MPP AWD/Performance Coilover Impression and Installation

[dfwatt]

How about a blue aluminum subframe?

You mean that lower suspension arm in the rear? I've had my eye on that piece for a while! Don't give me any bad ideas!

 

[beastmode13]

Traction arm install. Note aftermarket and OEM bolt and 18 mm ratcheting box wrench. You will need this!

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You would think that something this relatively accessible would be easy to take out and replace with MPPs beautiful blue traction arm!! Hah!! You'd be wrong! Yes a pry bar and a lot of curse words!

I did manage to get the traction arms out but it was a bear. I realize that a little bit of sharing of my experience may help a lot of people avoid a certain amount of grief although it's not the easiest job intrinsically. First things first. Get an 18 mm ratcheting box wrench of the kind pictured in the photo here. It will make both extraction of the OEM arm and the install of the new arm world's easier. There's really barely enough room and in some cases not enough room for even the smallest most compact socket. Why Tesla used an 18 mm nut there when 17 and 19 both would have been more standard sizes and plenty for the 60 foot pound torque it is beyond me.

In any case when you loosen the OEM nut from the inside or top portion of the traction arm you will have to deform the traction bushing itself to allow that very long bolt to come out. There's not enough room laterally to simply move it out because it bumps into the sheet metal before it's fully out of the channel. So you'll have to take the OEM traction arm and disconnect it from the lower wheel side and then grab that and twist it in order to get that long bolt to release. There is no way to get the bolt to come out that I can see without deforming the sheet metal otherwise.

Secondly - and the cause for some additional cursing and/or brief panic, you will quickly discover that now that you have taken the OEM traction arm out the distance between the mounting surfaces has altered by the wheel rotating slightly and I'm presuming this is simply coming from anti roll bar torque. You will need to apply about a hundred and fifty pounds of lifting Force to the bottom of the disc and brake assembly to get the rotation canceled out in order to get the surfaces all nicely lined up so that the new traction arm (which identically sized to the OEM) can actually be mounted. Otherwise there's too much distance and poor alignment. The picture shows what I did to improvise as I did not have a second person around to supply the approximately 150 lb of lifting Force necessary to normalize the mount distance. Second Jack makes this much easier.

But when you are done voila. Suspension bling! The blue is slowly taking over! Can't have too many blue bits in this suspension! Keep the blue coming!

Welcome to the club. Great for you for writing a detail install. I had not encounter as much challenge as you on my install. Only pain was removing the passenger side upper fore arm bolt, as the underbody panel was in the way. I had to use a plier to bend one of the ear to get the stock bolt out. Thanks to @MountainPass for including a shorter bolt, inserting that bolt back was a breath in comparison.

 

[dfwatt]

Welcome to the club. Great for you for writing a detail install. I had not encounter as much challenge as you on my install. Only pain was removing the passenger side upper fore arm bolt, as the underbody panel was in the way. I had to use a plier to bend one of the ear to get the stock bolt out. Thanks to @MountainPass for including a shorter bolt, inserting that bolt back was a breath in comparison.

I'm about to do the trailing arms but I want to make sure that they aren't worse. It's easier to get at the bolt hardware for sure than the traction arms but did you have any difficulty with the suspension assembly rotating in a weird way so that again you couldn't get easy mounting of the new arm? It's also on the bottom side of the whole assembly so I'll have to get under the car which I'm not thrilled with.

PS I think you're describing exactly the side that I had trouble with because the bolt collided with the sheet metal.

 

[Orwell]

You mean that lower suspension arm in the rear? I've had my eye on that piece for a while! Don't give me any bad ideas!

That would be a nice piece to replace given the amount of weight reduction, but no I'm talking about the whole motor and suspension carrier that is made from steel. Some cars come with aluminum subframes to save weight (e.g. Audi RS3, Accord Hybrid)

 

[dfwatt]

That would be a nice piece to replace given the amount of weight reduction, but no I'm talking about the whole motor and suspension carrier that is made from steel. Some cars come with aluminum subframes to save weight (e.g. Audi RS3, Accord Hybrid)

Damn! That sounds great but unfortunately way outside my severely depleted toy budget!

 

[beastmode13]

I'm about to do the trailing arms but I want to make sure that they aren't worse. It's easier to get at the bolt hardware for sure than the traction arms but did you have any difficulty with the suspension assembly rotating in a weird way so that again you couldn't get easy mounting of the new arm? It's also on the bottom side of the whole assembly so I'll have to get under the car which I'm not thrilled with.

PS I think you're describing exactly the side that I had trouble with because the bolt collided with the sheet metal.

I didn't have an issue with suspension assembly rotating during assembly. I removed and installed on arm at a time.

