Vendor Model 3 Öhlins DFV Coilovers - Engineered by Redwood Motorsports ™

[TheWulf]

Our custom springs are manufactured by Swift in Japan to our specs.

Oh man I loooooove Swift springs. I ran these on my RX8 for years with Tokico D-spec shocks and Progress tech sway bars. The combo had some track veterans literally shaking their heads after a few laps in pure disbelief after stepping out of the car.

Keeping an eye on this thread for feedback once people start receiving their kits!

 

[Miztawizord]

Oh man I loooooove Swift springs. I ran these on my RX8 for years with Tokico D-spec shocks and Progress tech sway bars. The combo had some track veterans literally shaking their heads after a few laps in pure disbelief after stepping out of the car.

Keeping an eye on this thread for feedback once people start receiving their kits!

Me too. Kit seems legit as Ohlins is simply a great damper. I'm hoping since I'm close enough to Fremont if i'll be granted a test drive/ride in one of their cars. Hard for me to shell out $3k+ and not know how they feel.

Keep us posted @RedwoodMotors

 

[RedwoodMotors]

Oh man I loooooove Swift springs. I ran these on my RX8 for years with Tokico D-spec shocks and Progress tech sway bars. The combo had some track veterans literally shaking their heads after a few laps in pure disbelief after stepping out of the car.

Keeping an eye on this thread for feedback once people start receiving their kits!

Same, they're some of the best in the industry! All of our custom kits feature Swift Springs which are made custom for us in Japan, and we've been working with them for many years to produce custom springs for us for unique applications. All of our inventory for Swift is done custom for us in Ohlins Yellow (they also produce all of the springs for the custom Ohlins kits for Ohlins Japan). Swift is one of the best in the business when it comes to spring rate accuracy through the stroke range, maximum spring stroke, no sagging over time, and lighter weight versus other spring manufacturers. They've got some pretty cool proprietary spring metallurgy and manufacturing practices which set them apart from other spring manufacturers, and are used in the highest levels of motorsports.

Me too. Kit seems legit as Ohlins is simply a great damper. I'm hoping since I'm close enough to Fremont if i'll be granted a test drive/ride in one of their cars. Hard for me to shell out $3k+ and not know how they feel.

Keep us posted @RedwoodMotors

Come on by, we'd be happy to give you a ride! Shoot us an email to schedule an appointment, [email protected] as often the development cars are taken apart for testing or swapping in new components/parts. Once we have some more kits in the wild (come January) there will be many more opportunities to get a test ride with these damper kits across the US. We have some vendors now in Taiwan and the UK, with more international vendors we're working things out with as well to get these out world wide.

 

[SD_Engnr]

Me too. Kit seems legit as Ohlins is simply a great damper. I'm hoping since I'm close enough to Fremont if i'll be granted a test drive/ride in one of their cars. Hard for me to shell out $3k+ and not know how they feel.

Keep us posted @RedwoodMotors

I'll third that. Last car was on Sprint springs, and they were amazing. Love my MPP's, but looking forward to hearing some reviews once these hit the streets.

 

[Miztawizord]

Same, they're some of the best in the industry! All of our custom kits feature Swift Springs which are made custom for us in Japan, and we've been working with them for many years to produce custom springs for us for unique applications. All of our inventory for Swift is done custom for us in Ohlins Yellow (they also produce all of the springs for the custom Ohlins kits for Ohlins Japan). Swift is one of the best in the business when it comes to spring rate accuracy through the stroke range, maximum spring stroke, no sagging over time, and lighter weight versus other spring manufacturers. They've got some pretty cool proprietary spring metallurgy and manufacturing practices which set them apart from other spring manufacturers, and are used in the highest levels of motorsports.



Come on by, we'd be happy to give you a ride! Shoot us an email to schedule an appointment, [email protected] as often the development cars are taken apart for testing or swapping in new components/parts. Once we have some more kits in the wild (come January) there will be many more opportunities to get a test ride with these damper kits across the US. We have some vendors now in Taiwan and the UK, with more international vendors we're working things out with as well to get these out world wide.

Awesome! I should finally get my M3P in the next week or so and will be seeing you guys in January. Love the swift springs. Had swifts on my GTR with the stock bilsteins and felt great! Also added swift springs as an upgrade on my track civic with fortune auto dampers. Looking forward to seeing them mated with some Ohlins.

 

[RedwoodMotors]

Thanks for all the information and answers so far, Redwood.

A few more questions:

(1) Please comment more on the removal of OEM soft rubber bushings you mentioned for the Ohlins install? Why is that required and what is the benefit? Can you quantify any tradeoff in NVH for street use?

(2) With the Ohlins installed, are control arms for camber/toe adjustment required to get a "good" neutral alignment for street/spirited road use at stock ride height? Would they be required for a "good" alignment if the car is lowered one inch?

(3) Can you comment on pairing of this Ohlins kit with stiffer/non-OEM sway bars for street or mild/moderate track use?

(4) Is the install "plug and play" replacement of the OEM setup? Are there any non-OEM mounting points or modifications required for the install?

(5) What are the details of the "limited liftetime" warranty? Is the warranty voided with track (HPDE) use?

1. There is no removal of rubber bushings from the chassis itself, but the rear lower shock has a built-in rubber bushing that is inserted into the shock body. Since the Ohlins dampers use the shock shaft velocity to determine damping pressure, our lower mount for the rear is a spherical bearing instead of the cheap rubber mount in the lower damper body.

