Wheel Hop When Braking Hard
 

And the front bumper got scratched on this truck in front of me in LA traffic -.-
Now I got cracked lines in my bumper's paint because the bumper got bent.
It was bent but now back into shape .. but the paint is ruined
also the little nook for the light's housing has an inch long tear.
Need to find a new silver FR-S bumper in a junk yard somehow .. :/
lol

edit: realized what I typed was a bit ridiculous, just woke up and typed it up without rereading what I said haha

Someone on here mangled the lower bumper and ended up filling/sanding/priming/painting it all on their own. It turned out nice from the pics they posted. If you're set on replacing the bumper, what would it hurt to try that first?

It's worth a shot .. Just don't have much time for a long while unfortunately

It's impossible to keep these cars in good condition, isn't it?

People just need to drive with more sense.

Why were you so close to the truck in front of you? And you mean to tell me that he had better stopping power than you did...

Just pay attention please.

The truck braked as hard as he could have in so I had barely enough time and Would have been fine Had these tires had grip and not hopped.
And I wasn't that close behind him, I was the average distance apart in LA traffic and Yes I was paying attention.

Regardless my plan is to ultimately get a new bumper because of the tear at the left headlight housing

I'm still trying to figure out how it hopped. Was the road bad or something?

Either way, sorry to hear about it. (I wasn't trying to be an a-hole.) As was mentioned before, it probably wouldn't be that hard to fix it. Can we get a pic?

Why can't people write clear and concise posts...

405 S in LA is sorta bad .. was in the carpool lane hugging the wall of the center divider separating north n south bound so I couldn't slide out to the left.
Try accelerating to 40 mph and hit the brakes as hard as you can .. I was so surprised when the wheel hopped - I've never had wheel hop on me when braking 40 mph.

Are you sure its not just the ABS?

I didn't see any lights flash up and I usually see the lights turn on if I do some stupid turn

ABS doesn't light anything on the dash. At least I haven't seen anything on this car or the IS350. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I drive a 2004 lexus rx-330 alot and I have triggered the ABS and that felt completely different than the FR-S if it was the ABS.
You're probably right in that there are no ABS lights but I'm pretty sure this was wheels hopping on me.
I'm really disgusted by these tires.

The braking distances in this car are about average for sporty cars in its category:

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...n/viewall.html

I wonder if something was on the road surface that caused your wheel to hop. Shouldn't be getting outbraked by trucks, even on crappy Primacy's.

I really can't see wheel hop during braking. The ABS in newer cars can feel like wheel hop because it pumps the brakes so rapidly and that seems a lot more likely under sudden braking than wheel hop. Just my .02.

cost less than $50, too.

I haven't seen an ABS light, but I know the last time I engaged ABS I saw the slip light go off. There was a break in the surface that set it off as I was braking, I think.

Perhaps it was the road but I'm pretty sure it was the wheels hopping by how the car felt and the noise of the tires was coming in weird intervals ..
I braked and it made the smooth rubber screech then the car started to 'bob' when I hit the brakes harder seeing the driver in front of me come to a full stop and the screeching came in the same intervals as the 'bobbing'

I'm not saying that the truck Out braked me - I'm sure the driver just hit his brakes harder initially than I did as I braked harder later than he did (but not by much imo).

I'm going to retract this statement...originally said wheel hop is an acceleration-only thing, but after some quick research I see that it does happen under braking in some random circumstances. I really do think that you would have to lock up the tires for this to happen, though, which wouldn't happen in an ABS car (unless something else was broken or you were going WAY too fast)

In any case, sucks about the accident and good luck with the repairs.

It felt like hopping forward - too much pressure on the tires that they were not able to hold onto the road.
Try applying a lot of pressure of your thumb on the table straight down and then push forward harder and harder until your thumb slides.
That's essentially what happened.

ABS doesn't trigger any lights.

The noise you hear was in fact the tire constantly breaking traction, you braked as much as the tire and abs computer could.. usually the noise or wheel hop gets louder as you approach a complete stop.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5KHccP71VM&feature=endscreen"]ABS wet road TEST!!!!!! Acura Integra antilock brake system check - 3 runs - YouTube[/ame]


Would better tires have helped you? Certainly! But they will all "wheel hop" and break traction under braking, brakes will always overpower whatever traction a tire can provide in a street situation.

Man LA traffic is no fun! What neighborhood were you in?

I understand that All tires can handle only so much brakes yet I am still disgusted by how little these tires can hold .. I knew they slid out easily but I didn't think a straight forward braking would be this poor.
I had enough room for any other vehicles that I drive to brake safely and I have done brakes from faster speeds in other vehicles like in SUVs/Minivans

Sorry I don't remember, all I remember was that it was between the 101 S and 110 I think.
I was too distraught afterwards and baffled by these tires to think straight :cry:

Welcome to the U.S. educational product!

I'm not knocking you, not at all.. Being that I've drove in all sorts of environments in this car, even at the track, these tires are just fine, the way your making it sound is that, these tires suck so bad that every FRS, BRZ, and Prius that has them shoud be rear ending trucks and SUV because they stop better.. In terms of sports car handling, these tires are not all that great, in terms of day to day driving, these tires are more then capable.. I have no issues really, braking from 95 to about 30 I hear the tires howling, and maybe a couple times get the ABS activated, but they seem for then ok on a beginner track pace, then I'm sure they are more then fine on LA traffic highways..

Again I'm not knocking you, I think your just pointing a finger to the tires more then driver error in this case. I didn't see you drive, have no idea what happened, but I've been in LA traffic and people treat it like a drag race... Exactly what you said.. 0-40 mph, just to slam on their brakes to get back to 0 again

It wasn't that bad of traffic with constant 0 mph, most of the time was cruising 40-9 mph, up until that point where the truck came to a stop.
It was mostly me not braking hard enough from when I first saw his brake lights - I had plenty of space.
I'm mostly upset by how these tires handled hard braking/ABS intervals are so big.

I had a smooth stopping screech and then three screeched intervals where the tires provided no grip when I hit the brakes harder.
I hit him doing approximately 4-8 mph.

Yes I could have been more aware and driving more cautiously (but that's always the case) but then again I could have had stickier tires. :/

The Michelin Primacy are the weak link of this car for every purpose but drifting and higher mileage. My next set will be stickier and I may not be able to wait until these wear out. These tires call upon the ABS to easily when the car should just be stopping. It's just not cool.