Adjusting KW version 3s to preference

[Kvitravn]

Height is 370 and 375mm after around 100km driving.

Installed KW version 3 coliovers on my 2021 Performance yesterday and now I'm looking or experience adjusting the dampers and height to preference. Big thank you to @Olavxxx and supplier Laaav.no - who are waking up to the potential of Teslas (37.000 TM3 on the roads over here now).

As I live in Europe, these coliovers are the only legal option. I realize MPP Comforts would be a better choice for my wish improve the ride quality for everyday use. That being said, the quality o construction of these units I way above coliovers I have used in the past. Dampers, welds and overall presentation just oozes quality.

For height I aim or a level 360mm arch to center. There’s quite a lot of preload on the front springs at this height and turning the collar takes a lot of effort - can't help but think that ride would probably be better on a lower setting.

• We used @Olavxxx’s spreadsheet and we set the front collar at 140mm (range is 135-150mm) and rear 40mm (range is 30-45mm).
• As we set the car down and drove a few laps around the parking lot, the car measured 380mm front and 410mm rear. (Yes I was concerned, lol.)
• After about 100km/60 miles height arch to center is 370 mm front and 375 mm rear.

We set the damper rebound at two clicks softer than stock front and back. Handling is flatter than on the Eibachs, overall ride quality is improved but not significantly better than on the Eibachs at current settings tbh. This is where I think it would be very interesting to hear which settings you run and respective driving feel you experience.

• First impressions were good, comparing to one year old Eibachs (i.e. well settled in). Minor roar imperfections pretty much disappear where Eibachs would never really settle below 70-80 kph/50 mph.
• Wheels feel much lighter over transverse asphalt joins and raised white paint/lettering.
• Large bumps with unbroke asphalt feel less severe.
• The jolt when coming down off something large like a speed bump is identical i.e. clearly hitting the bumpstops.
• Road noise had a different note but sound level is subjectively the same. Thankfully, no rattles or resonances inside

Which settings are you running and what is your experience?

 

[litefish]

Hello from Japan.
I have my KW V3 installed 2 weeks ago, about 38mm down front and rear.
"basic setup" is better than stock but still too stiff to me.Then I turned bump side 2 clicks softer ,not rebound side.
Now I am satisfied with it.

 

[tm1v2]

• The jolt when coming down off something large like a speed bump is identical [to the Eibachs] i.e. clearly hitting the bumpstops.

@Kvitrafn When you say hitting the bump stops under sudden compression feels identical to Eibachs + stock dampers, how does that compare to 100% stock suspension?
When it happens are you feeling just the front bump stops, just the rears, or all four? (As best you can tell)
What spring rates are you running now with the KW V3, and what rates were your Eibach springs?

In my experience so far with a different set of coilovers, you should be able to significantly soften the jolt from hitting the bump stops under sudden compression vs stock 2021 M3P suspension (October 2021 Fremont built). I always go slow over speed bumps so I never hit bump stops from them, but I do hit the rear bump stops going fast over big dips in the road on occasion.

With stock suspension the car would slam into the rear bumps stops really hard. Now with my coilovers on 8 kg/mm front and 11 kg/mm rear springs it practically oozed into the rear bump stops in comparison, going fast over one big dip so far, much smoother feeling than stock in the same situation. The basic Model 3 issue of too little suspension travel is still there but the firmer suspension handles it much better than stock, which seemed too soft for that scenario. For sure I could tell I hit the bump stops still but it was quite a lot smoother than stock.

If you're still slamming really hard into the bump stops like stock, I wonder if you should increase damper compression resistance. Dissipate more of that energy before you get to the bump stop. Just a thought, as I have zero experience dialing in adjustable dampers, especially not dual adjustable like the V3. (Mine are one adjuster for both compression+rebound, and so far I've stuck with my initial settings.)

Btw I don't think I ever felt the car slam super hard into the front bump stops, only the rears. It feels like the Model 3 rear is more challenged for travel than the front. (I don't know if that's actually true, I'm just saying it feels that way.)

 

[Kvitravn]

Aplologies, have been busy at work. Settings are now two clicks softer on all dampers, and low speed ride is still not as good as I'd like. Pretty bumpy and unsettled below 60kph/45 mph. I've tried to go softer but to me, it just makes the car feel springy and underdamped.

