MSS Sports Height Adjustable Springs Model 3 Performance

[Schmollak]

I am very honored and excited to be the first consumer outside of MSS to be fitted with the MSS Sport Height adjustable spring kit. Having previously had their kits installed on my 2017 Golf R that I loved and enjoyed, I knew this was going to be a good performing kit. When I heard they are releasing a solution for the model 3 platform I knew I had to check it out!

Product Range - MSS : MSS

So what makes this kit great? The height adjustment is great, being able to raise and lower each corner to suit your driving needs. The trick stacked spring on the rear will be what gives the great comfort on city commutes and at the same time being able to feel well planted when thrown into a corner at a rapid speed.

Below I will be expressing my experience and height information based on the 1000km I have driven on this kit.

The stock performance setup definitely had very stiff springs and made the ride very bumpy over city roads. I was on the hunt for a solution. Usually the cure involves shocks or bags, but in this case MSS may have a solution without the need to replace perfectly usable factory shocks!

This is how the contents arrive in this beautiful box.

Installation was no more difficult than any other spring kits for our platform. More pieces but it is straight forward to figure out.

Here is the magic piece that allows the height adjustment. About a 1.4 Inch adjustability.

The Rear stack springs formation

Here is a photo prior to the install.

Post install at the lowest settings of the adjustment came out to be a 1.3inch even drop on all corners.

Below photo was taken after a 2km commute home.

I was able to have the springs settle for another 0.3 Inch drop after 750 KM of driving.

I am very pleased at the cosmetic results of the kit. It provided the drop I needed from a 3.5 finger gap to a 1 finger gap.

The special part of this kit is that it will allow you to achieve cosmetic results AND performance enhancements from just a spring kit.

Immediately felt on the short 2 km drive home was the soft spring rates kicking in. Small dips and uneven pavement is no longer felt. The around town comfort has definitely improved.
Some quick turns while carrying speed instantly made me feel more confident and planted.
Very amazing to have both increased comfort and performance just from a spring kit.
The stacked spring helps with rebound and compression without any modifications to the shock.

Over the 1000 km drive on my usual commutes and spirited driving routes, I noticed that big dips and bumps will make the car hit the bump stops, however this is not a problem with this spring kit as with any other lowered cars with springs would have this problem.

Other notes I saw was that due to the softer spring rates on the rear, the rear axle will go lower than other springs with additional weight from rear passengers.

As always I felt that MSS did deliver on the product and exceeded my expectations. I would not expect anything more from a spring kit.

 

[flavaaroni]

Thanks for the review. My Model 3 is mainly used for a daily commute and not the track, so it's nice to have an option for a cosmetic improvement along with a more comfortable drive, and not having to drop >2K for a coilover setup.

 

[tlr1000]

Interesting concept. Guess as @flavaaroni alluded to it really depends how these compare to the cost of coil-overs. If significantly cheaper, then could be a great option. It was hard to find info on pricing for these springs but appears they might be around the $900 mark which if correct, seems like a bit on the high side. At most I think adjustable springs like this could reasonably command a bit more than typical non-adjustable springs but not double. If they are in that $900 range, I think a better buy would be the MPP comfort coilovers at $1600-1800 range.

 

[Xian]

Interesting concept. Looks a lot like the Ground Control coilover sleeves that have been kicking around for ages.

Did MSS share what spring rates come in their kit? Also, are the tender springs at the rear designed to be completely blocked at static ride height or are they trying for a dual rate setup?

 

[Schmollak]

Interesting concept. Looks a lot like the Ground Control coilover sleeves that have been kicking around for ages.

Did MSS share what spring rates come in their kit? Also, are the tender springs at the rear designed to be completely blocked at static ride height or are they trying for a dual rate setup?

I inquired for you and this is the response :

So we do use in-house designed tender and main springs in our stacked arrangement on rear or front axle to achieve our aim of controlling oscillation. It is no secret that Eibach are our technical and manufacturing partner and have been for 11 years. We do not need to block springs at a given load...too primitive and ineffective for our design aims.

We can certainly make a 250Ibs spring feel and behave like a 500Ibs spring and vice versa on a target vehicle platform. It is wuth this reason in mind that we simply do not share spring rates.

 

[Xian]

I inquired for you and this is the response :

So we do use in-house designed tender and main springs in our stacked arrangement on rear or front axle to achieve our aim of controlling oscillation. It is no secret that Eibach are our technical and manufacturing partner and have been for 11 years. We do not need to block springs at a given load...too primitive and ineffective for our design aims.

We can certainly make a 250Ibs spring feel and behave like a 500Ibs spring and vice versa on a target vehicle platform. It is wuth this reason in mind that we simply do not share spring rates.

Thanks for checking.

I understand their desire to protect rates but it’s a bit silly, IMO. I think it’ll deter more folks than they’ll save in lost IP/development.

Blocking tenders isn’t crude at all and it’s a great tool to keep lightly loaded tires (inside front or rear) in contact with the ground under heavy cornering loads. As they alluded to, the calcs for dual spring setups are WACKY... so there’s a very real chance that they’re running relatively high rates that end up with relatively low wheel rates. It’s not an approach I’ve seen used successfully for track/autox but it may be a solid approach for this type of streetcar setup.

 

[tlr1000]

@Xian, totally agree that not sharing/publishing spring rates is silly. Savvy consumers want to know what they're buying. Any spring manufacturer that uses the excuse about not wanting a competitor to copy their rates seems odd as I would assume any other manufacturer would have the equipment to measure a competitor's rate whether published or not. Perhaps another reason to not publish rates is that consumers can't have it tested against manufacturer's specs for warranty issues - i.e., "Hey, your advertised 350lb springs measure at 325lbs." If a manufacturer is confident about their quality control and tolerances, there's no harm in stating the most critical spec of a given spring. Maybe this is just an industry norm in suspension springs?

 

[Xian]

@Xian, totally agree that not sharing/publishing spring rates is silly. Savvy consumers want to know what they're buying. Any spring manufacturer that uses the excuse about not wanting a competitor to copy their rates seems odd as I would assume any other manufacturer would have the equipment to measure a competitor's rate whether published or not. Perhaps another reason to not publish rates is that consumers can't have it tested against manufacturer's specs for warranty issues - i.e., "Hey, your advertised 350lb springs measure at 325lbs." If a manufacturer is confident about their quality control and tolerances, there's no harm in stating the most critical spec of a given spring. Maybe this is just an industry norm in suspension springs?

I haven’t seen withholding spring rates to be the norm in motorsports/enthusiast applications. In fact, there are a decent number of manufacturers who will allow you to pick your spring rate (within a range) OR custom valving for whatever rates you need.

 

[P3D-R]

As it stands there is very little compression stroke the bumpstop on the factory damper. I'm really curious how this is going to rectify that issue. We can solve this problem with new dampers but since this utilizes the factory dampers I'm a bit confused. Without knowing the spring rates we cannot determine what wheel rate/frequencies you are calculating. I'd presume you're using near factory rates but again raises the question as to available compression stroke when lowered and what are your calculated wheel frequencies.

 

[Schmollak]

i think this guy tells the story better than me haha

 

[P3D-R]

The video is all hearsay in terms of ride quality. That's a very subjective topic but what we cannot deny is how you can mitigate riding on the bumpstop with the factory dampers when you're lowering it that much more than stock. Even stock the amount of compression stroke in the rear damper is very limited. It's almost like riding on bumpstops from the factory. What would be very helpful is if they were to take this demo vehicle, remove the dust boots, lift the car in the air so the wheels are drooped down, put a ziptie on the lower part of the piston shaft, then lower the vehicle down. As the piston shaft compresses into the shock body it will displace the ziptie. After which, we can see exactly how much compression stroke there is at the new lowered static load. This will provide the most transparency to the functionality of the product. I do like what they have done with their machined parts and how they have designed their perches for the front damper. That retrofit looks very cool.

 

[Schmollak]

The video is all hearsay in terms of ride quality. That's a very subjective topic but what we cannot deny is how you can mitigate riding on the bumpstop with the factory dampers when you're lowering it that much more than stock. Even stock the amount of compression stroke in the rear damper is very limited. It's almost like riding on bumpstops from the factory. What would be very helpful is if they were to take this demo vehicle, remove the dust boots, lift the car in the air so the wheels are drooped down, put a ziptie on the lower part of the piston shaft, then lower the vehicle down. As the piston shaft compresses into the shock body it will displace the ziptie. After which, we can see exactly how much compression stroke there is at the new lowered static load. This will provide the most transparency to the functionality of the product. I do like what they have done with their machined parts and how they have designed their perches for the front damper. That retrofit looks very cool.

I'm not too worried about the technicals. I've ridden in other model 3 with h and r springs and I notice my ride is more smooth and soft on the city streets. But like I said in the post. Lowered on stock shocks feel more bumpy on big dips and compressions due to so little suspension travel. I'm happy with this setup for the street. Its still a improvement over stock in terms of comfort for most of the drive. The big dips is where its arguably less composed than stock. I am just happy to feel performance improvement when the main goal was aesthetics.

 

[tlr1000]

Whats the MSRP on these?

 

[MasterC17]

Whats the MSRP on these?

+1

 

[Schmollak]

Whats the MSRP on these?

Retails for 850 usd. Tax and shipping extra

 

[tlr1000]

Retails for 850 usd. Tax and shipping extra

Adjustability is great. Guess the question for people is whether they see value in spending close to 3x more than fixed height springs (ie, Eibachs for $324 or TSportlines for $300) or maybe buck up for coilovers that are a dedicated set.

 

[RichardRichard]

I have been quoted £900 (approx $1230) for supply and install of the MSS kit.
For coilovers of various other makes I have been quoted £2500+ (approx $3420)

Following this thread with interest.

How much do the factory dampers differ between the Performance and Long Range models?
Unlike some other brands, MSS don't appear to offer different kits for the Model 3 variants.
I believe the UK owner in the video shared above has a Long Range, whereas I think I'm correct in saying @Schmollak has them installed on a Performance.

This YouTuber describes the improvement he felt with the MSS on his BMW M2 Comp - (2) New Suspension BMW M2 Competition | Evolve Automotive | - YouTube
@P3D-R would probably still describe as "hearsay" but thought I would share in case it's of interest.

 

[RichardRichard]

@Schmollak Appreciate it's only been a few months but how are you finding the MSS kit please?

 

[Schmollak]

@Schmollak Appreciate it's only been a few months but how are you finding the MSS kit please?

The setup is good, raised the car closer to factory height due to roads and winters. feels much better than soft comfort and handling wise when near stock height.