MPP Comfort Coilover reviews?

[superbaka]

So you regret buying comfort? Would Sport or KW V3 make any difference with stiffer spring rate?

Sport or KW V3 is actually firmer damper than comfort.

Therefore, no regrets. The improvement to OEM is very significant.

Its just a bummer the damper isn't as comfortable as say, a VW or Audi, which are just a bit softer and more forgiving as you hit cracks and holes. However, the extra damper travel compared to OEM means you feel only the biggest cracks on the street and not all of the smaller ones anymore.

MPP could have made even more travel, but they designed it for people who lower their cars an extreme amount. Which is ironic, because there is a bigger marketplace for non-lowering owners who want a better ride.

I think they should have had 2 distinct options :

Comfort - a truly high quality damper ride with OEM spring rates thereabouts, not intended for lowering more than 1". They would sell 100,000 of these to owners who want a ride quality upgrade path.

Sport - KW v3 intended for max lowering and/or max performance, and street style crowd.
Period. Do not mix the two groups of people.

Instead, they created all this confusion with two very similar products, and lots of Tesla owners think they are just for street style, lowering, etc, and are living with the terrible OEM suspension.

 

[dfwatt]

Sport or KW V3 is actually firmer damper than comfort.

Therefore, no regrets. The improvement to OEM is very significant.

Its just a bummer the damper isn't as comfortable as say, a VW or Audi, which are just a bit softer and more forgiving as you hit cracks and holes. However, the extra damper travel compared to OEM means you feel only the biggest cracks on the street and not all of the smaller ones anymore.

MPP could have made even more travel, but they designed it for people who lower their cars an extreme amount. Which is ironic, because there is a bigger marketplace for non-lowering owners who want a better ride.

I think they should have had 2 distinct options :

Comfort - a truly high quality damper ride with OEM spring rates thereabouts, not intended for lowering more than 1". They would sell 100,000 of these to owners who want a ride quality upgrade path.

Sport - KW v3 intended for max lowering and/or max performance, and street style crowd.
Period. Do not mix the two groups of people.

Instead, they created all this confusion with two very similar products, and lots of Tesla owners think they are just for street style, lowering, etc, and are living with the terrible OEM suspension.

I agree with some of what you're saying but I also think you have conflated sharp impact buffering completely with shock absorber function. While some of that is coming from the shock absorber most of it is coming from the side walls and the suspension bushings. They are really the principal "shock absorbers" while dampers in the suspension are really again oscillation and acceleration dampers.

Having owned multiple VW group products, while I agree that they generally do a fine job of balancing ride and handling, I would also have to disagree that the Tesla Model 3 is somehow harsher then most of those Audi and VW group vehicles. That certainly is not my experience.

Ride, which is a complex blend of dynamic control features including impact compliance, is an amazingly complex mix emerging from bushing tuning, spring rates, shock valving on both compression and rebound (but where a larger contribution is coming from compression valving) and not just from shock absorbers. All of those components have to be tuned and optimized in relationship to one another and not just in isolation. I think Tesla actually overall did a very good job especially once they updated shock and spring rates from the early 2018 model 3 release to address the concerns expressed by many about the car's ride. Our late 2018 dual motor performance cars, which are handicapped from a ride standpoint by high unsprung weight from fairly heavy Wheels and 30 (rear 275/30) and 35 series tires ride overall exceptionally well given the tire and wheel complement.

And again since ride and handling always have intrinsic trade-offs even if you can get to pretty high levels of both, you have to consider that Tesla gets an A for striking an excellent ride handling balance particularly in the performance model cars. I haven't driven a rear wheel drive car but I understand it is still a very conpetent handler., while having really good ride compliance. Can it be improved? Yes obviously MPP has shown that with their comfort coilover setup.

 

[cab]

I agree with some of what you're saying but I also think you have conflated sharp impact buffering completely with shock absorber function. While some of that is coming from the shock absorber most of it is coming from the side walls and the suspension bushings. They are really the principal "shock absorbers" while dampers in the suspension are really again oscillation and acceleration dampers.

Having owned multiple VW group products, while I agree that they generally do a fine job of balancing ride and handling, I would also have to disagree that the Tesla Model 3 is somehow harsher then most of those Audi and VW group vehicles. That certainly is not my experience.

