Model Y Suspension Suggestions

[Jigglypuff]

Oh, that's a good deal.

Got the wheels. Gen 1 aero with wheel covers and TPMS plus super worn model 3 tires for $400. One rim has a bad scratch. I'll live.

 

[JMSJM3]

Great thread. Kudos to the vendors trying to help the OP and each of us as individual clients. Hope everyone continues to support ZEV, MPP, EAS etc. Each of them helped me a lot with various questions even without purchasing. As we all know the Y suspension is not great. Understatement. Everything is a tradeoff when you start tinkering with it. PSA, it will never be perfect. I have a comparison review that I have started but haven't posted yet because I've actually gone from oem YP to Flex Z to MPP Comforts (through EAS). Will try to post that sometime soon.

To echo Tom and others, you get what pay for. I wanted to eliminate wheel gap and try to smooth out the jitteriness and eliminate highway float. Flex Z accomplishes this mostly and at a mid price point. However, I had front left spring boing at times (because of the design) and the rear of the car still was still crashy for my liking especially with a load, people. Fronts actually felt ok mostly and performance was decent. I ran 7/10 mostly for settings with 275/40/20 DWS. Car looked amazing and was smoother vs oem but I wanted to solve the issues I still had.

After a massive amount of research and discussions with each of those vendors I decided on MPP Comforts. I would have gone Ohlins GT if I had the cash but I also didn't want the added maintenance and so whatever additional comfort or performance can be had with those wasnt worth it for me.

For my needs, the MPP Comforts was an awesome upgrade! They are honestly night and day better in comparison to either previous setup but they should be as they are twice the cost of Flex Z. It's so hard to put into words but as a general feeling between the two MPP just feels so much more sophisticated or educated. Immediately the car felt different with road transitions like low to high, entrances, driveways etc. The extra droop and travel of MPP is massively noticeable vs Flex Z. I would find myself cringing at times on my normal drives with oem and Flex Z like quick lownto high transitions or sharp stuff and the MPP just devours that stuff. I no longer cringe driving around town. Car is low and tight and obviously still a bit stiff but my car actually feels like a performance car should now. So much more composed. So much more stable. So much better balance. Again hard to put into words. MPP supports the car in a way that feels natural. I've driven model 3s and always wanted my YP to feel like a 3. I believe MPP is as close as you can get to it feeling like a 3. I have no spring bind or noise. Car corners flat and feels just totally stupid coming out of slow tight turns or swooping on/off ramps. I have to watch my speed because I can really push the car now. It has no highway float at all. Car should not feel this good and I even went back to some light weight 21's with staggered 255/40 and 275/40 tires, 36-38 psi. For settings during summer I was 12/12 fr, 11/9 rear and after the tires were warmed the car would have this this liquid like sensation at times, crazy awesome. Now that Temps are colder I've gone to 13/12, 12/12 to keep things a little softer.

My car is not perfect though. I still have the notorious Y rattles front door, rear Amp, rear door, rear hatch, rear view mirror lol especially when all the plastics are cold. I will address some of that at some point but for now...I am happy.

Do your research, talk with vendors, understand the tradeoffs and be prepared for some trial and error. I did the installs in my garage with me teenage son (and labradoodle) and we had a blast each time.

While I'm here, quick thanks to Tom at EAS and massive thank you to Jesse at MPP who helped me before during and after install with various newb questions. (and everyone in that old MPP mega thread)

Good luck in your quest OP! MPP Comforts with your wheel/tire setup and dialed in settings would be a great upgrade...imo. My .02 cents.

Yes, I agree with all of those statements about the new MPP non adjustables.. I can drive down any street now and not worry if I am gonna dip bounce jitter etc.. after some more driving on them - I am super happy.. I may drop it more later but 1/2 in looks pretty good to me ..

 

[Jigglypuff]

The BFG Trail-Terrain tire is as advertised - not noisy, good highway performance, and very good on dirt/rock roads.

Tire rack rips them apart in their reviews. They say the Falken WildPeak A/T Trail is the way to go. They should be good on icy mornings, moderate mud slides, and rocky roads. They're also a bit cheaper.

 

[tangible1]

Tire rack rips them apart in their reviews. They say the Falken WildPeak A/T Trail is the way to go. They should be good on icy mornings, moderate mud slides, and rocky roads. They're also a bit cheaper.

Tire Rack reviews..... I have them, I use them, they've been as advertised by BFG.
In short, I'm a satisfied user.
In reality, either will likely do for the use cases here.

