KW now has the Levelling V3 for Model 3. Is that identical to the MPP? Is it a better bet than MPP? Is keeping the same ride height going to affect the handling and/or comfort? Presumably KW considered the original V3 as the best trade off/balance for a sports sedan? In other words, would you stick with the original KW V3 or go with the Levelling version?
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Installed KW V3 coilovers
- Thread starter OneFastDoc_GTR
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MasterC17
Active Member
To my understanding, the "Levelling" V3 suspension is basically a version of the V3 with less minimum drop.
This is just my opinion, but I strongly doubt that any of KW's options are better than MPP's (and I have driven on the standard V3 for reference). The tiny slice of KW's business that is Tesla is not worth them investing any significant amount of time or money into.
On the other hand, coilovers are the core of MPP's business. So, it made sense for them to spend a lot of time, money, and R&D developing the best combination of valving, spring, ride height, etc from the get-go.
It's the same with Redwood and Ohlin's.
I also like to support small businesses, but that's just me.
@KimDicus2003 For street driving, stock height is best for comfort AND performance. Unless your streets are all racetrack smooth. I haven't been to Hong Kong, how well maintained are the roads there? Are there many big dips, potholes, speedbumps, steep driveways, pockmarked pavement, etc?
Low is slow on the streets anywhere I've lived.
If you're focusing more on track days, or just love the look of a lowered car, go for it! But don't kid yourself that it's making you faster on real world roads with potholes, speed bumps, steep driveways, pockmarked pavement, etc. You'll just hit your bumpstops and scrape more, and likely drive slower to minimize that.
Edit: To be clear, stock Model 3 suspension is mediocre. A mildly lowered Model 3 on good coilovers should easily handle better than stock even over the worst pavement, and can ride better too if the springs and dampers aren't excessively stiff for street use. From what I've read here, it sounds like KW V3 and Ohlins R&T coilovers (those brands' "off the shelf" options) are both quite stiff, intended for a mix of racetrack and street use. I would highly suggest MPP KW, Redwood Ohlins DFV, etc for offering much more finely tuned options for different use cases.
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MasterC17
Active Member
I totally agree. I have my daily (LR RWD) set to stockish height and it's very nice not to have to worry about every little pothole, curb, or incline!
Hey sick setup! Do you mind sharing what settings you had them set your coils too? I got a set but they are take offs and have no idea what settings they had before I bought them. Any info would be appreciated thx
Thanks. As far as height is concerned, they are set to the KW recommended height for track setup, whatever that is. I just got a second Model 3P and I can measure the fender to ground height of that car and compare it to the car with coilers. The dampers are set to full soft. Full hard is really for track use only. It is super rock hard and will knock out your teeth! Lol. On full soft it is stiff but tolerable and the handling is truly amazing, like night and day compared to just doing springs. The cars I drove with aftermarket springs felt like they were stock with not really any perceptible improvement in handling. A proper set of coilovers really does wonders for this car.
Thank you for the info! I have a set that I currently have but have yet to install. I’m back and forth on selling them and getting MPP since I don’t really need to adjust settings since it’s just a daily for me. Yeah lmk how much drop it is compared to your stock M3P, instructions for KW are so hard to read since most of it is in German lol
I measured the fender height between my stock M3P and my other M3P with the KW V3 coilovers. The stock fender height from the ground is 28 1/4" and the 27 1/8", so the height difference is 1 1/8" of a drop (the ride height my coilovers are set to). If you look at a comparison of the two cars though, it looks as though the car with the coilovers is much lower. I'll try to post a pic.
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