Does wheelspinning damage my car?

Question

Apart from the tires, if I pull off quickly and I wheel spin, do I cause any damage to the internals of the car?

Obviously I don't mean reving it to 4k+ and then dumping the clutch, I mean speeding off from idle speed.

2003 Opel Agila 1.2

Answer 1

The short answer is probably not, but you are creating undue hardship on the internals that will likely lead them to fail earlier than they would otherwise.

When you drive your car, you are putting wear and tear on basically everything. Driving your car harder (accelerating quickly, stopping abruptly) just adds to the wear you are putting on it. Even just flooring the accelerator from idle puts a lot of strain on everything from the engine to the transmission to the axles (and potentially a differential for RWD and AWD vehicles). Your car is built to handle a lot of pressure and doing this once in a while is not going to cause major damage, but parts will eventually wear out.

Answer 2

In theory, the harder you accelerate or decelerate(brake), the more you put stress on the different parts.

Most stressed parts when accelerating, in this order:

1. Gearbox gears
2. Crankshaft
3. Fly bearings
4. Piston rings etc etc.

Most stressed parts when braking:

1. Forks and the rubber buffers
2. Wheel hub
3. Tires

Answer 3

Attempting to produce wheelspin may also result in a burnt-out clutch if the tyres have more grip than expected - your clutch will slip and burn instead.

Answer 4

If your wheels are spinning, then don't worry. From the engine and transmission's perspective there's no difference between the wheels spinning or turning normally. The problem comes in when the wheels don't spin and you feel a dull thud instead. That means you're shocking your transmission, which will damage it.

When tuners increase the performance of your car, they will always turn down or fool the traction control (if your car has it) so that the wheels spin easier. This is in an attempt to minimise the increased stress on the transmission.

BTW, your car has a Getrag transmission. Those are some pretty solid transmissions that can handle much more than they're rated for.

Answer 5

The spinning actually puts relatively little stress on your drivetrain. The initial surge of power that breaks the wheels loose is the biggest shock to your drivetrain. Once you're spinning, it's easy to maintain and not very stressful.

Incidentally, wheel hop is the killer. During wheel hop, your wheels break and then regain traction repeatedly, which sends shocks down your drivetrain. This kills transmissions, rear ends, etc. Whatever is weakest.

All of the above comes with the caveat that every car is different and some cars will be a lot closer to their limits than others, even at stock power. And some parts of the drivetrain will be weaker than others. So one car might be fine with a thousand burnouts, another car might toast the clutch on the first burnout, another car might blow up the rear end while yet another might rip apart the transmission. Obviously, the stickier your tires, the stickier the road surface and the more power you are sending through the drivetrain, the more stress you will inflict on everything.

Answer 6

Yes you are putting more wear and tear on your car if you drive like a race car driver.

There is a reason granny's old garage kept car retains the most value. She drove it nice and so its has had an easy life.
Driving your car like your a cop on the other hand is like driving your car into the ground. There is a reason cops get new cars every 5 years. They don't know how to drive haha... They ruin their cars and need more maintenance than the average car