 

[tom @ eas]

Great thread. Kudos to the vendors trying to help the OP and each of us as individual clients. Hope everyone continues to support ZEV, MPP, EAS etc. Each of them helped me a lot with various questions even without purchasing. As we all know the Y suspension is not great. Understatement. Everything is a tradeoff when you start tinkering with it. PSA, it will never be perfect. I have a comparison review that I have started but haven't posted yet because I've actually gone from oem YP to Flex Z to MPP Comforts (through EAS). Will try to post that sometime soon.

To echo Tom and others, you get what pay for. I wanted to eliminate wheel gap and try to smooth out the jitteriness and eliminate highway float. Flex Z accomplishes this mostly and at a mid price point. However, I had front left spring boing at times (because of the design) and the rear of the car still was still crashy for my liking especially with a load, people. Fronts actually felt ok mostly and performance was decent. I ran 7/10 mostly for settings with 275/40/20 DWS. Car looked amazing and was smoother vs oem but I wanted to solve the issues I still had.

After a massive amount of research and discussions with each of those vendors I decided on MPP Comforts. I would have gone Ohlins GT if I had the cash but I also didn't want the added maintenance and so whatever additional comfort or performance can be had with those wasnt worth it for me.

For my needs, the MPP Comforts was an awesome upgrade! They are honestly night and day better in comparison to either previous setup but they should be as they are twice the cost of Flex Z. It's so hard to put into words but as a general feeling between the two MPP just feels so much more sophisticated or educated. Immediately the car felt different with road transitions like low to high, entrances, driveways etc. The extra droop and travel of MPP is massively noticeable vs Flex Z. I would find myself cringing at times on my normal drives with oem and Flex Z like quick lownto high transitions or sharp stuff and the MPP just devours that stuff. I no longer cringe driving around town. Car is low and tight and obviously still a bit stiff but my car actually feels like a performance car should now. So much more composed. So much more stable. So much better balance. Again hard to put into words. MPP supports the car in a way that feels natural. I've driven model 3s and always wanted my YP to feel like a 3. I believe MPP is as close as you can get to it feeling like a 3. I have no spring bind or noise. Car corners flat and feels just totally stupid coming out of slow tight turns or swooping on/off ramps. I have to watch my speed because I can really push the car now. It has no highway float at all. Car should not feel this good and I even went back to some light weight 21's with staggered 255/40 and 275/40 tires, 36-38 psi. For settings during summer I was 12/12 fr, 11/9 rear and after the tires were warmed the car would have this this liquid like sensation at times, crazy awesome. Now that Temps are colder I've gone to 13/12, 12/12 to keep things a little softer.

My car is not perfect though. I still have the notorious Y rattles front door, rear Amp, rear door, rear hatch, rear view mirror lol especially when all the plastics are cold. I will address some of that at some point but for now...I am happy.

Do your research, talk with vendors, understand the tradeoffs and be prepared for some trial and error. I did the installs in my garage with me teenage son (and labradoodle) and we had a blast each time.

While I'm here, quick thanks to Tom at EAS and massive thank you to Jesse at MPP who helped me before during and after install with various newb questions. (and everyone in that old MPP mega thread)

Good luck in your quest OP! MPP Comforts with your wheel/tire setup and dialed in settings would be a great upgrade...imo. My .02 cents.

Appreciate the feedback and your review, glad you're enjoying the MPPs!

 

[Jigglypuff]

Tire Rack reviews..... I have them, I use them, they've been as advertised by BFG.
In short, I'm a satisfied user.
In reality, either will likely do for the use cases here.

I mean the actual company drove the tires on a track to see how they handled in wet and dry. I'd not be surprised if the BFG are better offroad. I have a feeling, though, that if I can't handle it with the Falkens, I can't handle it with the BFG.

 

[tangible1]

I mean the actual company drove the tires on a track to see how they handled in wet and dry. I'd not be surprised if the BFG are better offroad. I have a feeling, though, that if I can't handle it with the Falkens, I can't handle it with the BFG.

Tire Rack hires a team to do their testing, not usually employees.
The tests they perform are reasonable and usually reliable.
Then there are the random 'customer' comments that are posted, of unknown origin.

I'm doubtful either tire would fail your or my use cases.
But I'm still saying they are as advertised - not noisy highway, solid in the dirt/gravel/rock I use them on, which is exactly as BFG presents them on their website.
My use case is access roads to interior areas that require the crossing of a dam spillway that's a rock garden, which OEM tires would get decimated by.