Ride, which is a complex blend of dynamic control features including impact compliance, is an amazingly complex mix emerging from bushing tuning, spring rates, shock valving on both compression and rebound (but where a larger contribution is coming from compression valving) and not just from shock absorbers. All of those components have to be tuned and optimized in relationship to one another and not just in isolation. I think Tesla actually overall did a very good job especially once they updated shock and spring rates from the early 2018 model 3 release to address the concerns expressed by many about the car's ride. Our late 2018 dual motor performance cars, which are handicapped from a ride standpoint by high unsprung weight from fairly heavy Wheels and 30 (rear 275/30) and 35 series tires ride overall exceptionally well given the tire and wheel complement.

And again since ride and handling always have intrinsic trade-offs even if you can get to pretty high levels of both, you have to consider that Tesla gets an A for striking an excellent ride handling balance particularly in the performance model cars. I haven't driven a rear wheel drive car but I understand it is still a very conpetent handler., while having really good ride compliance. Can it be improved? Yes obviously MPP has shown that with their comfort coilover setup.

I have to agree that the suspension design and BUSHING COMPLIANCE seem to really be coming into play here. Indeed, I think the latter is a significant contributing factor to the road noise (NVH) that Teslas let into the cabin.

BMW has historically done a great job with this - balancing handling with a great ride. Indeed, I used to wonder how BMW did it until suspension components started to wear out on my cars (a relatively low miles). I think a lot of the magic there came down to that (comparatively soft/flexible) rubber and that rubber simply wore out quicker than most cars. One notable example was the lower ball joints on the E36 3 series. The had a layer of rubber around them that was encased in a thin metal shell and that shell is what was pressed into the control arm (had to make a special tool to remove and install them!). Aftermarket options often eliminated the rubber and made it all metal claiming it was stronger, wouldn't wear out, etc. I'm sure that was true, BUT I have to believe there was a cost to ride quality - particularly impact harshness.

 

[dfwatt]

I have to agree that the suspension design and BUSHING COMPLIANCE seem to really be coming into play here. Indeed, I think the latter is a significant contributing factor to the road noise (NVH) that Teslas let into the cabin.

BMW has historically done a great job with this - balancing handling with a great ride. Indeed, I used to wonder how BMW did it until suspension components started to wear out on my cars (a relatively low miles). I think a lot of the magic there came down to that (comparatively soft/flexible) rubber and that rubber simply wore out quicker than most cars. One notable example was the lower ball joints on the E36 3 series. The had a layer of rubber around them that was encased in a thin metal shell and that shell is what was pressed into the control arm (had to make a special tool to remove and install them!). Aftermarket options often eliminated the rubber and made it all metal claiming it was stronger, wouldn't wear out, etc. I'm sure that was true, BUT I have to believe there was a cost to ride quality - particularly impact harshness.

I haven't ridden in one recently but I hear the late generation M3's are pretty stiff and no one would describe them as particularly comfortable. I would love to do a back-to-back drive between the DMP Model 3 properly outfitted (coilovers, firm settings on shocks) and the Bimmer, both on a road course and around town to really see which car has the better ride handling balance.

 

[cab]

I haven't ridden in one recently but I hear the late generation M3's are pretty stiff and no one would describe them as particularly comfortable. I would love to do a back-to-back drive between the DMP Model 3 properly outfitted (coilovers, firm settings on shocks) and the Bimmer, both on a road course and around town to really see which car has the better ride handling balance.

Yeah, I tend to pay KEEN attention to reviewer comments around ride quality these days. Heck, I was just reading a Car and Driver article comparing the Mercedes AMG to the Porsche 911 and sure enough, they called out the Merc for poor ride quality. BMW's own decline (which I meant to mention, but forgot!) seemed to occur when they introduced run-flat tires. Those stiff sidewall tires combined with the larger rims and lower profiles have really done a number on ride quality for a number of cars. Indeed, only the most recent BMW generations seemed to have addressed that and even then, like you, the more performance oriented variants (even the "M-Sport" vs. full-on "M") still seem to be getting negative comments in this area.

There are SO MANY facets to ride quality and the roads YOU drive on every day is likely the biggest variable (right up there with the subjective and comparative impressions we all have).

 

[hocr]

Selling KW v3 I bought for RWD, unused. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/conversations/kw-v3-coilover.221608/

That was fast. What changed your mind

 

[Murattukaalai]

That was fast. What changed your mind

Reading about it this isn't what I was expecting for street only use.

