-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Ohlins R&T Coilovers with Swift Springs!
- Thread starter JKarbon
- Start date
No the Redwood Performance Sport is 8kg front / 11kg rear per the manual.
GT has to be softer but I don't know the rates.
Ah, for some reason I thought GT was the Sport, lol.
The early GT kit was 5k/7k, as can be seen in this video, maybe they've changed it since, but I doubt it.
The early GT kit was 5k/7k, as can be seen in this video, maybe they've changed it since, but I doubt it.
Nice find there. Still had their old style welded fork legs, I guess the billet ones came later. I agree I doubt they've changed the spring rates, no reason to at least for AWD Model 3 which all basically weigh the same, newer or older, P or Long Range.
Jigglypuff
Member
I guess I don't know for sure without an external video of the car hiring these bumps, but I can't distinguish from a more gentle weightlessness sensation where I don't think the tires are coming off the ground, and a harsher jolt upwards and crash downwards which I'm assuming is because of lift off.
Oh boy, here's my saga regarding rear compression travel:
Initially I had the recommended damper length and spring perch height. To get additional drop in ride height I dropped the rear spring perch from 20mm to 0mm. I suspected I was hitting the bump stop, and confirmed this with a zip tie. Ohlins recommended reducing damper length by 15mm to compensate for the drop in ride height, but I still felt like I was hitting the bump stop and the zip tie also indicated this.
I did a test of compressing the rear spring 20mm with a jack and found this changed the exposed damper shaft by 28mm. So I think lowering the spring perch by 20mm reduced my compression travel by 28mm.
I reduced the damper another 15mm, so my dampers are now 30mm shorter than the initial setup. Even with this, the rear will still pop up, and the zip tie still travels to set on the bump stop, at least at 20 clicks. Note that I had this adverse behavior even with the initial recommended damper length and spring perch setting of 20mm.
The zip tie suggests I need even more compression travel, but I've hesitated to this so far.
I've been running the dampers at stiffer settings and _think_ it's been better. So maybe at softer settings I'm running out of compression travel. I'm going to reset the zip tip with the stiffer settings and see how it does.
@nadkoolio Ah-ha now it's making sense!
Rear compression travel on the Model 3 feels very limited to me. I bottom out the rear all the time when driving fast on bump roads especially with big dips.
For me it's actually a vastly smoother experience bottoming out the rear on the Performance Sport coilovers that it was stock. When stock it would slam down hard coming out of a lot of dips, then bounce around after. Felt very harsh and out of control. I experienced it even on my test drive, that's why I ordered the coilovers before we even picked up the car. (But still spent several months on the stock suspension so had plenty of time to confirm how poorly it handled.)
Now it practically oozes into the bump stops going over most of those same dips, and settles back down super quick after. Bottoming out still happens but it's really quite a lot better now.
If I lost any rear travel with the coilovers I can't tell from the driving experience, but I did keep my M3P at its stock height, maybe 2-3mm lower after settling. For street driving lower is slower, even if it looks cool.
A big enough dip or bump is still harsh of course. At some point you just need more travel.
Rear compression travel on the Model 3 feels very limited to me. I bottom out the rear all the time when driving fast on bump roads especially with big dips.
For me it's actually a vastly smoother experience bottoming out the rear on the Performance Sport coilovers that it was stock. When stock it would slam down hard coming out of a lot of dips, then bounce around after. Felt very harsh and out of control. I experienced it even on my test drive, that's why I ordered the coilovers before we even picked up the car. (But still spent several months on the stock suspension so had plenty of time to confirm how poorly it handled.)
Now it practically oozes into the bump stops going over most of those same dips, and settles back down super quick after. Bottoming out still happens but it's really quite a lot better now.
If I lost any rear travel with the coilovers I can't tell from the driving experience, but I did keep my M3P at its stock height, maybe 2-3mm lower after settling. For street driving lower is slower, even if it looks cool.
A big enough dip or bump is still harsh of course. At some point you just need more travel.
If you deviated from the recommended settings, you should compensate the damper equally for the additional compression travel needed. If the results of the zip-tie test is to add additional compression travel, you should do so or add more ride height.
Damping adjustment on R&T is only adding rebound damping so that will have no affect on the issue you are trying to solve. You may be running so much rebound damping the the damper is packing and the tire is losing contact with the ground.
Problem is even at the recommended settings I didn't have enough compression travel. I was hesitating further shortening the damper and decreasing droop travel, and also with regards to battery clearance.
Nonetheless today I shortened the rear dampers 10mm more. I did 40 minutes of city/highway driving and for the first time the zip tie wasn't sitting on the bump stop when I got back home, and I didn't experience the rear jumping. So it seems like I finally have enough compression travel. I'll take a drive to the airport tomorrow to confirm. I distinctly remember the rear jumping 3 times when I did that route after the initial install.