The only issue I have is rocks can be larger than the 7 inch ground clearance on the MYLR with these tires (OEM tires provide 6.5). Careful navigation required.

 

[Splsales]

Great thread. Kudos to the vendors trying to help the OP and each of us as individual clients. Hope everyone continues to support ZEV, MPP, EAS etc. Each of them helped me a lot with various questions even without purchasing. As we all know the Y suspension is not great. Understatement. Everything is a tradeoff when you start tinkering with it. PSA, it will never be perfect. I have a comparison review that I have started but haven't posted yet because I've actually gone from oem YP to Flex Z to MPP Comforts (through EAS). Will try to post that sometime soon.

To echo Tom and others, you get what pay for. I wanted to eliminate wheel gap and try to smooth out the jitteriness and eliminate highway float. Flex Z accomplishes this mostly and at a mid price point. However, I had front left spring boing at times (because of the design) and the rear of the car still was still crashy for my liking especially with a load, people. Fronts actually felt ok mostly and performance was decent. I ran 7/10 mostly for settings with 275/40/20 DWS. Car looked amazing and was smoother vs oem but I wanted to solve the issues I still had.

After a massive amount of research and discussions with each of those vendors I decided on MPP Comforts. I would have gone Ohlins GT if I had the cash but I also didn't want the added maintenance and so whatever additional comfort or performance can be had with those wasnt worth it for me.

For my needs, the MPP Comforts was an awesome upgrade! They are honestly night and day better in comparison to either previous setup but they should be as they are twice the cost of Flex Z. It's so hard to put into words but as a general feeling between the two MPP just feels so much more sophisticated or educated. Immediately the car felt different with road transitions like low to high, entrances, driveways etc. The extra droop and travel of MPP is massively noticeable vs Flex Z. I would find myself cringing at times on my normal drives with oem and Flex Z like quick lownto high transitions or sharp stuff and the MPP just devours that stuff. I no longer cringe driving around town. Car is low and tight and obviously still a bit stiff but my car actually feels like a performance car should now. So much more composed. So much more stable. So much better balance. Again hard to put into words. MPP supports the car in a way that feels natural. I've driven model 3s and always wanted my YP to feel like a 3. I believe MPP is as close as you can get to it feeling like a 3. I have no spring bind or noise. Car corners flat and feels just totally stupid coming out of slow tight turns or swooping on/off ramps. I have to watch my speed because I can really push the car now. It has no highway float at all. Car should not feel this good and I even went back to some light weight 21's with staggered 255/40 and 275/40 tires, 36-38 psi. For settings during summer I was 12/12 fr, 11/9 rear and after the tires were warmed the car would have this this liquid like sensation at times, crazy awesome. Now that Temps are colder I've gone to 13/12, 12/12 to keep things a little softer.

My car is not perfect though. I still have the notorious Y rattles front door, rear Amp, rear door, rear hatch, rear view mirror lol especially when all the plastics are cold. I will address some of that at some point but for now...I am happy.

Do your research, talk with vendors, understand the tradeoffs and be prepared for some trial and error. I did the installs in my garage with me teenage son (and labradoodle) and we had a blast each time.

While I'm here, quick thanks to Tom at EAS and massive thank you to Jesse at MPP who helped me before during and after install with various newb questions. (and everyone in that old MPP mega thread)

Good luck in your quest OP! MPP Comforts with your wheel/tire setup and dialed in settings would be a great upgrade...imo. My .02 cents.

Thanks for the detailed response.

I was leaning towards the Flex Z initially but Rishie talked me out of those since he said people do have odd noises from them at time. The enduros have been good about no random noises.

Nice to hear MPP is working out well for you, I actually opted for non adjustable. Just looking for something that works as promised out of the box.
Adjustability is cool but gets old for me. Not planning on track days, but do enjoy an aggressive drive occasionally. Hopefully these fit the bill properly.

Next step will be going to 23 myp oem suspension with 18 inch wheels, but slightly smaller sidewall. My wifes 22 myp is going amazing on 18s with tall side walls.

Last step will be back to 23 mylr oem if nothing else works.

Ive already spend more time and money than I cared to in the first place.

Starting to realize my car is a workhorse so maybe need to keep it simple...

 

[GOVA]

Has anyone replaced MY OEM rear shocks from 20/21 to OEM 2023 model? Are those any softer?

 

[hyp36rmax]

Has anyone replaced MY OEM rear shocks from 20/21 to OEM 2023 model? Are those any softer?