Was in doubt what to do now, so I took a long detour on some challenging backroads home from work today. It's raining, traffic was light and the roads are two lane with long stretches of frostbitten and cracked asphalt. Holy moly this car works great on these roads now As long as the speed is above 80kph it's planted, flat and flows over bumps and cambers. Coming from Audis, the complete lack of weight transfer is almost eerie.

Maybe KW3s arent great for low speed ride but holy moly they sure work at speed!

 

[Kvitravn]

Hello from Japan.
I have my KW V3 installed 2 weeks ago, about 38mm down front and rear.
"basic setup" is better than stock but still too stiff to me.Then I turned bump side 2 clicks softer ,not rebound side.
Now I am satisfied with it.

Hi @litefish how great of you to assist from the other side of the planet from me

I also find two clicks softer on bump feels like a sweet spot. I'll try to tighten the rebound - thanks for the tip!

Imagine if Elon had grown up on Gran Turismo like nerds like us - I'd be all over a Model 3 GTR Nur Spec

@Kvitrafn When you say hitting the bump stops under sudden compression feels identical to Eibachs + stock dampers, how does that compare to 100% stock suspension?
When it happens are you feeling just the front bump stops, just the rears, or all four? (As best you can tell)
What spring rates are you running now with the KW V3, and what rates were your Eibach springs?

Hi @tm1v2 My KW3s are completely stock, while the Eibachs are the correct performance specific springs. I think they are working as specified; I'm just running out of suspension travel. Maybe I'm approacing this from the wong angle - I'll try to tighten the rebound and see what happens.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on how to address this, I'm no pro either so your ideas are useful input

 

[tm1v2]

@Kvitrafn The Model 3 feels challenged for suspension travel even stock, at least for compression travel. If you lower it's only going to be worse, unless you setup your coilovers to let the car compress even closer to the ground, which is considered risky for the battery. (Also with any car you could run into issues with control arms or the wheel/tire hitting things at greater-than-stock compression.)

My understanding is every decent coilover kit for this car recommends or requires a setup that never lets the car compress any lower than stock, in order to maintain battery-to-ground clearance at all times. Which means if you lower the static height, you now have less compression travel.

A stiffer suspension should avoid fully compressing to the bump stops as often, and potentially make the hit softer by dissipating more of the energy first. I've certainly felt that benefit, but I maintained my M3P's stock height (395mm as measured at rear wheel center to fender). Maybe your lowered height has negated some of that benefit? Could be worth raising your car back up to stock height to regain some travel.

Now if you care more about performance on racetracks or other smooth pavement, or the look of a lowered car, then by all means keep it low! Just know it's probably a tradeoff for performance and ride over crappy pavement. Your car doesn't look super low, so maybe you wouldn't feel that much benefit from going up to stock height anyways...I don't have the experience to say what the threshold might be where you can really feel the lost suspension travel from lowering.

 

[tm1v2]

@Kvitrafn As for worse ride when going slow over crappy pavement, my best guess is that's pretty inherent with stiffer springs. And it's why softening the dampers doesn't help much for that specific scenario.

When comparing a softer vs stiffer spring over a given bump, I think there will be a range of (low) speeds where the softer spring is still able to compress, damper willing, but the stiffer spring is simply going to move the car up and down over it, no matter how soft the damping is. Go faster and there will be a strong enough impact for the stiffer spring to compress too, which can actually result in a better feeling ride, if you have good damping that lets the spring compress and rebound promptly from sharp impacts but avoids any any bounce or float afterwards.

That's what I've felt with my coilovers at least. My springs are significantly firmer than stock, not track car firm (Redwood has a separate version of the kit for that), but definitely sporty car / sports car firm. At higher speeds and faster, harder driving the ride is significantly better than stock. The damping is just in in another world vs the mediocre stock dampers. But go slow enough over large bumps and bad pavement and the car just follows them up and down, even with the damper adjusted softer. The stock suspension's bounciness and floatiness is gone though, the Ohlins dampers keep it perfectly settled at all times, so for me this setup really rides better overall. But for sure the springs are firmer and I can tell...it's not a glide-over-the-road smooth ride, at least not with the firmer damper settings that I like. The ride is firm and well controlled. I like it very much, I don't find it harsh, but there's definitely a big personal preference aspect, I'm sure some people would rather the softer stock ride even though it bounces and floats.

The best of both worlds, just in terms of ride quality, would presumably be near-stock spring rates paired with high quality dampers, valved to match. Which is basically what the Redwood GT and MPP Comfort kits are I believe.

