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Has Anyone lifted their model 3?
- Thread starter lasttourist
- Start date
Switching to a Y only gives you less than half an inch of extra clearance! Although the Y is an overall improvement over the 3, there are also some disadvantages, like higher air resistance and less usable height on a roof rack for e.g. multi storey parking facilities and forest areas.
I believe the Y has a higher seating position (~1 inch) with the exact same seats due to a spacer or something where they mount to the floor. That alone could make it easier to get in and out of without all the other expenses mentioned here.
I did the MPP 1.75" lift kit paired with the comfort adjustable coilovers which resulted in approximately 1.25 inch net lift. I wanted more ground clearance as well as slightly better ingress/egress (for when my parents are in the car) and overall I'm extremely pleased. The gap in the wheel wells is noticeable (and probably wouldn't be to the taste of a lot of people) but I actually prefer it and would eventually like to try to get slightly larger/more aggressive tires.
I’m interested in doing the same and wondered, if you had time could post a photo or two of the raised car.
I assume the Lift kit in conjunction with the MPP Comfort adjustable coil overs has improved the ride significantly over the standard setup? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Yes, if its not raining here tomorrow I'll try to pull the car out of the garage to get some decent pictures. I got to ride in a 3 with the adjustable comfort coil overs (lowered to MPPs recommended settings) thanks to the guys at The Driveway in San Jose and absolutely loved it. Compared to my (at the time stock) car the jitter and busy ride completely went away and other than having to slow down coming out of some steep transitions from the parking lot to the street (so as not to scrape) I could not tell it was lowered at all (well, that and when getting in and out of the car!). Given that I was raising it I wasn't sure if the amazing ride would translate directly but I had them set the height according to the standard recommendations MPP gives and just rely on the lift kit to bring me back up above stock. There was actually a minor issue where the car didn't feel quite as good as I expected/remember (I felt like I was running out of travel in the back) but when I took it back to them we figured out that the rear had been set too low and bringing it up fixed that and its feels the way I want it. I have some friends with a 3 and Y and some AWFUL roads near their house so I let them take mine out for a spin after the suspension was changed out and both were extremely impressed and somewhat mad at me that they now might have to spend the money to modify theirs as well. I also took some cousins out for a spin (they have a 2019 standard range +) and they were extremely impressed with the difference in ride quality.
In terms of how it feels, I cranked it all the way to 16 (full soft) all around thinking I wanted is as cushy as possible and if all you do is drive slow speeds around town - yep, that will do it. Small imperfections are totally smoothed out and for the most part you only hear the thumps and thunks (more sound deadening is my next project) and larger things like potholes and large cracks are a hoot to hit at speed because it almost feels better the faster you drive it. (The one exception is big speed bumps, as usual, don't hit those fast). On the highway setting it that soft makes things a bit floaty particularly on sections of freeway with regular expansion joints where you hit bumps at a certain frequency over and over again. The car doesn't bounce by any stretch of the imagination but the up/down motion is more noticeable probably due to the lower damping. On a whim I backed off the rebound damping (so my car is as 16 compression/13 rebound damping) and just got back from a ~900 mile road trip up/down I5 from the bay to socal (with some detours through palmdale/lancaster as google maps tried to avoid Pasadena traffic) and for long distance travel those settings were superb. Large parts of the interstate have been repaved and are relatively smooth (over which the car just glides effortlessly) but more interesting (to me) is all the in between where the traffic gets routed around active construction or sections that still need to be replaced that have heavy grooves/dips due to all the trucks were not an issue at all. If any of you have stopped at the superchargers by the pea soup Andersons (Santa Nella) you'll know that the street between the restaurant and hotel that you have to drive down to get to the back is straight up *sugar*. I took it faster than expected because I was trying to make a quick left hand turn between traffic all trying to get back on I5 and braced myself when I saw how bad it was and it was no big deal - just absorbed the bump and kept going without any crashing or bottoming out.
I've also set the suspension as firm as 10/10 and if any of you have any experience driving the Polestar 2 (non performance with the smaller 19 inch wheels) it felt similarly firm and sporty as that with essentially no body roll (at street speeds and spirited on ramps) and the car responded very quickly. Great for like 7/10ths spirited driving on windy roads where you're not trying to lose your license. The only thing I wish was that I didn't have to remove the frunk to adjust the front compression settings as that's a bit of a pain. I guess that's what I get for too much tinkering? Hope that helps, if there are specific questions you have feel free to ask.
In terms of how it feels, I cranked it all the way to 16 (full soft) all around thinking I wanted is as cushy as possible and if all you do is drive slow speeds around town - yep, that will do it. Small imperfections are totally smoothed out and for the most part you only hear the thumps and thunks (more sound deadening is my next project) and larger things like potholes and large cracks are a hoot to hit at speed because it almost feels better the faster you drive it. (The one exception is big speed bumps, as usual, don't hit those fast). On the highway setting it that soft makes things a bit floaty particularly on sections of freeway with regular expansion joints where you hit bumps at a certain frequency over and over again. The car doesn't bounce by any stretch of the imagination but the up/down motion is more noticeable probably due to the lower damping. On a whim I backed off the rebound damping (so my car is as 16 compression/13 rebound damping) and just got back from a ~900 mile road trip up/down I5 from the bay to socal (with some detours through palmdale/lancaster as google maps tried to avoid Pasadena traffic) and for long distance travel those settings were superb. Large parts of the interstate have been repaved and are relatively smooth (over which the car just glides effortlessly) but more interesting (to me) is all the in between where the traffic gets routed around active construction or sections that still need to be replaced that have heavy grooves/dips due to all the trucks were not an issue at all. If any of you have stopped at the superchargers by the pea soup Andersons (Santa Nella) you'll know that the street between the restaurant and hotel that you have to drive down to get to the back is straight up *sugar*. I took it faster than expected because I was trying to make a quick left hand turn between traffic all trying to get back on I5 and braced myself when I saw how bad it was and it was no big deal - just absorbed the bump and kept going without any crashing or bottoming out.