Watch this video from ZEVcentric. They demo and do a non-scientic discussion around this.

 

[GOVA]

Watch this video from ZEVcentric. They demo and do a non-scientic discussion around this.

I have watched most of their videos. I don't like his compression demos. I'd rather hear from somebody who changed rears as I am deciding between Teins and 2023 OEMs.

 

[hyp36rmax]

I have watched most of their videos. I don't like his compression demos. I'd rather hear from somebody who changed rears as I am deciding between Teins and 2023 OEMs.

That's fair, you should create a thread asking that specific question. Perhaps someone in your region has that setup wouldn't mind a RL demo and drive. Suspension is 100% personal preference.

What is it about the rear you need to solve for? Rears have a lot going on back there. Floaty? Disconnected from the road when acceleration, cornering? Too Stiff? Not enough stiffness?

Here's a few examples:

SOURCE: 22MYP Suspension Upgrade third party or new 23 comfort suspension?

@AtlantaMCR

I did the full 2023 LRMY suspension on my wife’s early 2021 LRMY and its night and day difference, even she notices the difference. It now rides better than my early 2021 P3 and that was not the case before.

1. Rides better, especially over sharp bumps.
2. Handles better, even though it rides better, steering is more connected to the road.
3. Under $1000 with tax
4. Pretty easy DIY project if you are capable, no spring compressor needed as the fronts come assembled from Tesla.

Comfort Suspension Not Much of an Improvement

2021 Model Y owner, love the car but hate the suspension. Ordered a 23 for the comfort suspension as soon as the major price drop happened and just test drove one locally ahead of upcoming pickup. Very disappointed in both the ride quality and build quality of the newer car. Test drove 2023...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[GOVA]

That's fair, you should create a thread asking that specific question. Perhaps someone in your region has that setup wouldn't mind a RL demo and drive. Suspension is 100% personal preference.

What is it about the rear you need to solve for? Rears have a lot going on back there. Floaty? Disconnected from the road when acceleration, cornering? Too Stiff? Not enough stiffness?

Here's a few examples:

Comfort Suspension Not Much of an Improvement

2021 Model Y owner, love the car but hate the suspension. Ordered a 23 for the comfort suspension as soon as the major price drop happened and just test drove one locally ahead of upcoming pickup. Very disappointed in both the ride quality and build quality of the newer car. Test drove 2023...

teslamotorsclub.com

Helpful. Thanks.

You might not have read my initial post - I asked if the upgraded shocks are softer in rear which is what I am after. Deciding between waiting for updated MY, Teins or just newer OEMs (e/f) variants.

 

[hyp36rmax]

Helpful. Thanks.

You might not have read my initial post - I asked if the upgraded shocks are softer in rear which is what I am after. Deciding between waiting for updated MY, Teins or just newer OEMs (e/f) variants.

Ah sorry i missed your original post. Before I swapped my 23 shocks for Ohlins, i felt they were just enough stiffness whle retaining some form of comfort for my rear passengers over smaller bumps, just not compliant under load. It's probably more to do wholistically with the rear end rather than the shocks themselves. I'm also accustomed to reactive suspension feeling the road.

 

[Jigglypuff]

Tire Rack reviews..... I have them, I use them, they've been as advertised by BFG.
In short, I'm a satisfied user.
In reality, either will likely do for the use cases here.

After discussions of goals, I went with the BFG ALL-TERRAIN T/A KO2. I'll wear them from tomorrow, when I get them mounted, through the end of winter storms. Then I'll put the all season Michelins back on.

 

[tangible1]

After discussions of goals, I went with the BFG ALL-TERRAIN T/A KO2. I'll wear them from tomorrow, when I get them mounted, through the end of winter storms. Then I'll put the all season Michelins back on.

BFG has a well-earned, strong reputation in the category

 

[ngng]

I have a 23 MYP and the suspension feels pretty good. The rear doesn't feel as oversprung like some the earlier Ys, but I also haven't had much seat time with the pre-23 suspension. I've only put a few hundred miles on my car but it feels there isn't enough high speed compression. The smaller bumps and expansion joints don't feel too bad, but larger bumps are pretty jarring. Haven't had enough seat time to feel out what happens with the rebound.

 

[Jigglypuff]

BFG has a well-earned, strong reputation in the category

 

[Jigglypuff]

Do I put the wheel covers on though?

 

[tangible1]

Do I put the wheel covers on though?

Hell, no !!

I do put lug nut caps on though.