How would I determine that if I still have sufficient droop travel now?
They're linked together so that the damping adjustment changes both, but to your point it does change rebound damping more than it changes compression damping.
What's your current rear damper length? I think Redwood's 'risky' recommendation is 630mm.
Going below it exposes the battery to damage.
How much lower than stock are you?
I think hitting bump stops is fine, it's part of the suspension. The trick is not hitting it too often. So the zip-tie test isn't really that indicative, unless you have a ton or bump/dropp shock travel to work with to begin with, which is not the case for our rear suspension.
@Motion122 What do you mean by "secondary spring?" That makes me think helper spring, but I believe that would only be relevant at full extension, not at full compression.
@dsgerbc Are you sure that free length measurements are comparable between Redwood Ohlins DFV and Ohlins R&T? Does 630mm actually put the bump stop at the same place with both dampers, or might it be different e.g. due to different damper bodies or bump stops?
For what it's worth, earlier this year Redwood told me they now recommend 630mm rear free length over 645mm, even for stock height. That was when I was installing the Redwood Performance Sport kit. I don't know if the recommendation applies to the R&T.
For what it's worth I agree with @dsgerbc that it's better to hit the bump stops than risk battery damage. Stock rear compression travel is limited, I hit the bump stops often when stock too, it's just the design of the car. @nadkoolio if you lowered the car at all then you should lose compression travel, otherwise you're letting the battery get even closer to the ground under full compression. What's your hub-to-fender height? Stock height is best for the street. (Or even a little higher honestly would make sense, even though most of us don't want to lift our sedans.)
However if you are/were hitting the bump stops more with the R&T while at stock height, that's not good of course, then you should get that compression travel back.
Valid point, I have no info on how different are the shocks in terms of stroke etc. But cutting 40mm off the recommended shock length is a lot.
Whoops, I forgot that earlier @nadkoolio mentioned setting the rear spring perch all the way down, as low as possible. That should be about a 40mm drop from stock if the R&T instructions are correct. I'm not surprised compression travel was noticeably reduced with that drop, assuming the R&T recommended damper length maintains a similar battery-to-ground compression limit as stock, which seems likely.
@nadkoolio So now you've reduced full compression ground clearance by 40mm (1.6 inches!), balancing out your 40mm drop. Makes perfect sense that you feel the ride is fixed. But I agree with @dsgerbc, that seems like a big reduction for compressed ground clearance. We all have different risk tolerances. That would go beyond mind personally. I'm no expert but I think you should raise the car some (spring perch) and lengthen the shock body accordingly. Or just lengthen the shock body and accept that a low car is going to ride and handle worse on the street.
R&T Model 3/Y install instructions:
https://www.ohlins.com/app/uploads/world/2022/03/MI_TES-MU00S1.pdf
Redwood Model 3 install instructions (not for R&T!):
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0074/6746/6850/files/TM3_Ohlins_Coilover_Install_Guide_1.pdf
@nadkoolio So now you've reduced full compression ground clearance by 40mm (1.6 inches!), balancing out your 40mm drop. Makes perfect sense that you feel the ride is fixed. But I agree with @dsgerbc, that seems like a big reduction for compressed ground clearance. We all have different risk tolerances. That would go beyond mind personally. I'm no expert but I think you should raise the car some (spring perch) and lengthen the shock body accordingly. Or just lengthen the shock body and accept that a low car is going to ride and handle worse on the street.
R&T Model 3/Y install instructions:
https://www.ohlins.com/app/uploads/world/2022/03/MI_TES-MU00S1.pdf
Redwood Model 3 install instructions (not for R&T!):
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0074/6746/6850/files/TM3_Ohlins_Coilover_Install_Guide_1.pdf
@dsgerbc @tm1v2 Currently my rear hub to fender distance is 415mm. I have the Model Y LR and stock distance is around 432mm, so I'm lowered about 17mm. I'm probably currently around the stock height for the MYP, and definitely still have more ground clearance than an OEM Model 3. With the 12k springs I should be able to have enough compression travel to not hit the bump stops in a jarring way without risking the battery.
The recommending spring perch setting of 20mm for Model Y resulted in my rear ride height being higher than stock, that's why I dropped it to 0 just to get some modest ride height drop and match the front.
At the recommended damper length and recommended height of 20mm for the rear spring perch and ride height greater than stock, I was still hitting bump stocks worse than stock. That's how bad the compression travel setup situation is.
I'll talk to them tomorrow. I'm starting to get a sense that the Y and 3 geometry is different enough that this kit works for the 3 but not the Y.
Ohlins R&T instructions say that their default specs should result in 20mm lowering. Something is off here.
Are you tightening all the shock/lower control arm bolts at ride height?
It absolutely does affect the ride height, unless you replace every control arm/shock bushing with a bearing.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Marketplace listing
