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6MT AWD hopping tires on cold morning


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My GT awd hopped this morning on a 35F degree day while take a 90 turn backing out of the driveway. I am assuming it’s the Viscous Coupler that is locking. I cringe when the tires hop. I think it did this last year in fall on the leaves and some time in the snow/ice. When I drive down a house or two it doesn’t do it and take a turn. My GMC Syclone which also has a VC does as well, I don’t think the hopnis as bad but I aslo don’t drive it in really cold weather either. I don’t remember my 2.5i 6MT doing this. Does anyone else 6MT with the VC awd do this? Is this a sign my VC may need replacing?
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I had to replace mine this summer, but I would get banging and slipping after things heated up from driving over 50mph for a while. A 10-15 min drive on the highway, then maneuvering at a gas station and it would start the banging.

It sounded great cold. Things got worse over a month or two and it would start getting a slight pull all the time during slow speed turning in parking lots and what not.

 

Was it possible the surface was slick somehow this morning?

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The pavement was dry so it sound particularly horrible. It feels like it is the driveline binding to me. (I have been other cars with locked awd/driven is 4wd on pavement). I know that binding drivetrain will break parts.

 

I parked in front of the house today so I would need to take a 90 turn at the end of the driveway. I am going to try take a a few small turns initially to see if need to loosened up. I am almost ready to put my GT away for the winter anyways.

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I have the same condition, and I've attributed it to my tires.

 

It never did it with the factory tires, and it hasn't done it with my winters - but as soon as I put on my sporty summers and its gets below 35ish degrees, it usually hops once when backing out of a parking spot and never again until after a long cold soak (tires cool down). I'll be on my summers until thanksgiving, but I can update after that to confirm it doesn't happen with the winters.

 

I think its just a product of summer compounds getting hard in the cold.

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Low-speed binding and hopping could be a sign of a failing VC. This happened on my 2003 Legacy with a manual transmission. I'm hoping it doesn't happen on my current 2011, as it's a rather expensive repair.
This is specifically low speed in reverse and turning, for me, usually when there is a bit of dirt or leaves on the pavement. I can drive all day forward at the same speed and not have any binding. I would think a VC failure would show in either direction.

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

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My symptoms were binding and hopping in low-speed turns, such as when turning into a parking spot. I specifically remember it happening in forward gears, but not necessarily reverse, and it made a pretty rhythmic thump-thump-thump sound. If you're not noticing it on dry pavement, I wouldn't worry about it.
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Today, I did a sweeping turn instead of the usually hard 90 degree turn I normally do and it was fine. [i will remove my summer tire this coming weekend to see if that makes a difference.] The day I made this post, I was at my dad's house. The driveway is on a hill & the driveway has a bump at the end, so that may have been the right conditions for less the weigh on the front tire to allow it to slip as I made a hard 90 turn.
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This is specifically low speed in reverse and turning, for me, usually when there is a bit of dirt or leaves on the pavement. I can drive all day forward at the same speed and not have any binding. I would think a VC failure would show in either direction.

Not necessarily. Chances are, your turning in reverse is sharper (shorter radius turns) than when going forward. Something about when the forced difference in wheel speeds is greater the chances of this happening increase.

 

 

Norm

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