Is it normal for my car to pick up a rear wheel in hard corners?

Oct 17, 2026 Last reply: 7 hours ago 4 Replies

First reply

Lisa_Plumb

Wheel lift on three tires in a sweeper means that corner is genuinely unloaded, so yeah, you are losing grip there at that moment. It feels fine from the seat because the loaded tires are doing all the work anyway and the car doesn't snap or wiggle, it just rolls through on a…

Read the full reply

Been doing some local autocross events this season and at the last one a couple people mentioned my inside rear wheel was coming clean off the ground in a few of the tighter sweepers. I didn't believe them until someone showed me on thier phone. It looked way more dramatic than it felt from the driver seat, honestly. It's a fairly stiff setup, lowered springs, decent dampers, and a big front bar, and I figured some body roll was just part of the deal. But now I'm second guessing wether a wheel lifting means the suspension is actually unloaded and I'm losing traction there, or if it's just a quirk of stiff setups and not a big deal at amateur pace. Should I be softening something up, adding a rear bar, or just driving more and not worrying about it? I don't want to chase a problem I invented in my head. Car still feels planted and my times are fine, it just looks sketchy from the outside apparently.


Wheel lift on three tires in a sweeper means that corner is genuinely unloaded, so yeah, you are losing grip there at that moment. It feels fine from the seat because the loaded tires are doing all the work anyway and the car doesn't snap or wiggle, it just rolls through on a tripod. That's why it looks way worse than it drives. The photo is dramatic, the loss of traction is usally small unless you're hearing wheel spin or feeling the rear step wide.

Same thing happened to me a couple seasons back and what actually settled it for me was a cheap suction-mount camera aimed at the rear wheel. Watching the footage let me tie the lift to specific inputs instead of guessing from the seat, and I noticed it only came up when I was trail braking too deep. Loosened my entry a touch and it mostly stopped. If your times are allready fine I'd film a few runs before touching springs or bars, chasing a stiffness change to fix a driving habit is a rabbit hole.

If the lift only shows up in the tightest sweepers and your lap times are holding, I'd leave it alone for now. I ran a big front bar on my own car for two full seasons before adding any rear stiffness, and the tripod look never cost me anything measurable. The one thing I'd check before chasing springs is tire pressure on that inside rear. I dropped mine 2 psi from my starting pressure and the lift actually got worse, wich told me the roll was doing the unloading, not the air. Small stuff like that tells you more than any guess from behind the wheel.

Interesting reading this because my car does the total reverse of yours, it rolls around a bunch on soft springs and never picks a wheel up, and I always wondered if I'm leaving time on the table by not stiffening it. So is lifting the inside rear mostly a symptom of a front bar doing too much work back there, or can it happen even on a balanced setup if the sweepers are just tight enough? Genuinely asking since I have no baseline for this stuff yet, still figuring out what my car is telling me.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required