2. No more than any other shock. If you set the car up to stock ride height or slightly lower, it's not necessary. For all lowered cars (all lowering springs, coilovers adjusted to a low ride height, etc.) you'll want to be able to adjust the non-adjustable toe and camber settings as these change when you lower a car. Not a necessity, but nice to be able to do if your goal is tire longevity. For track use where you're wanting additional adjustment for performance toe / camber rear, and camber/caster up front, our arms are a nice add on!

3. Stiffer sway bars are always welcome for track use for additional roll control. This can be done by increasing main spring rate as well, but with the downside of a stiffer ride. Depending on the application, you can tune with sway bars, main springs, or a combination of the two. We have sway bars in the works currently stay tuned for those

4. It's all plug and play, no modification needed, and you can go back to stock at any point! All of our products follow this same philosophy, one of our top priorities is to prevent customers from needing to make any permanent modifications to their cars!

5. We offer the same limited warranty as Ohlins, which is 2 years and unlimited miles on the Ohlins dampers themselves, and lifetime warranty on all of our mounting components, springs, etc to be free from manufacturer defects. Damage due to accidents and impacts are not covered by the warranty. Wear items such as bearings, bump stops, etc. are warrantied for two years, but not covered by the lifetime warranty.

 

[Tres_Azul]

Try to stay with Öhlins dampers on my motorcycles... excited to hear reviews on these. Would be cool to knock 0.5-1.0-ish inches off ride height and improve ride quality & control. (don't want to need adj. camber arms, etc.)

Hopefully one of you early adopters is in the PHX valley so I can take a ride / offer the OEM SR+ for comparison.

 

[COplains]

@RedwoodMotors, the photos of stock and your product made me wonder - are the lower spring perches the same size? Looking for SCCA street compliant dampers.

 

[RedwoodMotors]

The lowers are on the rear, for the front they're not but it would be relatively easy to make a spring adapter as the top in front are the same size... so you'd just need a delrin or aluminum lower spring adapter. We're not planning on making these currently but if there is enough interest it's possible!

 

[cyoma]

@RedwoodMotors - from another thread, looks like you are offering a "grand touring" version of these for an even smoother ride. Can you please comment on that ? What is the difference compared to these ? When available for sale ?

 

[RedwoodMotors]

***UPDATE***
​

Based on feedback from customers we have decided to add a second variant to our lineup which we are currently developing. We have realized that there really are two camps of Model 3 owners, those looking for large gains in performance, and those looking for large gains in comfort/ride quality.

As a result, we have decided to split our lineup into two kits. The current kit will be referred to as Performance Sport (the focus being maximum grip, handling - with very good ride quality), and Grand Touring (the focus being maximizing ride quality and a plush feel - with better than stock performance).

All of the hardware in the two kits is identical, aside from the internal valving curves (think of this as the software that controls the feel and behavior of the suspension), and a reduced spring rate for the Grand Touring kit. Our custom Swift Springs are in production as we speak for the Grand Touring kits, and we are actively working on new valving parameters. *The Grand Touring ship dates will be a little over a month behind the current Performance Sport kits due to spring production.

Model 3 Öhlins DFV Coilovers - Engineered by Redwood Motorsports ™

 

[Needsdecaf]

So....I’m confused. What would you equate the ride of each of these systems too? What would be, say, E46 M3? The sport ones with the settings dialed back? What would the Grand Touring be? A Lexus GS 350?

will not be tracking. Drive consists of mainly concrete highways. But I don’t want a cushy ride. FWIW, I owned a GS350 FSport and thought it was too soft, even with the shocks on stiff. I also had an F10 535 with dynamic handling and that was too soft also. I think the F10 M5 and F80 M3 are too harsh. Too stiff without enough performance benefit, IMO. E92 M3 was also good. 991.2 Carrera without Sport PASM is perfect.

 

[nojtheta]

This sounds like a great option. Redwood, can you maybe clarify a little more?

Asked a different way: given a driver who only goes to HPDE/auto-x a couple times a year at most on street legal tires (dedicated set), but commutes a ton and enjoys spirited back road driving, would the Performance Sport or the Grand Touring be a better match for them? Or could either set be adjusted to be acceptable for that kind of driver, generally speaking?

 

[Murattukaalai]

My question is if GT is using same digressive valving how it would smooth out the ride at low speeds? Do you still feel the bumps and potholes like stock? What about high speed freeway cracks and lines? With stock going over each of these lines gives me a headache. I’m reading we need linear valving and progressive springs for smoother ride but you pay the performance penalty. How is ohlins dampener different from KWs?

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Surprised that the sport and touring versions would have the exact same springs.

 

[Needsdecaf]

Surprised that the sport and touring versions would have the exact same springs.

That was the same thing I thought at first but after reading through it again, I realized that it says same springs but "reduced spring rate". Presumably meaning that they are the same Swift springs with the same type of steel, just a different rate.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

That was the same thing I thought at first but after reading through it again, I realized that it says same springs but "reduced spring rate". Presumably meaning that they are the same Swift springs with the same type of steel, just a different rate.

Good catch.

 

[Murattukaalai]

I see 7K/11K swift springs on sport but don't have picture for GT, so it must be somewhere around 6k/10k with comfort valving

 

[Needsdecaf]

@RedwoodMotors any more info or feedback?

Also, can you tell us where you stand with regard to # of sets ordered in the initial run for both sets, and when you might be shipping?

Thank you.

 

[Kaane]

Any noise / nvh concerns with the spherical bushings?