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Master Brake Cylinder Brace from Mountain Pass Performance MPP

Will you order the brace?

  • Yes

    Votes: 43 64.2%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 16 23.9%
  • No

    Votes: 8 11.9%

  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .
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Hey everyone,

Starting this thread, please leave comments, questions and for fun I've setup a poll.


I quickly pulled the trigger on the new Mountain Pass Performance Master Brake Cylinder Brace.
Ref: MPP Model 3 Brake Master Cylinder Brace | Mountain Pass Performance


When I noticed the product, the first question has a simple answer. Why would the master cylinder need a brace? The title of the following short video has everything you need to know and I strongly suggest you take a look.


Tesla Model 3 Brake Master Cylinder Movement


Even if the RWD/AWD come with huge rotor/caliper/disc and the P with even better performance brakes, such movement of the master cylinder impairs the performance of the system. If there would be no movement, when you move the pedal from position 0 to 2 then moving the pedal from 2 to 4 should perform identically, i.e. linear system. For me, that's exactly how it feels - it's not linear and because the cylinder moves, we need to move the pedal further more.

I own a 2018 AWD and each times I needed the brake to stop the car urgently... it doesn't feel right. Unlike my previous sport cars, with the 3 I often ended up in situations wondering if the car would stop on time and soon realize that I need to almost floor the pedal to the firewall. I've been wondering "why so?".


Unless the M3P cylinder is mounted differently, it seems all models could benefit from this brace.


The big question, will MPP brace fix the issue?

Knowing that brake disc are ~ 1mm away, perhaps even less, from the rotor, if there's any movement of the cylinder it must be impairing the overall performance. Having always heard great words from MPP, their product lines is fabulous and I admit the following comment on their product page is the reason I pulled the trigger :

Wanting to ensure that a brace would make an actual difference, we designed a simple prototype brace and took turns doing some blind tests to see if the driver could perceive when the master cylinder brace was installed. Not only did everyone that try it get the test right 100% of the time (every time you could tell whether it was removed or added), the difference was substantial!


Is it worth the money?

if you can prevent to be in an accident, it is likely a good investment. I received the product today, I'm installing this Wednesday morning. After installation and test, I'll let you know how it feels :)

I don't have my tripod with me, I might not be able to produce an installation video. If not, I'll definitely document the installation with high-res photos and post later in the thread.


MPP Master Braker Cylinder Brace.jpg
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Lets us know... also if you can check if the mount is not putting stress on the MC itself that could break with time.

Thanks!

The MC Brace is adjustable and should only preload the master cylinder slightly. If you were to really crank it down you would be flexing the firewall in the opposite direction which likely wouldn't cause any harm, but isn't exactly showing much mechanical sympathy.
 
Hey again everyone, brace has been installed and road brake test is over.

Before I tell you how the brake test went, lets go over the installation using below pictures.


Step 1 : remove those 2 bolts. They both have green loctite, don't be surprised if they're not easy to remove!

In this picture you can see there's a "yellow/orange" layer, is case you wonder I spray CRC Marine Heavy Duty Corrosion Inhibitor. If you are interested, at far end of this post I will put the link to someone that heavily tested such products.

Brace-Remove-Screws.jpg




Below is the pressure point from the brace on the master cylinder. After removing the 2 OEM bolts, hold the brace with your 2 hands above all 3 holes and adjust until to have the pressure point touch the cylinder while the 3 holes are perfectly aligned. I managed to do it so that once I secure the brace in place, no further adjustment was needed .... BUT I just noticed on the picture there's a ~2mm gap. I will likely re-adjust slightly but I'm not sure if I really need since the brace made a huge difference even with that small gap.

Brace-Pressure-Point.jpg



The next picture shows left side of the brace, installation is over!

IMPORTANT : BE CAREFUL NOT DROP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CAR A SPACER, A WASHER OR THE NUT. I happen to have dropped a spacer at the bottom. By tapping the trim under the car, in the middle, the spacer slowly moved to its right until I could use my hand and pick it.

For the bolt on the left shown with a spacer below the brace, there's a washer & nut. I couldn't find a way to hold on the nut with a wrench while turning the bolt to secure it in place. If you have a 90 degree wrench, you should be fine otherwise you might need to move to the left the battery. I do have a 90 degree wrench but not here with me. I can't confirm it's going to work but from my visual I don't see why it wouldn't.

For the 2 other bolts, I suggest you do use loctite. I don't know why but the short M10 bolt - the one in the far back - was quite more difficult to remove than the long M10. Screwing in the new M10 short bolt wasn't so easy either. If everything is lined up properly, use your hand to start screwing in those 2 bolts. If you need to use a wrench, it's likely because you're not lined up properly and you might damage something.


Brace-Left.jpg



Below is picture from right side of the brace showing the M10 bolt with the spacer that I had dropped :)

Brace-Right-Side.jpg



Below is top view.
Brace-Top.jpg



Below is a last picture before putting back the trim that will hide the beauty of this brace!

