-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
MPP Comfort Coilover reviews?
- Thread starter WhiteStarSal
- Start date
The short story is that the car rides better than stock, both in handling, and comfort. I need a full alignment before I can provide true feedback.
The sports coilovers are a sport tuned comfort/tightness versus caddy plushness. Does not detract from the quiet smoothness of the Tesla driving experience at all.
The advantage really is the adjustable shocks. The spring rates are not that far apart. But you can set up the sports to be softer than stock, stock, or as firm as you can tolerate, or as much stiffness as you like. The other Advantage is it safe to assume aside from a blown valve from some kind of dynamic overload of the shock from a violent bump, the sport shocks will last the lifetime of the car. As they wear you can simply increase compression and rebound firmness. While the Comfort shocks probably will last 200,000 miles depending on how many impacts they are subjected to, the sport shocks are probably a lifetime deal.
I'm extremely pleased overall with the MPP Sport Coilover kit. Even set at the recommended Street 12 / 10 for rebound and compression they might be more comfortable than the stock with the suspension feeling significantly better controlled without any real extra harshness, and the handling is better with a significantly more locked down feeling in corners.
MPP did a great job with KW in designing and producing this kit. It's worth every penny if you really want to have the best possible Model 3. I consider it an excellent value at its price, one of the best kits I've ever seen. This was my sixth coilover kit.
Last edited:
I’ll let @MountainPass chime in here but currently I believe it depends on which ones you order. Some are backordered and some I believe they’re caught up on but not sure. Sasha has mentioned in a recent blog that it’s all pretty much KW constrained. They just toured the manufacturing plant in Germany and that’s what he mentioned. KW I ‘believe’ is so constrained that they won’t enable MPP to ‘Stock’ up on overages to ‘draw from’ stock wise and are barely just keeping pace with orders but again I’ll let Sasha chime in with specifics and particulars.
Ski
Oh that's a good question. I'd reach out to MPP and ask. I know they've requested a huge number of these kits from KW but KW sends them out in a dribble. Kind of like 15 to 20 at a time when there are literally many hundreds of orders and probably a lot of demand that is even being suppressed by the low Supply. Send an email to info at Mountain Pass performance.com and Jesse will get back to you.
Thanks for answering questions when I am absent! It is true, we went to Germany and saw for ourselves that everyone in the world is waiting extremely long times for KW products. They are having the best year to date and simply can't keep up. They are pushing through our orders that are paid for, but stocking orders (with no customers waiting) have a wait of over 300 weeks. As a result, we really recommend placing your order to reserve a kit so we can get it made! We are looking at roughly 6 weeks or less for orders placed now, and we have finally delivered on all pre-orders!
We have not been able to keep these in stock since they were released, and it will likely continue until KW is finished their automated production lines. I have never seen a 5 axis laser welding machine before but it was the most impressive and likely most expensive single piece of equipment I've ever laid eyes on.
superbaka
Member
My feeling is they are pretty much the same stiffness, maybe a touch softer, but have more travel. Therefore, you don't feel as many small bumps as before. But when you do hit bumps, they tend to have the same stiffness character as before.
They still go "gong gong" whereas a new GTI goes "fump fump".
I was hoping for "fump fump", but at least the extended travel keeps many small cracks and bumps away, which is a pretty great improvement, depending on the road. Most medium-crappy roads are not a big deal anymore, only the really-crappy roads.
superbaka
Member
I am comparing to my Audi S3 with additional factory sports suspension option. (So, 2 levels increase over base model, somewhat similar to the RS3).
Totally subjective, but here's my own 0-10 perceptual scale on *ride quality on a bad road* (not handling ability!) :
0 : A fixie/racing bicycle that can snap your wrists over a pothole
0.5 : My friend's slammed civic in the 90s we paid a muffler shop to blowtorch the springs to drop it for $20
1 : OEM Model 3
1+ : literally every other OEM car I've ever driven**
1.5-2.5 : MPP Sports I got to test, depending on damper stiffness
2.5-3 : MPP Comforts
4 : New GTI or Golf R (similar, but still noticeably softer dampers than Comforts)
5 : My 2013 Audi S3
7 : Base model Audi A3/A4 with no sports packages (I drove these often as loaners, too soft for me)
9ish : Model S air suspension
10 : Caddy or Audi A8 with luxury packages (can't tell what kind of road surface you are even driving on)
11 : Rolls (from what I hear)
** At one point I was going to take my Model 3 to service because I was convinced the dampers were broken. MPP assured me they were not.
A different scale would be made for handling. In that regard, MPP comforts are very smooth and confidence-inspiring. Sports, even moreso with very little body roll, akin to a track car or maybe base level Porsche.
My recommendation you should take with a grain of salt :
A. If you don't live around too many bad road surfaces and you are mostly irritated by body roll, definitely get the Sports. Or, if you really enjoy driving fast recreationally and want to get the best high out of it.