How wide does the adjustment range of your KWs feel? Does it feel like they could pair well with softer springs without needing a revalve? I know it's more $$ but depending on your priorities, maybe you'd be happier overall with softer springs. I bet your KWs or my Ohlins or any quality damper would still help the car handle leagues better than stock even with stock-like spring rates.

It sounds like the default KW V3 setup is just overall stiffer than you would like. You're really not allowed to put something like the Redwood GT or MPP Comfort kit on your car where you live? I believe those come with spring rates close to stock, and a valving range to match, but will still BY FAR outhandle the stock suspension with vastly superior damping. With these KWs starting off on the firm side (it sounds like), you might have to invest in really fine-tuning them with different springs and possibly different valving to achieve a similar result.

 

[tm1v2]

Was in doubt what to do now, so I took a long detour on some challenging backroads home from work today. It's raining, traffic was light and the roads are two lane with long stretches of frostbitten and cracked asphalt. Holy moly this car works great on these roads now As long as the speed is above 80kph it's planted, flat and flows over bumps and cambers. Coming from Audis, the complete lack of weight transfer is almost eerie.

Maybe KW3s arent great for low speed ride but holy moly they sure work at speed!

@Kvitrafn Yes! This is why we upgrade!

For sure the stock ride could be better, but whatever, it's fine just in terms of ride quality. It's the stock handling that is not up to the "Performance" moniker! Glad you're ultimately enjoying the new suspension. Yeah I almost forgot about how much more weight transfer I always felt in ICE cars.

My old Model S P85 is big and soft but even so it can get around turns surprisingly well with good tires, thanks to the really good weight distribution. My M3P on the Ohlins now is just sublime. I've never driven a 4 door ICE car that felt this good around turns. The 4000 lbs is there for sure but it moves and dances and presses into the road in a way that front engined ICE weight never quite seems to.

Plus while Audis and Subarus (and the Evo) have my favorite ICE AWD systems for sure, they achieve it with their engines fully ahead of the front axle, and you can feel it. I loved how my modded STI drove, but using multiple electric motors for AWD is just better than the tradeoffs involved in any ICE AWD layout.

 

[canasion35]

Bump - any others using the V3’s with recommended settings for max comfort?

 

[Kvitravn]

Is there a recommended setting for max comfort, or were you asking the forum for recomendations?

 

[canasion35]

Is there a recommended setting for max comfort, or were you asking the forum for recomendations?

Asking the forum for their preferences on what they have found comfy

 

[Kvitravn]

I'm at two clicks softer now and while not the most cushy ride below 80kph it's great above that speed. Love the planted feel at (a lot) higher speeds

My car is at the high end of adjustment and rotating the collar was quite hard. The preload is probably affecting the ride over smaller imperfections so a car adjusted lower might ride better over the small stuff.

 

[Jeffydoo]

Hi guys
Would u mind sharing your settings ?

The recommended settings on the manual for me was (SR+/RWD 2021)
Front:
Rebound 8 clicks from hard
Damping 4 clicks from hard

Rear
Rebound 9 clicks from hard
Damping 3 clicks from hard

It’s way too harsh for street, but handles damn well at higher speeds.

 

[Kvitravn]

I have all settings on my M3P at two clicks softer than stock right now. Experimented with various settings and basically once I tried this I felt it was good enough. Takes a lot of time to find something that works perfectly, it's still bumpy at low speed bot flows well above 70-80 kph.

Upside is that as long as I keep the speed above this level, the car is devastatingly fast even on on bumpy two lane mountain roads. Tracks perfectly over ruts and frost broken asphalt, complete absence of load reactions in corners and that power and sheer 4wd drive out of corners.

I used to think I drove fairly fast Audis, but this is something else entirely. Holy moly what a weapon

 

[canasion35]

I have all settings on my M3P at two clicks softer than stock right now. Experimented with various settings and basically once I tried this I felt it was good enough. Takes a lot of time to find something that works perfectly, it's still bumpy at low speed bot flows well above 70-80 kph.

Upside is that as long as I keep the speed above this level, the car is devastatingly fast even on on bumpy two lane mountain roads. Tracks perfectly over ruts and frost broken asphalt, sheer absence of load reactions in corners and that 4wd drive and power out of corners.

I used to think I drove fairly fast Audis, but this is something else entirely. Holy moly what a weapon

Nice scenery! Where in the UK is this?

 

[Kvitravn]

This would be a quiet summers night on a Norwegian mountain pass. Just me and some sheep around