Brace-Final.jpg




The brake test : How did it go? I left my driveway and less than 5 seconds later I did my first test. It didn't take long I had a BIG smile on my face. I went on another road where I could drive much faster and... again, I was amazed. Finally the pedal / brake experience is by far better and feels right.

Would I buy again? YES YES YES

If you have any questions, reach out to me or MPP.


Here's the Corrosion Inhibitor products test :

 
Hey again everyone, brace has been installed and road brake test is over.

Before I tell you how the brake test went, lets go over the installation using below pictures.


Step 1 : remove those 2 bolts. They both have green loctite, don't be surprised if they're not easy to remove!

In this picture you can see there's a "yellow/orange" layer, is case you wonder I spray CRC Marine Heavy Duty Corrosion Inhibitor. If you are interested, at far end of this post I will put the link to someone that heavily tested such products.

View attachment 550051



Below is the pressure point from the brace on the master cylinder. After removing the 2 OEM bolts, hold the brace with your 2 hands above all 3 holes and adjust until to have the pressure point touch the cylinder while the 3 holes are perfectly aligned. I managed to do it so that once I secure the brace in place, no further adjustment was needed .... BUT I just noticed on the picture there's a ~2mm gap. I will likely re-adjust slightly but I'm not sure if I really need since the brace made a huge difference even with that small gap.

View attachment 550050


The next picture shows left side of the brace, installation is over!

IMPORTANT : BE CAREFUL NOT DROP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CAR A SPACER, A WASHER OR THE NUT. I happen to have dropped a spacer at the bottom. By tapping the trim under the car, in the middle, the spacer slowly moved to its right until I could use my hand and pick it.

For the bolt on the left shown with a spacer below the brace, there's a washer & nut. I couldn't find a way to hold on the nut with a wrench while turning the bolt to secure it in place. If you have a 90 degree wrench, you should be fine otherwise you might need to move to the left the battery. I do have a 90 degree wrench but not here with me. I can't confirm it's going to work but from my visual I don't see why it wouldn't.

For the 2 other bolts, I suggest you do use loctite. I don't know why but the short M10 bolt - the one in the far back - was quite more difficult to remove than the long M10. Screwing in the new M10 short bolt wasn't so easy either. If everything is lined up properly, use your hand to start screwing in those 2 bolts. If you need to use a wrench, it's likely because you're not lined up properly and you might damage something.


View attachment 550049


Below is picture from right side of the brace showing the M10 bolt with the spacer that I had dropped :)

View attachment 550052


Below is top view.
View attachment 550053


Below is a last picture before putting back the trim that will hide the beauty of this brace!

View attachment 550048



The brake test : How did it go? I left my driveway and less than 5 seconds later I did my first test. It didn't take long I had a BIG smile on my face. I went on another road where I could drive much faster and... again, I was amazed. Finally the pedal / brake experience is by far better and feels right.

Would I buy again? YES YES YES

If you have any questions, reach out to me or MPP.


Here's the Corrosion Inhibitor products test :



Thank you for this super detailed review! I had the same reaction after testing the first rendition of the brace. It's funny because I normally pride myself in 1 pedal driving, but after installing the brace I am just looking for excuses to slam the brakes :D

That corrosion inhibitor looks like a good idea for us Northern folk. Salty water shouldn't end up under the frunk trim, but I think it does eventually make its way in there during the winter.
 
Great review, thanks! A friend brought up one compromise with bracing the master cylinder this way that I didn't think about - it may change worst case front end collision dynamics. Could the master cylinder be braced in a way that doesn't risk it going into you in a bad front end collision?
 
Great review, thanks! A friend brought up one compromise with bracing the master cylinder this way that I didn't think about - it may change worst case front end collision dynamics. Could the master cylinder be braced in a way that doesn't risk it going into you in a bad front end collision?

A huge collision would just smash the master cylinder into the brake booster which is hollow, and if seriously severe it would push it into the upper dash area behind the steering wheel. If I had to get in a head-on collision in a Model 3 I would definitely prefer a RWD version with no motor in the front compartment!
 
That corrosion inhibitor looks like a good idea for us Northern folk. Salty water shouldn't end up under the frunk trim, but I think it does eventually make its way in there during the winter.

Welcome for the review... had to write it twice cuz my TMC session timed out. I used an editor and once I was done, I copy & pasted.

I was born in Montreal - listen to the video, crc doesn’t wear off except for front facing surfaces hit by sand/rocks. Still CRC does a great job.
 
Last edited:
Great review, thanks! A friend brought up one compromise with bracing the master cylinder this way that I didn't think about - it may change worst case front end collision dynamics. Could the master cylinder be braced in a way that doesn't risk it going into you in a bad front end collision?

That’s a good point but if a car is hit so hard that the brace breaks the master cylinder/booster, the replacement/fix might force insurance to call it a total lost, I kind of like that now.

That said, it’s true that the brace could have 1 or 2 “hollow” sections that would break on such front accident.