 

[dfwatt]

I didn't have an issue with suspension assembly rotating during assembly. I removed and installed on arm at a time.

So did the trailing arms in other words the longer ones present less problems than the traction arms?

 

[beastmode13]

I'm about to do the trailing arms but I want to make sure that they aren't worse. It's easier to get at the bolt hardware for sure than the traction arms but did you have any difficulty with the suspension assembly rotating in a weird way so that again you couldn't get easy mounting of the new arm? It's also on the bottom side of the whole assembly so I'll have to get under the car which I'm not thrilled with.

PS I think you're describing exactly the side that I had trouble with because the bolt collided with the sheet metal.

Borrowing your photo. That damn bolt.

Whenever I need to get under the car, I would place one of the wheel/tire underneath the motor or battery rail. It jack/jack stand would to fail, the wheel will take the force, not me.

 

[beastmode13]

So did the trailing arms in other words the longer ones present less problems than the traction arms?

Yes, the trailing arm is much easier. You need to loosen the brace to have enough room for the bolt to slide out, this is part of MPP's instruction.

 

[dfwatt]

Borrowing your photo. That damn bolt.

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Whenever I need to get under the car, I would place one of the wheel/tire underneath the motor or battery rail. It jack/jack stand would to fail, the wheel will take the force, not me.

Yes for sure that was the one! It's a nasty SOB because it's so long. Longer than it really needs to be to secure the nut.

 

[dfwatt]

Yes, the trailing arm is much easier. You need to loosen the brace to have enough room for the bolt to slide out, this is part of MPP's instruction.

Yeah that picture is confusing in terms of its orientation because as I look at the trailing arm I don't see anything like that. That must be from the underside of the car?

 

[beastmode13]

Yeah that picture is confusing in terms of its orientation because as I look at the trailing arm I don't see anything like that. That must be from the underside of the car?

Yes, it is on the underside. Once you get under the car, it is easy to spot, just follow the arm. Slide a wheel under the battery rail or the rear motor for safety insurance.

 

[dsgerbc]

Yes for sure that was the one! It's a nasty SOB because it's so long. Longer than it really needs to be to secure the nut.

Sounds like one should just cut to top of the bolt off instead. And then use a new bolt, inserting from the other side?

 

[beastmode13]

Sounds like one should just cut to top of the bolt off instead. And then use a new bolt, inserting from the other side?

I suppose you could do so. However, there isn't that much room to get a power tool into that space and hold the bolt so it doesn't spin when you cut it.

 

[dfwatt]

Sounds like one should just cut to top of the bolt off instead. And then use a new bolt, inserting from the other side?

MPP supplies a shortened bolt that's just the right size. But yes if they didn't it would be expeditious to cut that OEM bolt so that it becomes less impossible to work with. In fact with the new spherical bushing I'm not sure you could get that bolt in any which way unless it was shortened. Simply because the new bushing could not be deformed to allow exit or entry of the bolt the way the old one could. It's only the top or innermost bolt that's difficult to work with - the one on the wheel assembly is a breeze.

 

[Mash]

Some reciprocating carbide blade cutter won't fit?

 

[Dangerous Fish]

Is the effort fitting those traction arms worth the gain?
Anyone got a before and after report with those being the only parts changed in between?

 

[beastmode13]

Is the effort fitting those traction arms worth the gain?
Anyone got a before and after report with those being the only parts changed in between?

It is not that difficult aside from that one bolt. Just take a plier and bend the ear that the bolt is hung up on to get it loose. That’s how I did it. You guys are making a mountain out of mole hill.

 

[dfwatt]

Is the effort fitting those traction arms worth the gain?
Anyone got a before and after report with those being the only parts changed in between?

Hoping to be able to provide that. When I took the traction arm out I was amazed at the softness of that rubber bushing. Jesse at MPP says that there is no discernible increase in NVH but that the car sounds a bit more like a Porsche 911 GT3 when it's transversing road irregularities (sounds great but have no idea what that means!). And the rear all of a sudden feels a lot more linear and buttoned down

Part of the reason I went to a staggered setup (aside from looks) is that the rear always feels a little bit too loosey-goosey, even if terminal oversteer isn't all that upfront. This was on both cars so I know it was not a feature of just one of our performance model 3s.

 

[dfwatt]

It is not that difficult aside from that one bolt. Just take a plier and bend the ear that the bolt is hung up on to get it loose. That’s how I did it. You guys are making a mountain out of mole hill.

Well I'm not sure it's that trivial but being forewarned is forearmed. The second traction arm process was a breeze because I knew exactly what I needed to do. Just took the outermost bolt/nut off first, removed the top innermost nut and twisted the arm as far as I could go and then the extra-long Bolt released from its Channel. It took about one-tenth the time.