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Ordered M3P coming from FBO E85 Golf R...hope the Model 3 can check the same boxes

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Glad you are enjoying the car dude.

Coilovers make the M3P a completely different monster, trust me, worth every penny. I would recommend MPP Sport or KW. If you want and if you can swing it, I also recommend wheels and tires. Differentiate the car from the rest and it improves the handling significantly.

I think I am leaning towards:

MPP Sport coilovers
Solid LCA bearings
Debating between the compression rod inserts or going for the full bearings
Titan TS-5 20x9.5
Michelin P4s

I already bought Michelin PA5 to put on the stock uberturbines for winter wheels.

It's a lot more than I wanted to spend, but I think if I do this I might be able to get around the carplay issue and keep the car long term instead of my plan of switching to the BMW i4 M50 whenever they are available. Experiencing the difference in weight between the Tesla and the Golf, I don't think I could deal with another 1klbs added on for the BMW even though it has more top end pull and a better interior/infotainment.
 
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I think I am leaning towards:

MPP Sport coilovers
Solid LCA bearings
Debating between the compression rod inserts or going for the full bearings
Titan TS-5 20x9.5
Michelin P4s

I already bought Michelin PA5 to put on the stock uberturbines for winter wheels.

It's a lot more than I wanted to spend, but I think if I do this I might be able to get around the carplay issue and keep the car long term instead of my plan of switching to the BMW i4 M50 whenever they are available. Experiencing the difference in weight between the Tesla and the Golf, I don't think I could deal with another 1klbs added on for the BMW even though it has more top end pull and a better interior/infotainment.
That sounds like a good plan. Though be careful with the Titans, for what I usually see in the forums, the offsets are kinda meh, and considering you will lower the car, I think it might look too sunk unless you do spacers. But if you are planning to spend that amount of money on a set of wheels, might as well have the proper offsets to evade spacers.

Personally, I went with Signature Wheels 20x9 with staggered offsets and upped the tire size to 255s PS4S. Michelin is the way to go, they are worth every penny. I am not going to even mention what I think of Pirelli.

MPPs will be where you see the most difference. I could not stand the stock suspension on the M3P coming from the M2C, just too floaty. MPP fixes that and makes it feel much more confidence-inspiring but feels like OEM BMW or Mercedes, and no clunks rattling, etc.
 
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I came from a MT F80 M3. I do miss the sound, gear changing, and handling but overall the M3P is an overall much better car to live with.
+1 on the above, but the really BIG gap to TM3P is handling.
There is only so much you can do with a 4,200+ lbs car. Once you start turning anywhere near the limit of adhesion, you will absolutely wonder why in the world the steering is boycotting your inputs.

Visualize tracking S8 (D3). That's what we are working with here.

Keep the Golf R…. You will eventually regret it after seeing Model 3 after Model 3 on the road. Get a SR Model 3 and keep your Golf R, it’s a classic.
That!
If you are a car guy, Model 3, even in TM3P guise, just wont cut it. No matter how much money you throw at suspension mods.
You will absolutely regret giving up your track toy. I highly recommended NOT doing that.

So this happened a lot quicker than expected! [...] took delivery today.

So, did you keep the R, or are you stuck in hyppo land with no way back?

YMMV,
a
 
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@paradoxical Spot on about the stock suspension including bushings. Yeah it's really that bad from the factory, but those hints of good things from the chassis are real, it'll be transformed after the upgrades you have planned.

There will still be a lot of soft squishy rubber, unless you really go to town upgrading every control arm and finding upgrades for subframe mounts too maybe. But good coilovers + FLCA bearings alone is transformative, and seems like a good tradeoff of cost and NVH for a daily driver. Mid-corner steering response is worlds better now, in addition to all the other aspects of handling being transformed.

Are you lowering your car much? If you're going low I believe the general wisdom is to get camber adjustable arms so you can dial back some of the camber gain and not have excessive tire wear on the street. Camber arms are pricey but better than constantly eating through tires. (I kept my 2021 M3P at its stock height so this wasn't an issue for me.)
 
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+1 on the above, but the really BIG gap to TM3P is handling.
There is only so much you can do with a 4,200+ lbs car. Once you start turning anywhere near the limit of adhesion, you will absolutely wonder why in the world the steering is boycotting your inputs.
@afadeev What you wrote there describes the car perfectly with stock suspension. But to say that there's nothing you can do about it because of the weight is just wrong. What suspension mods have you tried?

It's nothing like that anymore with my suspension mods, and I'm not even close to the level of modded as some here.

