We *finally* have all all of our pre-orders finished and shipping, as well as additional GT and Performance kit components which we are beginning to build up now. We currently have 10 more GT and 10 more performance kits available as of yesterday!
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Vendor Model 3 Öhlins DFV Coilovers - Engineered by Redwood Motorsports ™
- Thread starter RedwoodMotors
- Start date
We *finally* have all all of our pre-orders finished and shipping, as well as additional GT and Performance kit components which we are beginning to build up now. We currently have 10 more GT and 10 more performance kits available as of yesterday!
P3D-R
Closed
Yes, I'd say with the dampers set in the range 15-20 all round there's less crashing over bad roads and potholes but much better control.
So far on track I've been in the 5-10 range. Anything less than 5 on the rear is too firm and the car begins to skip.
On the road, I've softened it off in the 20-30 range and I'd say that's as comfortable as stock but better ride quality, although it does become a bit 'bouncy' on fast roads and highways at speed, so I am sticking to 10-15 all round for town/country driving and 20-25 all round for city only driving.
The biggest issue is that it's difficult to get to the adjustment on the rears, so if you do a lot of mixed driving you will have to find your own compromise.
Overall though they are a big improvement over stock and eliminate the problems you get when the OEM suspension rides on the bump stops through fast, long corners.
So far on track I've been in the 5-10 range. Anything less than 5 on the rear is too firm and the car begins to skip.
On the road, I've softened it off in the 20-30 range and I'd say that's as comfortable as stock but better ride quality, although it does become a bit 'bouncy' on fast roads and highways at speed, so I am sticking to 10-15 all round for town/country driving and 20-25 all round for city only driving.
The biggest issue is that it's difficult to get to the adjustment on the rears, so if you do a lot of mixed driving you will have to find your own compromise.
Overall though they are a big improvement over stock and eliminate the problems you get when the OEM suspension rides on the bump stops through fast, long corners.
P3D-R
Closed
I completely agree with everything you've said sir.
The rear adjustment is actually quite easy once you figure out the right angle. I've done it so many times that I can now adjust both sides in less than 30 seconds. I use my right hand to adjust both sides since I'm right handed. On the left one I lay parallel on the side of the car and reach in behind the wheel. On the right one I lay perpendicular behind the car and reach in behind the wheel.
I think it depends on how small and young your hands are to a certain extent. Mine are large and old.
It's not the size, there aren't any tight places to get into. You just have to be able to bend your wrist. It's not that hard otherwise.I think it depends on how small and young your hands are to a certain extent. Mine are large and old.
I also agree with this assessment. Overall I am impressed with the handling. I haven’t been to the track, but I am far more confident taking corners at higher speeds and overall the car just feels so damn smooth to me. That said, I do want to add one thing that I have been extremely disappointed with thus far. I have a really bad rattle coming from the rear now. It’s mostly noticeable at slow speeds when driving on rough roads or especially in parking lots where the concrete has minor ripples - this is the worse. At first it seemed to only come from the driver side, but after a long road trip I now hear coming from both sides.
This is an old recording I sent to Redwood a short while after they installed the coil overs. This was taken in a parking structure going about 10-25mph. The sound is not audible outside the car, I’ve stood outside while the car passed me by and have also driven against a wall and you don’t hear anything outside, only inside the cabin.
Suspension sound
Unfortunately I am in the Los Angeles area so it’s not easy to shoot back to Freemont to have them address this. Heath and Christian have been very helpful via text and email, however it doesn’t sound like there’s much I can do for now except to wait and hope for the rear spherical bearings to break in. I tried adding WD40 to the bearings as suggested but that barely made a difference and was short-lived.
Heath mentioned they would have a rubber lower bushing for street use available in the future. I really hope this is sooner than later because this rattle is really getting on my nerves and is actually quite embarrassing when giving people joy rides. I haven’t heard this much noise from a car’s suspension since I had my falling apart POS Nissan Sentra I bought in high school for $800. It really is a shame considering how well the car handles now. Damn does it handle well. I have the biggest smile on my face until I hear the rattle and then a little part of me dies. Anyways, just wanted to add my experience since nobody else has mentioned rattles. I really can’t wait to get this resolved.
(Edited to fix soundcloud link)
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+1 on the rattle from the spherical bearings. I got it after I reinstalled rear shocks to add rubber tophat isolators that were missing in the original package. WD40 helps for a few days. I was gonna remove the isolators again, on the theory that that piece of rubber could be acting as noise amplifier somehow, but haven't had the chance to do it, with weather being really uncomfortable to work on cars.
I need to install an A/C in my garage. I hope this gets sorted out eventually. This is why we got the early adopter discount.
I need to install an A/C in my garage. I hope this gets sorted out eventually. This is why we got the early adopter discount.
I was going to say, "Let me know if you ever get around to removing the isolators and that helps," but the truth is I don't even have the tools or the knowhow to take apart my own suspension.
You make a good point about the discount and being early adopters. All in all, I don't have any regrets about my purchase. I think the guys at Redwood put out a quality product that does what they promised. I wish them all the success - they truly deserve it. Prior to ordering my coilovers, I had already purchased rear toe & camber arms from another popular manufacturer on these forums but I lost money selling them just so I could buy Redwood's arms. After seeing someone post pictures on here, I realized the build quality between the two didn't come close.
