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Vendor Redwood Motorsports - Official factory 'Road & Track' Ohlins kit release, pre-order, specs, RWMS Ohlins accessories, and discussion!
- Thread starter RedwoodMotors
- Start date
Jigglypuff
Member
Psht! That's a good think. You don't wanna drive 5 feet on stock crapsension.Order placed. Too bad I’ll probably receive this kit prior to delivery of the vehicle.
I'm curious why Ohlins would recommend keeping them in the Y, but not in the 3? Possibly better performance without them, but increased NVH? Why not make it an option for both or explain the +/- of using/not using them?
More ride height is likely the case. Instead of longer springs, retaining the isolator adds 1/2 to 3/4 of ride height without having to add additional preloads to the springs.
I installed mine tonight. Took about 5 hours by myself, in the garage using floor jacks. I dropped 1” all around and have the dampers set at 10 clicks from full stiff. I kept the rear spring isolator in and lowered the ride height to compensate for the thickness of the isolator. I took it for a nice long drive, and it was not harsh at all. I am even considering going a few clicks stiffer. I still need to get it aligned, but it drove great. Very flat in corners and considerably less dive under braking. It felt very smooth. This is exactly what I was looking for and I’m super happy with it. I’ll post some pics when I get a chance.
Both @stevehifi and I decided to keep the top rubber isolators, it does not add 1/2 to 3/4 of ride height, it only adds 5mm or so. I kept the rubber isolators out right during install while @stevehifi removed them but put them back because there’s a slight noise going over bumps without them. Frankly I couldn’t figure why ohlins recommends to not use them for model 3.
Same. It doesn't make any sense to me to leave them out, unless you are going for the greatest amount of drop possible. I'd say it adds 1/4" tops.
@stevehifi might do a better job at explaining this. I only estimated the thickness because when it’s on the car it’s sandwiched between the spring and subframe of the car, only showing a thin rubber lip, which is roughly 5mm thick.
From the motion ration of the suspension that 5mm at the spring perch will translate to a different height at the wheel. Just did exactly that on a vehicle and got 1/2 to 3/4" of height increase. Car is still on the lift. Standby for a photo....
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Very cool... are those Ground Control bottom perches with the adjustment bolt?
When I removed the rubber isolators, I saw maybe a 5mm drop at most. I didn't see any issues with the spring deforming using the rubber isolator. I did however hear some strange creaking noises in the rear when didn't use them and drove the car over steep entryways when the suspension compresses and unloads at extremes.
Note that most aftermarket kits (MPP, UPP and redwood) all re-use the top rubber isolator in their installs. If there were issues with spring alignment, we would have heard about it by now.
Also, if you note on the instructions, the Model Y preload is 5mm less than the Model 3 preload (20mm vs 25mm) since they use the isolator on the Y. So again... not much of a drop if you remove it.
Yes, those are the ground control version(I don't think they designed it for the Tesla but just happen to work on it). Rogue Engineering also make one for a BMW E36/46 but could work on the Tesla as well(have to get a pair to confirm). Hyperco has hydraulic spring perch that looks promising(will try it out one day). GC and RE look identical and may have come from the same manufacturer but neither one would share that information.
No one bothers to address the issue with the suspension bowing the spring and causing unwanted side loads because an articulating weight jack/height adjuster will add too much cost to a coilover kit.
You can see in the photo in my previous post how far the weight jack has articulated to keep the spring square to the upper seat. The lower arm swings in an arc and the only time the upper and lower spring seats are square is likely right at static height from the factory(NOT on your lowered vehicle). See the illustration. The insulator can help with this issue somewhat since it has some deflection, but it's mostly there to reduce spring noise(it does create another issue that requires a different part to fix, but that is a completely different topic altogether).
@Motion122 Using rear helper springs should mostly avoid problems from spring alignment at droop/extension right? Obviously the differing angles would still occur, but the helper spring should keep everything seated properly, I would think.
Any guess why Tesla didn't make our rear suspension coilover too, like the front? Is it just for packaging reasons? Seems like a coilover arrangement is superior. No spring alignment issues, and allows for more compression travel than our short inboard springs. Rear compression travel feels lacking on this car, I assume due to shorter springs back there than the front coilovers.
Any guess why Tesla didn't make our rear suspension coilover too, like the front? Is it just for packaging reasons? Seems like a coilover arrangement is superior. No spring alignment issues, and allows for more compression travel than our short inboard springs. Rear compression travel feels lacking on this car, I assume due to shorter springs back there than the front coilovers.
Jigglypuff
Member
Pretty much every decision Tesla made about their suspension design seems due to cost cutting. It takes a great set of shocks to make the car behave decently.
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