B. If you are more irritated by the Model 3 over bad road surfaces and are ok with the stock body roll, get the Comforts. Still handles very nicely.
In both cases, the kit is more quality feeling than stock, no doubt. I would never go back. I just wish the Comforts were more "comfort".
I might disagree with the sport coilovers being significantly firmer than stock at their softest setting. That's not my experience.
One of the problems with his whole discussion about ride quality is the paradox that more recent performance model cars with 35 series tires ride appreciably better then the earliest Long Range rear wheel drive model 3 with 18in wheels 18-inch wheels and 45 series tires. This is because of significant changes that Tesla made to those early production vehicles after negative feedback about the ride. I believe these changes were mostly shock shock redesign changes but I can't be certain and I have yet to find a definitive Source on this. It's possible they also added some additional NVH isolators to the suspension.
So it seems to me that if you're looking to improve the ride of an early model 3 with rear wheel drive the Comfort coilovers from MPP are the way to go. If you got a later post June 2018 dual motor car, I think the sports coilover is the way to go. It's got an enormous range of adjustment in terms of shock valving, and you can tune it both for daily driving and for track or Enthusiast driving without an enormous amount of hassle. Of course you do have to put the car up on a Jack and take the wheels off and take the Frunk apart in order to get access to the front strut shock Tower also. So it's definitely more work than twiddling a dial from the driver's seat, but that is the aftermarket compromise.
Maybe someday Tesla will build in an adjustable shock into something like a Rally Sport version of the car.
I would encourage people to try to sample somebody else's version of the sport coilover kit before concluding that it's too firm. Set at the stock Street recommendation of 12-rebound 10 compression, which is just about Midway in terms of the shocks range of stiffness , it's very compliant.
@dfwatt,
Thanks for this. Yea I’m in a P3D+ (OEM 20’s). Sept ‘18. I just let a friend of mine drive it and he said it’s as smooth if not smoother than his LR RWD on 18 Aeros. And I agree I’ve driven his. Still leaning towards the Sports for all the reasons you mentioned above. Adjustability, Street or Track. SS bodies. Adjustment in rebound AND compression. List goes on.
I just don’t want any increased harshness from stock OEM unless I’m purposefully adjusting it that way let say for crazy taught Sportiness either street or track. Don’t know if I’m going to track it that much but would love the flexibility. It IS my daily driver now so there’s that and I don’t want any harsher ride for a daily if that makes sense. It’s a ‘cake and eat it too thing’ obviously over the Comforts.
Ski
Thanks for this. Yea I’m in a P3D+ (OEM 20’s). Sept ‘18. I just let a friend of mine drive it and he said it’s as smooth if not smoother than his LR RWD on 18 Aeros. And I agree I’ve driven his. Still leaning towards the Sports for all the reasons you mentioned above. Adjustability, Street or Track. SS bodies. Adjustment in rebound AND compression. List goes on.
I just don’t want any increased harshness from stock OEM unless I’m purposefully adjusting it that way let say for crazy taught Sportiness either street or track. Don’t know if I’m going to track it that much but would love the flexibility. It IS my daily driver now so there’s that and I don’t want any harsher ride for a daily if that makes sense. It’s a ‘cake and eat it too thing’ obviously over the Comforts.
Ski
I run the sports at the recommended rebound and compression settings, and they are certainly not harsher than my Sept 2018 delivered P3D+. It's more composed over jarring road imperfections, the handling is improved over stock, and you can't beat how the car looks when you bring it down to a real sports car ride height.
Since the comforts are advertised as softer than sports, and if you are not likely to spend more than a day or two at the track, the comforts will be sufficient. If you trust the reviews here, want to have your cake and eat it, too, and have the extra $ to spend, go with the sports.
superbaka
Member
In my dampers perception chart, I noted that they are a step to a couple steps softer dampening than stock. That was my experience. Dampening harshness meaning bumpiness over cracks and potholes.
Also, MPP told me Sports dampers on their softest setting are "25% firmer than Comfort dampers".
Its still a bit apples to oranges, as Comforts are KW V2, and Sports are V3. I rode in one that had them dialed almost to full firmness, and if you didn't tell me, I would have assumed it was stock harshness in dampers. Springs were nice and tight, though.
I preferred the springs of the Sports (almost no body roll) but dampers of Comforts (better ride over potholes, slightly).
I also realized I'm using AP a lot more than I expected, and it will not dodge cracks and potholes. So, decided to consider this a comfort car and not sports car.
Last edited:
superbaka
Member
I pestered a lot of nice people here (and Jesse!) to help make my decision. Happy to throw in my $0.02.
For the record, I've owned (all new, custom orders) :
BMW 3
Boxster S
Cayenne S
911 S fully optioned out (yes, even had the leather air vents option)
Audi S3 hatchback w/black optic package
Model 3 awd
Last edited:
I don't mind it at all and thank you for helping others make their decision. It means a lot coming from an owner rather than me!
Similar threads
- Marketplace listing