That!
If you are a car guy, Model 3, even in TM3P guise, just wont cut it. No matter how much money you throw at suspension mods.
Hrmm I definitely consider myself a car person, and I disagree with that statement. Yes you will always feel the weight, it'll never be a lightweight little sports car, but for a sedan / 4 door it's really damn good...once you fix up the suspension.

It really sounds to me like you're still on the stock suspension and making all sorts of assumptions based on that.

You will absolutely regret giving up your track toy. I highly recommended NOT doing that.
I certainly agree with that last part if you're into track days, but that's nothing to do with the M3P in particular. Daily driving and being a really good track car are largely at odds, it's best to keep them separate if you're doing lots of track time. Nothing novel there. Not to mention the logistical issues with trying to do full track days in an EV.
 
@paradoxical Timely post! Congrats on the move. It's too bad you couldn't keep the R! I came over the forums to start to research info on M3P's and Model Y's as we are thinking about adding one to the stable and found your post. I'm a current (fairly modded) Golf R owner as well. Difference in my case is there is no way way in hell I get rid of my R. I love it and it's so dialed and sorted across the board I couldn't imagine getting rid of it quite yet. I'd be curious of your thoughts once you have more seat time and upgrade to coils etc. I can't ever leave performance cars stock and I imagine if we picked up a M3P it wouldn't be any different. My R has Bilstein PSS10's, Superpro RSB & LCAs, etc, etc. I'm sure I would upgrade the suspension on the M3P and even the Model Y (although probably a bit more mild vs M3P) if we went that route.
BTW - for those that don't know how quick the Golf R's can get here's mine. I know Tesla advertises their M3P 3.1s 0-60 w 1 ft rollout so as you can see my R is at 3.02s with a 1ft rollout. This is at high altitude as well where ICE cars suffer vs ICE cars at sea level. This would probably be sub 3s at sea level

1656542948885.png
 
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The beauty with the Tesla's performance it is out of the box. It is consistent as heck. Not to mention you have a full warranty. Hard to beat for a daily driver.

I think drag times had someone running 2.9 0-60 for an M3P.
 
I’m not saying it hasn’t or wouldn’t happen, but I’d love to see the video with a Golf of any variety out accelerate a 3 Performance 0-60. Please share a video.

This is my Golf vs. a Model 3 stealth performance. I was not driving and this was done on a closed access road leading to a buddy's farm in the middle of nowhere. The result is the same from a dig or a roll. The golf was just faster and the more the speeds climbed the more the Golf will pull away.


On the other hand, I am honestly loving the overall Tesla experience so far. Just gotta sort out the suspension and this will be a truly fantastic car.
 
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Personally, I went with Signature Wheels 20x9 with staggered offsets and upped the tire size to 255s PS4S. Michelin is the way to go, they are worth every penny. I am not going to even mention what I think of Pirelli.

Can you let me know what the exact specs (offsets, etc) are of your wheels? I already bought 245/35/20 Michelin PA5 snow tires that I was planning on swapping to the stock wheels, but if I can fit those as well as 255 PS4 for summer onto the same set of Signatures than I'll sell the stock wheels and tires to make the cost of the Signatures more palatable.
 
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Only skimmed this, but just wanted to nod in agreement on a few things. I came from a 2.0T K04 boosted stage 2 B7 Audi Avant on coilovers. Absolutely loved that car - just an absolutely red hot hatch. Would still have it if I hadn’t driven it to death: cracked turbo, loss of compression, burning oil… I do not miss the mounting bills and anxiety over the next failure. Local shops were refusing to work on it anymore, and it finally needed a new motor. I miss the timeless character of that Audi, but going EV was a one-way ticket for me.
 
Can you let me know what the exact specs (offsets, etc) are of your wheels? I already bought 245/35/20 Michelin PA5 snow tires that I was planning on swapping to the stock wheels, but if I can fit those as well as 255 PS4 for summer onto the same set of Signatures than I'll sell the stock wheels and tires to make the cost of the Signatures more palatable.
@paradoxical Since you already bought 20" snow tires this advice might be too late, but...

I really recommend a separate set of smaller wheels for winter, preferably 18", or at largest 19". The stock M3P 20" wheels are known for breaking, bending, and giving lots of tire issues (pinch flats and bubbles). It's a combo of the rubberband thin tire sidewalls plus the Tesla wheels themselves seem to be on the weaker side. E.g. you'd think big OE sport wheels on a "performance" car would be forged but they're not.