 

[superbaka]

Was the bang a pothole? I have felt similar in my old a3 and BMW m3
The bang is anytime the damper is pushed hard to the bump stops. It happens frequently driving

I agree with some of what you're saying but I also think you have conflated sharp impact buffering completely with shock absorber function. While some of that is coming from the shock absorber most of it is coming from the side walls and the suspension bushings. They are really the principal "shock absorbers" while dampers in the suspension are really again oscillation and acceleration dampers.

Yes this is the deeper story. I was over simplifying because most people asking about which coilover to purchase are concerned with ride feeling and road conditions so I wanted to cut to the chase.

The bang I refer to is the QUALITY of feeling when the damper is sharply engaged, not just all the way to a bump stop. This includes rolling at a few miles per hours across uneven pavement.

my girlfriend has a Golf mk7.5 and I ride it in every day on the same messed up streets in our neighborhood. Instantly, there is a softer feeling over cracks and bumps that is unmistakable at <10mph speeds. However, the rest of the chassis dynamics are bouncy and less confidence inspiring.

For me as a commuter who values sport, and someone using autopilot a lot now, my mind is mostly focused on such harsh ride quality on such an expensive car as the Model 3 AWD, and would make some handling compromises now to get a better damper feeling. Previous cars I owned in Los Angeles (same roads):

BMW 3 w/sport suspension
Porsche Boxster
Porsche Cayenne S
Porsche 911S
Audi S3 w/sport suspension

And raced in SCCA throughout the 1990s mostly with a Mazda. (hey, I once beat the class national champion )

I am quite sensitive when it comes to ride feeling on a variety of surfaces, maybe too much so.

 

[MountainPass]

Hey Everyone,

Sasha here.

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that the firmness of the ride needs to scale with ground clearance. Most of the Audi's you speak of that ride really soft - or a Lexus say that rides like it's on a cloud (or at least the old LS400!), have a lot of ground clearance.

Our comfort coilovers are designed for someone who wants a smooth ride, but who also cares about performance and wants to lower their car. It is not a suspension product to make your Model 3 ride like a Cadillac. If that is what you want, we'd be happy to look into a solution so please email us.

The Model 3 was designed from the ground up to be a sports sedan (or so it seems). It's such a popular platform that no doubt, there may be some people that just want it to be significantly softer and oriented towards comfort with no real concern for handling agility and responsiveness.

The truth is suspension design isn't magic. If you have a high quality damper and you know what you're doing the hard part is just in zeroing in on the target. Everyone has a different idea of a perfect ride.

Some want to feel bumps and cracks in the road as it makes them feel more connected to the road. These people would have a heart attack if the back of the car floated around under-damped, the way an older Lexus does. Others don't want to feel a single imperfection and want to feel like they are riding on a cloud.

Either way, the Model 3 is such a great chassis that I have no doubt that any goal can be achieved. There is nothing fundamental missing from the platform. It's just a matter of creating the solution that you're looking for. We feel our comfort line and sport line fill the entire area of those that want to lower their car (except a dedicated race car). Perhaps there is room for another line for those that want to stay closer to OE height and just have maximum comfort. We're not opposed to that!

 

[superbaka]

Cool sasha, thanks for chiming in.

I do think that a comfort platform for those who don't wish to lower their cars (much), tuned well, could sell a lot.

The comforts I am running are not bad (and handle quite well at speed), but given that I want to keep this car 6-8 years, I'm jonesing for something just a little more comfortable to drive around the bad LA roads on.

 

[Brady M]

Just installed MPP comfort coilovers on my SR+. It took me around 5 hours to complete. Really nice to get rid of the 4x4 gap. I'm loving these so far. Ride quality is great, feels close to stock.

I used MPP recommended ride height measurements for the RWD, for the SR+ those settings put me close to stock ride height. I had to adjust them after they were installed on the car to my liking.

I

 

[bruin13]

Hi. I'm new to the forum but have really enjoyed reading the impressions on the MPP coil overs and the comparisons between sport vs comfort. Anyone by chance in the Los Angeles area with either Comfort or Sport versions that would allow me to sit in and feel the ride? I just had new 19's installed and now need to lower my model 3.

