank

 

In a factory one of these cars, the end of the Lca that attaches to the rear end, is actually above the end that attaches to the frame. If you lower the car, the situation gets even worse; the rear end end stays at the same height, but the frame end goes even lower.

So: imagine what happens as you attempt to apply power. The rear end tries to push the car fowrad, of course. If the rear end end of the LCA is higer than the frame end, then the more power you apply, the more the rear end is going to try to rotate upwards, around the front LCA pivot point. What you end up with is, you dump the clutch or mash the gas or whatever; let's assume th etires bite; the rear end tries to push the car forward; in the process, it rotates itself upward, lifting it off the pavement and unloading the tires; the tires spin; the force pushing the rear end forward goes away; the tendency to rotate upwards goes away; the springs push the rear end back down; eventually the tires bite; the rear pushes forward; the rear rotates upward; the tires unload; etc. etc. etc. It happens at a rate of about 7 times a second in these cars. We call it "wheel hop".

The simple fix of lowering the rear end end of the LCA restores the correct geometry to the situation; such that the rear end's vertical force is neutral, or even downwards if you want it to be, under power. The brackets basically instantly cure the "wheel hop" problem.

 

Precisely as RB described it.

Note the illustration below. The LCAs are what push your car forward when power is applied through the rear tires. In the top pic, you see the rear end is lower than the frame. For argument's sake, let's say this is stock (it's exaggerated). When you accelerate forward, weight is transferred to the rear and the back of the car squats down. This straightens the LCA angle as in the second pic, allowing the full force of the tires to push the car forward. When you lower a car with aftermarket springs or whathaveyou, the second pic is how the LCAs sit normally. When you accelerate, the car squats and the wheels push the LCAs forward and slightly up. This causes you to lose traction and regain it as the springs push the axle back down, causing wheelhop, just as RB described. The relocation brackets in the bottom pic correct the angle on a lowered car so it mimics the stock LCA angle of a non-lowered car, thus eliminating wheelhop.

 

Thank you VERY much, that was very well explained, I myself was wondering about this since I noticed I get wheel hop like crazy and I'm not too great with suspension... I just never put any time or effort in understanding it or worrying about it.

All that is changing though, and lately I'm starting to get more into making my cars handle better than making the motor run harder.

 

heres a pic

 

on the car

 

Well it's official, this thread belongs in the FAQ forum.

 

no, not at all… If the rear of the car is squatting at all on the launch you do not have sufficient antisquat for the weight transfer that you have. Typically, when everything is optimize for a drastrip launch the back end of the car will actually rise as you apply torque to the rear axle (really what is happening is the suspension is converting some of the “twist” applied to the rear axle to downward force pushing the axle/tires into the ground which causes the back end of the car to rise some).

Lowering the car causes the loss of some of the antisquat geometry, causes the car to squat more with the same weight transfer (and in most cases, the lower ride height results in less weight transfer anyway) and apply less downward force to the rear tires, resulting in less traction.

Wheel hop is basically the result of something being broken or worn out in the rear suspension allowing some motion of the rear axle that is not really controlled/dampened by the suspension. What usually happens is that the axle is able to quickly rotate through the worn out/broken/loose range and then suddenly grabs, shocks the tires, they let go, and then you go through the process repeatedly, usually until the driver comes to their senses and lifts or until something lets go completely.