You could of course do separate 20" wheels for winter but that sure seems expensive. And 20" tires are expensive too. Doesn't seem worth it for winter but that's just me, it's really up to your preference!

I know you mentioned just using one set of 20s for summer + winter and getting the tires remounted each time. That is an option but I have to say, I find it way more convenient to have separate winter wheels. And usually more cost effective...basic smaller wheels will pay for themselves via cheaper tires, and not needing to remount tires 2x/year.

Btw my Model S came with a similar 245/35 rubberband tire size on big Tesla cast wheels. Same issues as the M3P wheels/size. I can share a photo of our cracked Model S wheel if you like...
 
3. Infotainment - CarPlay, enough said. To me, this is the #1 reason I almost went with the BMW i4 M50 instead of the Tesla. If the i4 M50 had superchargers and I didn't think it would depreciate 50% in two years, I would go for it just for CarPlay. I know the Tesla system is good, but it's not remotely as good as car play for someone like me who uses calling, texting, FB messenger, whatsapp, waze, Apple music, Apple podcasts, etc, literally every single day.

Yea, Tesla infotainment drive me nuts. I never had CarPlay before and always wanted it since it came out. So I added CarPlay to my model y and you can add to model 3 too.

You can add CarPlay & android auto to tesla cars via a few ways.

Ok not really CarPlay but just get a MagSafe phone mount with charging abilities which attaches to center screen so phone is near you. You can set phone to connect to tesla Bluetooth automatically.

I have this in my model Y. Hansshow behind steering wheel 9” linux based instrument consol which supports display of basic car info , Apple CarPlay (wireless) , android auto (wireless - unmentioned feature or wired) . Search for my posts in model y forum for review and tips. To eliminate phone call audio lag I set tesla to connect to phone Bluetooth rather than console’s. However in this setup Siri, message and nav audio comes from consoles built in speaker (which can be set loud and still has good audio). If i set car to use console Bluetooth then all audio is heard over tesla speakers but people will hear their last statement about 1.2 seconds later echoed in background. This doesn’t bother me much as I use CarPlay mostly for music and podcasts and Having Apple map’s 3D


There is an open source project which brings CarPlay to the center console screen. It relies upon two raspberry pi mini computers, and for now a dedicated usb based cell model with active plan. Second beta just came out so worth keeping an eye on as having CarPlay on the center consol could be nice.

You can hack around and buy an anderoid based tablet running autokit app and connect a carlinkit or similar CarPlay dongle to tablet. Then futz around getting power to tablet and how to mount it. I went this route once but found the setup unstable and a hassle. Perhaps if I knew more about anderoid is, I could have simplified a bit.

There are other third party companies
 
@paradoxical Since you already bought 20" snow tires this advice might be too late, but...

I really recommend a separate set of smaller wheels for winter, preferably 18", or at largest 19". The stock M3P 20" wheels are known for breaking, bending, and giving lots of tire issues (pinch flats and bubbles). It's a combo of the rubberband thin tire sidewalls plus the Tesla wheels themselves seem to be on the weaker side. E.g. you'd think big OE sport wheels on a "performance" car would be forged but they're not.

You could of course do separate 20" wheels for winter but that sure seems expensive. And 20" tires are expensive too. Doesn't seem worth it for winter but that's just me, it's really up to your preference!

I know you mentioned just using one set of 20s for summer + winter and getting the tires remounted each time. That is an option but I have to say, I find it way more convenient to have separate winter wheels. And usually more cost effective...basic smaller wheels will pay for themselves via cheaper tires, and not needing to remount tires 2x/year.

Btw my Model S came with a similar 245/35 rubberband tire size on big Tesla cast wheels. Same issues as the M3P wheels/size. I can share a photo of our cracked Model S wheel if you like...
I recommend 18" (wide summer, narrow winter) for the M3P; 265/40 PS4 for summer on Apex wheels originally intended for Mustang, but great for the Tesla as well; better deal than Michelin and top performance for winter are Vredesteins at 235/45 and less than $200 at tire rack. If you want bigger diameter wheels for the look, you should still junk the stock soft heavy narrow ones.
 
I recommend 18" (wide summer, narrow winter) for the M3P; 265/40 PS4 for summer on Apex wheels originally intended for Mustang, but great for the Tesla as well; better deal than Michelin and top performance for winter are Vredesteins at 235/45 and less than $200 at tire rack. If you want bigger diameter wheels for the look, you should still junk the stock soft heavy narrow ones.
The one thing you never cheap out on is tires. Not a big difference in terms of price either way.
 
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