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Ohlins DFV Coilover Kit Installed!!

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Exelion: I had to remove one of the rear wheels, and was reminded that the rear is different than the front. I believe your point is correct.

It still seems counterintuitive to me that a compressed spring isn't stiffer than a lengthened spring.
 
It would be easy to think so. And it would be correct -

-If the spring is nonlinear, (progressive) like the rear springs seem to be, where the coils at the end are not the same spacing or diameter as the coils towards the center of the spring.

-Or if the springs were completely squashed down all the way, where all the coils are 100% bound up like a resting snake. Then of course, it's not a spring anymore, and simply a block of steel.

But if a spring is 100% at rest, and another, identical spring is 50% compressed, those two springs will still behave the same if you took the exact same amount of weight and pushed on them. If the weight moves one 2inches, it will also move the other one 2 inches too (even though it's 50% compressed already), because the spring constant is still the same, which is *k*. The one thing that the second spring has a disadvantage, is that it has less travel distance than the first, and will bottom out sooner.

Actually, this sounds like a good experiment. Get two identical springs, an internal spring compressor, and two identical heavy weights.......compress one spring, and set the weights on the springs.....see if the uncompressed spring, compresses more than the other.
 
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Question about the Ohlins system with billet top hats. Will these make any knock noises? In the past I had some KWs with billet mounting hardware, and they'd make knocking noises over certain bumps.

The Performance kit w/o billet hats are on backorder, and the install with hats preinstalled might be worth it to me if they don't make knocking noises.
 
Question about the Ohlins system with billet top hats. Will these make any knock noises? In the past I had some KWs with billet mounting hardware, and they'd make knocking noises over certain bumps.

The Performance kit w/o billet hats are on backorder, and the install with hats preinstalled might be worth it to me if they don't make knocking noises.
After emails I had with Redwood Motorsports, I had asked this exact question. They said it added a bit more NVH over the stock hats, although better for racing and performance driving.
 
Question about the Ohlins system with billet top hats. Will these make any knock noises? In the past I had some KWs with billet mounting hardware, and they'd make knocking noises over certain bumps.

The Performance kit w/o billet hats are on backorder, and the install with hats preinstalled might be worth it to me if they don't make knocking noises.
If they made noises they'd be defective, ie. play in the spherical joint itself. Spherical joints should not make more noise by themselves though they'd expose everything else to more harshness, ie. transferring it to the next component.

You could also get that kit and resell the spherical top hats.
 
I have emailed Redwood Motorsports over a period and here is a summary of what Alexandra there wrote back.
  1. Limited Lifetime Warranty for Coilovers means that mounts and all hardware are all covered for product defects & failures (does not apply to cosmetic blemishes), but dampers are covered with a limited 2 Year Factory, unlimted miles, Warranty with Ohlins.
  2. For damper repair, the process is to pull the suspension from the car, break the shock towers down to the raw dampers, and then send them out either directly to Ohlins USA and get the valving done through them, or Redwood can facilitate the process and fill out the forms for you. Either way the cost for a rebuild of all 4 would be about $1000.
  3. For comfort, you definitely want the GT version of the coilover kit.
  4. For comfort, you do not want the tophats. While the spherical bearing tophats have significant performance benefits, they also introduce a considerable amount of NVH, so tophats are not advisable.
  5. The Rear Camber and Toe arms add a lot of alignment adjustability to the rear end. In the stock suspension there is no means to adjust camber in the rear and only extremely limited toe adjustment, so the control arms aid enormously in alignment adjustment and that is the primary purpose. They do introduce a small amount of NVH.
  6. The Redwood Model 3 Sway Bar and Endlinks will fit onto a Model Y without any issues, but it would be a relatively minor change in rates versus just the Coilovers. It would help to stabilize the chassis, but it would not feel like an enormous change.
There were some other comments about some potential upcoming products, but I will let them pipe in when they are ready to announce them.
 
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Just returned home from our Ohlins install at AR Motorsports in Portland (Highly recommend this shop for labor!) The term night and day applies here! The car is so much more behaved, better balanced, and the ride over bumps is just so much better dampened. I have MPP coils on my Model 3 performance and these are noticeable better. They just feel smoother. We lowered the Y about a half inch and went 3 clicks away from full soft. Probably will just leave it, but will access after more driving time. If you're on the fence about these, they are a great investment in my opinion and the car now handles and behaves the way a car in this class/price range should.