Many moons ago now @U_S_D got in touch to say he was selling his car, and separately his full suspension kit that he'd had on it. Going back in my history I've had some complaints about the Americanisms of the 3's suspension setup, so after thinking for a bit, picked up the set from him on an exceptionally good deal (cheers btw!).
The kit, while extremely serious, matched my ambitions of sorting the car while not slamming it for track days:
After much hunting in the Edinburgh area (my old tuners have all given up and 'just do MOTs and servicing now') I found RD Motorsport and spoke to Rob. Found he had done a couple of spring kits for model 3's and he sounded like he knew what he was doing. I was absolutely in for a treat.
He is mainly a BMW guy, but also deals with Audi's and (presumably) other VAG stuff. There were 4 beautiful, tricked out, track prepped M3's in when I arrived (the other kind, the kind that have lots more moving parts than our ones). Roll cages, stripped interiors, and lovely exteriors on the cars, Recaro seats and racks of beautiful looking exhausts on the wall, all in a tiny industrial unit. Which happens to be 2 doors down from the Edinburgh Service Centre.
Its been a long time since I was in the modding scene, but the level of service has significantly improved! And I don't mean free cans of coke and cups of tea (looking at you Tesla). I mean photos of the install process sent over as it was ongoing and a good techie chat afterwards about the specifics of the car, what the alignment was setup for, potential niggles to look out for. Although, had I known so many photos were going to be taken, I may have managed to wash the car up front :/.
Below are only a small selection of what Rob has sent me. The meticulous approach and documenting everything is brilliant - every nut is torque marked now so I can see if there are any problems coming, and I can see what the lowering setting is so we can change it later if I want to. Totally different to 10 years ago (or just better people
).
After a quick stop at the new supercharger for some v3 pre-warming, it was time for a wee drive.
Disclaimers first: 1) It is/was lockdown, so I couldn't go galavanting off too far. 2) Despite lockdown it was still damn busy out there so I didn't get much clear road :/. 3) It was sleeting and I'm still on summer tyres this year due to 1) meaning I'm not doing much mileage.
Initial impression was good - its not become a rock. Its a family car and I was a bit worried about this, but the first few lumps and bumps out the car park showed it wasn't going to crunch any bones. After than I settled in and wound my way through some A road traffic, but never getting that fast or fun. Overtakes have so much more control now - it doesn't feel like all the weight transfers to the outside wheels and you have to wrestle the car back into the traffic. The turn in is amazing, super sharp, but also happier on the motorway, where it seems to flow much better rather than jiggle. The little bits of empty twisty road I found highlighted the fundamental increase in reliability of the the feeling of control - no longer clinging on thinking 'its a heavy car, with good tyres I'm not pushing that hard its going to be fine', because while it always was fine, now it feels fine.
The biggest difference, and the one place I could reliably unsettle the stock (AWD/P-) suspension was fast corners. Where previously the slightest undulation on a corner would set the whole car bouncing and spoinging around, changing the geometry and basically making you fight, now I'm limited by my ability to stay in the seat. My P- now has the ability to turn the corners to match its acceleration.
The last few 100 yards on the way home is littered with speed humps. Even at slow speed these would regularly create quite a thump from the stock suspension. Even this final bug bear is gone now.
As @U_S_D said - this is how the P should come.
What I'm not sure about is how much of the change is down to the kit vs just having someone that knows how to track prep the car dial in the tracking. I was never convinced by Tesla's efforts (sorry guys if you ever read this), which while they hit the right numbers, always felt pretty numb around the center point and was much keener to go right than left. Basically there may be a more efficient way to achieve a % of these gains, but I am very happy with how I have arrived at them.
Big thanks again to Rob, thoroughly recommended, and @U_S_D for doing all the hard work of selecting and importing the parts!
[some edits to try and get the images working]
The kit, while extremely serious, matched my ambitions of sorting the car while not slamming it for track days:
- MPP comfort coilovers
- MPP rear camber and toe arms
- Front and rear Eibach anti roll bar's
After much hunting in the Edinburgh area (my old tuners have all given up and 'just do MOTs and servicing now') I found RD Motorsport and spoke to Rob. Found he had done a couple of spring kits for model 3's and he sounded like he knew what he was doing. I was absolutely in for a treat.
He is mainly a BMW guy, but also deals with Audi's and (presumably) other VAG stuff. There were 4 beautiful, tricked out, track prepped M3's in when I arrived (the other kind, the kind that have lots more moving parts than our ones). Roll cages, stripped interiors, and lovely exteriors on the cars, Recaro seats and racks of beautiful looking exhausts on the wall, all in a tiny industrial unit. Which happens to be 2 doors down from the Edinburgh Service Centre.
Its been a long time since I was in the modding scene, but the level of service has significantly improved! And I don't mean free cans of coke and cups of tea (looking at you Tesla). I mean photos of the install process sent over as it was ongoing and a good techie chat afterwards about the specifics of the car, what the alignment was setup for, potential niggles to look out for. Although, had I known so many photos were going to be taken, I may have managed to wash the car up front :/.
Below are only a small selection of what Rob has sent me. The meticulous approach and documenting everything is brilliant - every nut is torque marked now so I can see if there are any problems coming, and I can see what the lowering setting is so we can change it later if I want to. Totally different to 10 years ago (or just better people
).After a quick stop at the new supercharger for some v3 pre-warming, it was time for a wee drive.
Disclaimers first: 1) It is/was lockdown, so I couldn't go galavanting off too far. 2) Despite lockdown it was still damn busy out there so I didn't get much clear road :/. 3) It was sleeting and I'm still on summer tyres this year due to 1) meaning I'm not doing much mileage.
Initial impression was good - its not become a rock. Its a family car and I was a bit worried about this, but the first few lumps and bumps out the car park showed it wasn't going to crunch any bones. After than I settled in and wound my way through some A road traffic, but never getting that fast or fun. Overtakes have so much more control now - it doesn't feel like all the weight transfers to the outside wheels and you have to wrestle the car back into the traffic. The turn in is amazing, super sharp, but also happier on the motorway, where it seems to flow much better rather than jiggle. The little bits of empty twisty road I found highlighted the fundamental increase in reliability of the the feeling of control - no longer clinging on thinking 'its a heavy car, with good tyres I'm not pushing that hard its going to be fine', because while it always was fine, now it feels fine.
The biggest difference, and the one place I could reliably unsettle the stock (AWD/P-) suspension was fast corners. Where previously the slightest undulation on a corner would set the whole car bouncing and spoinging around, changing the geometry and basically making you fight, now I'm limited by my ability to stay in the seat. My P- now has the ability to turn the corners to match its acceleration.
The last few 100 yards on the way home is littered with speed humps. Even at slow speed these would regularly create quite a thump from the stock suspension. Even this final bug bear is gone now.
As @U_S_D said - this is how the P should come.
What I'm not sure about is how much of the change is down to the kit vs just having someone that knows how to track prep the car dial in the tracking. I was never convinced by Tesla's efforts (sorry guys if you ever read this), which while they hit the right numbers, always felt pretty numb around the center point and was much keener to go right than left. Basically there may be a more efficient way to achieve a % of these gains, but I am very happy with how I have arrived at them.
Big thanks again to Rob, thoroughly recommended, and @U_S_D for doing all the hard work of selecting and importing the parts!
[some edits to try and get the images working]
Last edited by a moderator:
