Ok guys. Let's get it going here.....

If we look at the question; "The car hooks then spin, or rear tire wads really bad from too hard of a hit to the tires?

Consider that the rear suspension typically goes into extension and the foot print (of the tire) gains weight as the housing travels toward the track. The side walls become loaded and apply downward force to the foot print. If we apply too much downward force, the tire will bounce. It is like a basketball. The harder you dribble the ball, the more it will want to return to your hand. Hit the tires too hard, they hook, wad up and then when the tire becomes round again-it will want to return to it's original shape and as the sidewall un-wads, it pushes up. That pushing up condition will relieve weight from the foot print causing wheel spin. It may be slight but it only takes a little amount. (One way this event shows up is if you see a car stretch out the front suspension as it leaves, then set the front end down only to pick it up again, it did the hook/spin deal and wadded the tires too much..

Consider a potential fix is to stiffen the extension of the rear shocks. Slowing down the separation and the extent that the rear housing (with it's mass) is traveling toward the track will result in planting the tires just enough to hook the car. Also, consider we only need enough traction to hook the available torque traveling down the driveline, thru the axles and to the rims/tires.

If you have a double adjustable shock, you can also stiffen the compression to help hold the tire down, slow the rebound effect and keep the weight at the foot print from being relieved too quickly.

There are other potential fixes too. Some aren't shock related...

Anyone have seen this before? Anyone driven a car that felt like this?

Nice to see you join the gang Eric

I have seen this plenty of times as you stated.

I put a pair of AFCO Big Guns on the back of the car.

Compression is at 3 clicks from soft
Extension is at 8 clicks from soft

Car has very minimal body seperation just slight wrinkle in tire and pulls the front wheels up nicely.

I had to tighted up the extension to achive this

can we get a sticky for this thread

thanks for the sticky

I would like to know the difference in shocks, how they work, what makes one better than another, how effective the different types are etc

ive always been told you run compression tight and extension loose,,, when starting off would you run in the middle of your adjustments or bias it one way or the other? how about compression 1/4 way between, bias toward being hard,, and ext in the middle?? or???

Thanks for coming aboard.

I have been having this issue for awhile now. Car initially hooks then spins bad....I have had my double adj shocks all over with the adjustments and nothing seems to work at all. Have had 3 diff rear springs on it as well 150, 130, and now currently. 110s. Made no change. I run ladder bars. Im thinking I need a stiff sidewall tire. I run a 29.5x11.5 mt. Car runs mid to upper 1.3 s and 9.60s and weighs 3100. Should be in the high 1.2s. I feel with my alky injection. Any suggestions? Thanks for your time.

Yes Todd, this should be a good learning session as my car likes to unload the tires just as described.
Maybe I'll be buying some better rear shocks!!!

My car separates real bad because my afco shocks can't take the horsepower...... Eric, weren't you gonna call me back

Eric..thanks for taking the time..
hopefully you wont have to have a thick skin to make it throught the tribulation of being new to this site..
Josh..go easy on him...you may have history with him before today..
but we dont want to baptise him by fire...so give him some breathing room..
as to your direct Question as to the hopping or porposeing..i am sure your gonna get a gammot of responses..
but guys when posting a question please put a little info on your perticular suspension . stock leaf-aftermarket leaf-ladder bar leaf-caltracs or 4 link, type set ups..as its hard to discern remidies for all suspensions..when each are effected differently.
Eric.
you mention'd some factors to these issues arent all shock related..some are suspension/spring related.
some are addressed at the front of the car.
some at the rear.
we will all hit the patience button when reflecting on this thread.

I have seen cars when they launch, the car spins and hooks and kicks left. Front end doesn't have a chance to come up.
I'm wondering if too heavy of a spring causes this.Ladder bar car with AFCO Double adjustables out back.

Eric i dont know how intimate you are with Mopars specifically.
there are some factors that are different when diagnosing mopar type leaf sprung rear suspensions. the short front spring half is a factor. just to bring this to light not judge anyones knowledge..
i just want to put this out there..
If we are talking about mopar leaf sprung rear suspensions..
then proper rear shackle movement is a necessity to eleviate rear spring bind..in the extension of rear suspension travel..its a common problem for mopars...so is too short a shock itself..
these are both huge contributors to porpousing ..ie..hook unhook/unload..hook on a leafspring drag car..
as you can see i am passionate about this..
i am no expert...just someone who doesnt mind jumping in...ive helped fix this with a bunch of mopars...and some of it is ubiquitous in our world.
have at it..
cheapst..
and again Welcome...I am all ears..

Well I have recently changed shocks from Pro-Comp truck shocks to the Rancho XL9000 series adjustable socks and have noticed a positive change.
My tires used to unload after the hit and wad up before they spun producing a very poor 1.7 60' time
Now since installing the Rancho shocks I have cut my 60' down to 1.41 on a marginal starting line.
The good shocks took the bounce out of the rear end and I am happy now and can see mid ten second ET's on the horizon
Gus

I can see this is going to get confusing,,,it's like everybody is talking at once. Maybe,,try to answer one question at a time, and other posters have patience and just read and try to see if the questions posted are similar to their problems and learn from them...I hope Eric is ready for LOTS of PM's ...

I agree give the guy a break. I would rather hear about theory and typical scenarios anbd prinicples than how many clicks Joe blows 12 second car needs on exte sion with his SS Springs. Just saying

Oh, just bustin his balls a little. Eric has been great to work with.... But don't tell me he doesn't deserve a typical moparts welcome