I've also set the suspension as firm as 10/10 and if any of you have any experience driving the Polestar 2 (non performance with the smaller 19 inch wheels) it felt similarly firm and sporty as that with essentially no body roll (at street speeds and spirited on ramps) and the car responded very quickly. Great for like 7/10ths spirited driving on windy roads where you're not trying to lose your license. The only thing I wish was that I didn't have to remove the frunk to adjust the front compression settings as that's a bit of a pain. I guess that's what I get for too much tinkering? Hope that helps, if there are specific questions you have feel free to ask.
As promised. Very clean. Apologies that no banana is provided for scale. 
Thanks for the detailed reply and photos. Incredibly helpful, just what I needed to make my decision.As promised. Very clean. Apologies that no banana is provided for scale.
Collutio
Member
No need if you're willing to drill a tiny hidden hole in your frunk, and buy a long Allen key.
Lindenwood
Active Member
Anyone else got pics? I have been pondering grabbing a Model 3 RWD for my wife to replace her 4Runner next summer and we would probably need it to perform all those “off-road” duties and would thus end up lifted.
@Lindenwood Lifted or no, a RWD Model 3 feels like a pretty forced choice for any "off-road" duties, to be frank. I love driving the Model 3 as much as anyone and I'm sure the base version still has the inherent goodness, but RWD with an open diff seems like a questionable choice if driving off pavement is part of the criteria, when coming from a 4Runner.
I'm not saying wherever she takes it can't be done with RWD. I'm just saying that given how plentiful AWD/4WD cars options are these days, electric and ICE, there would be a pretty long list I'd pick from for this before a RWD Model 3, to give me confidence and control when things get especially slippery / steep / etc.
Heck even with dual motor AWD, I can still very much tell the M3P has open diffs front & rear. Its traction is good most of the time, probably better than most people are used to, but it's not at the level of my last ICE car with 3x limited slip diffs (including fully lockable center). I'm not messing with the drive units to put an LSD in while it's under warranty though!
Lindenwood
Active Member
Hah, we don’t really “off-road” any more, but to be clear, I mostly mean using it on any surfaces which would make me cringe a little in my lowered M3P
.@Lindenwood Ahh gotcha! As fast as your M3P is around the turns, it might struggle on my driveways.Hah, we don’t really “off-road” any more, but to be clear, I mostly mean using it on any surfaces which would make me cringe a little in my lowered M3P
(One has a steep dip that calls for careful angling even in a stock height M3P, the other is unpaved...)
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MountainPass Performance Comfort Coilovers
@Dr.Will that looks clean af with the te's. I personally experienced little settling. Maybe a couple mm at most. Ride stayed as good as the day it was Installed. Definitely good to know! I’ll drive then get alignment in 500-1000 miles. Thanks again for the help
teslamotorsclub.com
Personally I think it will look a bit weird, unless you are putting rally tyres and mud flaps, driving lights etc. Each to their own tho.
@SpicySol "Void the warranty" is too broad. Also, what locality are you asking for? Local laws and norms can influence the outcome of warranty claims on modded cars.
In the USA (in general, things can vary by state) I would still expect Tesla to honor things like HVB failure, MCU failure, HVAC failure, interior stuff, etc.
Drive unit...maybe, maybe not, depending if Tesla service thinks (or want to claim) that your axle angles contributed to the failure. That would be a tough thing to argue with them on because service centers here don't normally do any kind of work or teardown on a drive unit itself, they just swap it out if they think there's any kind of issue inside.
Suspension...personally I wouldn't even ask for suspension repairs from Tesla on a car with any suspension mods. That would be real awkward. No matter the outcome, it doesn't seem worthwhile. Model 3 suspension is standard car stuff and the Tesla OEM parts are cheap. (Btw eBay sellers like to mark up Tesla OEM parts, always get a quote from Tesla directly, it's often cheaper.) If I've modded my suspension I'd much rather save my relationship and goodwill with the service team for the unrelated things (not suspension) that would be a lot more expensive and/or difficult for me to take care of on my own (e.g. HVB, MCU, octovalve heat pump, etc).
Even if the failure is a suspension part that's still stock, and seems unrelated to my suspension mods...I still wouldn't even ask. E.g. I'm on coilovers right now, at about stock height, with stock FUCA. The stock FUCA bearing is a very common failure point on these cars, there's a decent chance mine will failure during warranty period. None of my suspension mods should contribute to early FUCA failure. But I still wouldn't bother Tesla service about it. OEM FUCA are cheap and replacement is very straightforward. Or instead of OEM maybe I'd use it as an excuse to get nice adjustable aftermarket ones. Either way I'd take care of it.
Now if my HVB were to die under warranty...you bet I'd asking for that to be fixed (replaced), and I wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
In my experience most Tesla service folks are good, reasonable people just trying to do their job. Be nice and reasonable to them and they will treat you in kind. YMMV of course.
Modding cars can get you a vehicle and driving experience you can't buy straight from an automaker/dealer. But if you want zero risk of any extra hassle...if you want to always just drop it at Tesla and have them take care of it no matter the issue...best to stay stock.Similar threads