 

[bruin13]

Also, FWIW, I also tried to get more info on the KW coil overs and even called their headquarters. The phone rep wasn't able to answer any technical questions and passed my number onto a 'technical specialist'. I never received a call back (6 weeks ago). On the other hand, the MPP staff has been very helpful. They spoke with my wheel guy and provided the recommended sizing and offsets to ensure a flush wheel mount with no scraping. They also have spent a lot of time speaking to me about the different coil over and suspension part upgrades. I really value the time they put into supporting Model 3 owners. Super grateful. Thanks MPP!

 

[dfwatt]

Also, FWIW, I also tried to get more info on the KW coil overs and even called their headquarters. The phone rep wasn't able to answer any technical questions and passed my number onto a 'technical specialist'. I never received a call back (6 weeks ago). On the other hand, the MPP staff has been very helpful. They spoke with my wheel guy and provided the recommended sizing and offsets to ensure a flush wheel mount with no scraping. They also have spent a lot of time speaking to me about the different coil over and suspension part upgrades. I really value the time they put into supporting Model 3 owners. Super grateful. Thanks MPP!

That's been our universal experience of MPP as well. They are probably the most respected Tesla vendor for that reason. Overall I couldn't be more pleased with their Sports coilover kit. The ride is better controlled and the handling is hugely upgraded.

 

[Murattukaalai]

Also, FWIW, I also tried to get more info on the KW coil overs and even called their headquarters. The phone rep wasn't able to answer any technical questions and passed my number onto a 'technical specialist'. I never received a call back (6 weeks ago). On the other hand, the MPP staff has been very helpful. They spoke with my wheel guy and provided the recommended sizing and offsets to ensure a flush wheel mount with no scraping. They also have spent a lot of time speaking to me about the different coil over and suspension part upgrades. I really value the time they put into supporting Model 3 owners. Super grateful. Thanks MPP!

what’s the offset did you go? Are those sv503?

 

[bruin13]

what’s the offset did you go? Are those sv503?

The rims I have are Black Diamond F18's. Staggered setup with front's at 19x9.5 rims with 35 offset of and Hankook Ventus V12 245/40/19 and rears are 19x10 with 40 offset and 275/35/19 tires.

 

[MountainPass]

Also, FWIW, I also tried to get more info on the KW coil overs and even called their headquarters. The phone rep wasn't able to answer any technical questions and passed my number onto a 'technical specialist'. I never received a call back (6 weeks ago). On the other hand, the MPP staff has been very helpful. They spoke with my wheel guy and provided the recommended sizing and offsets to ensure a flush wheel mount with no scraping. They also have spent a lot of time speaking to me about the different coil over and suspension part upgrades. I really value the time they put into supporting Model 3 owners. Super grateful. Thanks MPP!

That's been our universal experience of MPP as well. They are probably the most respected Tesla vendor for that reason. Overall I couldn't be more pleased with their Sports coilover kit. The ride is better controlled and the handling is hugely upgraded.

Thank you both, this is very nice to read on a Monday morning

 

[BayAreaCelt]

Folks, interested in these and have a set of Titan 7s, 19x 9.5 et35ss, thinking of 275 square track rubber, and 265 daily driving all seasons. The roads round the Bay Area are like the surface of the fecking moon, so I like the idea of the comforts, but wondering if they would stiffen up quite enough...My eyes glazed over after about eleventy pages into this thread

 

[MountainPass]

Folks, interested in these and have a set of Titan 7s, 19x 9.5 et35ss, thinking of 275 square track rubber, and 265 daily driving all seasons. The roads round the Bay Area are like the surface of the fecking moon, so I like the idea of the comforts, but wondering if they would stiffen up quite enough...My eyes glazed over after about eleventy pages into this thread

If you plan on tracking regularly I would suggest either the standard or hybrid Sports kit. The hybrid kit uses the Comfort springs, but you can firm or soften as needed with the double adjustable dampers!

 

[BayAreaCelt]

Thanks. Thats a quick response, compared with some of the other vendors on here, thats lovely to see. No issues with rubbing for those titan 7 wheels on an inch drop? Its the M3 Performance, so already slightly lower than the "off road" standard range.. So it sounds like the comfort would work - what about a couple of track days per year, not quite stiff enough - do you have a *medium* spring rate, not like rocks for tracks (this will be set up eventually as a track car) or do you think the hybrid would meet that need? The standard springs already lean a disconcerting amount when pressing on in the performance. Never quite sure if the tyres are folding under the girth of the battery pack or what...