The car is a pleasure to take on road trips; windy roads are fun to drive and crappy city streets with pot holes don't feel like they're going to knock my teeth out like before. I didn't realize how painful it was going over speed bumps on my wife's new Stelvio until I experienced going over speed bumps with my coilovers.... as long as I have my music turned up to drown the rattle...haha.
I have faith this will get sorted out and I'll continue to be patient and wait for those rubber bushings if the rattle doesn't go away on its own. Heath mentioned the bearings would eventually break in and the rattle would go away so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
I took my car back to Redwoods 2 weeks ago for this exact rear rattle. They took the rear shocks out and lubricated the bearings. At least for me this helped a lot with the noise but there is still some. I think you have to remove shock and work that lubricant into the bearing. The trunk area amplifies noise so I'm going to accelerate my plan to dynomat it to see how much that helps.
Heath also mentioned the new rubber bearing. It's a conversion kit with an entire new lower rear assembly so I'm guessing it will not be cheap.
Heath also mentioned the new rubber bearing. It's a conversion kit with an entire new lower rear assembly so I'm guessing it will not be cheap.
P3D-R
Closed
I was going to say, "Let me know if you ever get around to removing the isolators and that helps," but the truth is I don't even have the tools or the knowhow to take apart my own suspension.
You make a good point about the discount and being early adopters. All in all, I don't have any regrets about my purchase. I think the guys at Redwood put out a quality product that does what they promised. I wish them all the success - they truly deserve it. Prior to ordering my coilovers, I had already purchased rear toe & camber arms from another popular manufacturer on these forums but I lost money selling them just so I could buy Redwood's arms. After seeing someone post pictures on here, I realized the build quality between the two didn't come close.
The car is a pleasure to take on road trips; windy roads are fun to drive and crappy city streets with pot holes don't feel like they're going to knock my teeth out like before. I didn't realize how painful it was going over speed bumps on my wife's new Stelvio until I experienced going over speed bumps with my coilovers.... as long as I have my music turned up to drown the rattle...haha.
I have faith this will get sorted out and I'll continue to be patient and wait for those rubber bushings if the rattle doesn't go away on its own. Heath mentioned the bearings would eventually break in and the rattle would go away so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Hey D, I have a Giulia base model also, on KW V3's, and have been waiting to get a Stelvio QV but once I heard about the motor out timing adjustments in typical Ferrari fashion I said forget it. I'll pm you a pic of the giulia. It's pretty cool. I strongly feel the Model 3 and the Giorgio FCA platform are true driver's vehicles.
That's correct, we do have a new lower version which was actually intended for the Model Y - though we have been working on ways to adapt to the Model 3. This will be coming in the future, and we will offer the rear rubber bushing upgrade to anyone that has an earlier kit who would like to switch in the future. That said, the bearings WILL loosen up over time and once they do the ride is virtually silent.
Here's the rundown on the noise some people experience from the rear over broken pavement at slow speeds:
The Ohlins DFV dampers are a performance damper, and allow the shock shaft to move slightly in relation to the shock body if side load is applied - this improves the wear characteristics of the damper and allows the damper to absorb some side-load. If the shock shaft moves it can be heard as an extremely faint clicking - assuming the shaft moves before the bearing does. In the Model 3, the upper shock mount acts like an amplifier - any small sound is transmitted through the shock tower and reverberates through the chassis. While this is similar to other cars, the Telsa is completely silent, which makes the noise more pronounced. This shaft movement only occurs if the bearings are new and tight (with a looser bearing, the bearing moves/pivots before load is transferred to the shock shaft).
A rubber lower mount on the other hand, forces the shock shaft to be permanently loaded in one direction or the other, meaning it is not perfectly floating in the middle of the shock. Not a problem from a wear perspective and significantly reduces the noise from new bearings, but this reduces performance as the rubber being in-line with the internal shaft/piston means there is a slight time delay between the movement of the wheel, and movement then transferred to the shaft/piston - and the reaction of the internal piston. This delayed reaction between movement and damping is called hysteresis - reducing hysteresis is the name of the game in suspension design, and Ohlins has extremely low hysteresis compared to other shocks... you want the shock to perfectly track and damp even the smallest wheel movements. The better contact patch you can maintain with the road surface the more traction you have, simple as that. Ohlins DFV's have a very low level of hysteresis - so in a perfect world you would have zero rubber in a suspension. That said it can be used to lower NVH in certain circumstances - which is why we have considered this method for a more affordable alternative to the spherical (with less annoyance/noise waiting for the bearings to break in).
Yes once they're broken in and moving smoothly they pivot before the shaft can move, which is the noose people are hearing. One of the downsides of starting with fresh sphericals. In the other chassis we work on (ICE cars) you'd never hear them while they break-in over the exhaust. The Model 3 just so happens to be extremely quiet AND amplify any noises heard, so it's extremely tough from an auditory perspective.
rotus8
Member
rotus8
Member
I use this stuff, expensive but a little goes a long way
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036RNKCO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_vVSdFbACVBHXW
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