My 2005 Cobalt SS Supercharged succumbed to the dreaded wheel-hop induced broken half-shaft and transmission. Two months later it is still in the dealership as we fight over whether it will be covered under warranty or not. It is being denied due to "Driver Abuse".

I posted a survey in the Specific Technical Discussions - Drivetrain looking for others with the SS/SC who have had either their trans or half-shaft break. So far I have already had 15 other people respond. If you had this problem and responded to the survey, thank you. If you have had this problem and haven't responded, please do. I hope to use the results of the survey to help convince the local GM AVM to approve the repair under warranty. The link to the posting with the survey is:

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/sear...earchid=638755

Perhaps the results of this survey can help others as well until GM finally admits that they have a problem.

P.S. If you are accelerating in your Cobalt SS Supercharged and start to get wheel-hop, BACK OFF IMMEDIATELY. If you don't, you could be looking at a $5,000 repair bill to replace your transmission and half-shaft.

 

it should be, if youre pulling hard enough to get wheelhop you know youre abusing it.

 

how many miles do you have on it?

 

This coming from the guy with a base coupe.


I busted a half shaft on my car as well. I launched at the track, and it broke due to wheelhop. I consider it my fault as I was on the track. It did however get replaced under warranty. I hope it works out for you bro.

 

They advertise the car to be driven. 0-60 in XXX time. In the 07 brouchure it says RACE TRACK TESTED(not sure what page i do know theres a yellow cobalt under like a light! In my opinion if your going to advertise the car like this those who buy them are going to drive them the way there advertised.

I was one of them that voted also as mine broke from wheel hop!



They should of built the car to handle the power!

Kyle

 

It should also be noted that the mods to reduce / eliminate wheel-hop are cheap and relatively easy to install...take steps before you race it, people!

However, $5000 is a nasty bill indeed. I do hope you win your battle for that sake alone.

 

The car has 7,000 miles on it, 14 months old with LSD trans, Spec Stage 3+ clutch and GM Stage 2 kit, but it would easily wheel-hop with stock horsepower and clutch. Even with backing off, it is possible that the cumulative effects of starting to get wheel-hop may weaken the half-shaft or trans over time. I believe this is a GM problem.

 

Thank you! Well put! Finally someone who thinks along the same lines as myself! The car was tested on the Nurbering track in Germany, wears a SS Supercharged badge, has performance tires, seats, etc. This car was designed for tuners, but GM doe not support the tuners what so ever. Some of us actually spend some serious cash too on high quality parts, and GM still ***** on us!

 

That's GM for you. Once you buy the car, it's your problem after that. Apparantely everything is driver abuse, or due to mods.

 

If you went to a Honda dealership with a similar situation they'd give you the same kind of hell that a GM dealership would. So don't think this viewpoint on warranties is solely GM's... its industry-wide.

You'd have a much better chance of getting your trans warrantied if you didn't have an aftermarket clutch.

 

Nurburgring is one awesome track (drive it in GT4 playstation).
Track tested for road racing is TOTALLY different than DRAG racing or STREET racing.... hence, clutch drops and wheel hop is rarely encountered at Nurburg...
The car should probably been more prepared for the reality of STREET racing!!!!

 

Definatley true. I love GT4, but the Nurburgring track is a bitch to navigate if you have a really fast car and cannot remember all the turns! You would figure the brakes would be better as well with all those turns on that track! I just hate the fact that the car was designed to compete with the SRT-4, and GM did some rushed designing with a ton of publicity to get there. Sure give tough test cars to the magazines to drag, race, and beat on for publicity but when someone who is an enthusiast does it, it's driver abuse/error/terror.

The car does 0-60 in 6.xx seconds like said before, but if you try it your SOL on warranty buddy because that's abuse!

 

If you're wheel-hopping, it's abusing the car. That's why there are mods out there to fix it. Now, for people that complain about the fact that it hops in the first place, keep in mind that not everyone wants their car to be stiffer than a Ron Jeremy hard-on. Most buyers are happy with the way the car comes - performance oriented, but not to the extreme.

I experienced nasty wheel-hop once - and it sucked. Instead of risking it again and damaging the car, I got into a group buy for a torque brace for $87, and haven't had any problems since. Granted, if I go for more power, I may need to get additional mods, such as control arm bushings, or motor mounts, or tranny braces, or traction bars...my point is that there are many mods that will solve wheel-hop problems. Many of them come with some trade-off in comfort and/or handling, but to the people that want them, it is generally worth it.

Don't yell at GM for building weak axles - if you wheel hop enough, you'll snap the 400hp ones, too. The car is perfectly good at what it was made for - as long as you keep in mind that it's not made for the drag strip.

 

I personally do not think the car was designed for drag racing,due to the short first gear.
If you are getting wheel hop on launching and drive through it .That abuse.
The car is great and should not be punched in first gear.

 

mine just went the other day...no wheel hop no clutch frop no warning... just bam and that was it