Description
Camber Adjustable Front Upper Control Arms for Tesla Model 3 & Y – Utilizing Quality Ball Joints
Updated July 2021 – Now even more vertical travel, as well as 4mm additional camber – another 0.5 degrees of camber. Long-awaited, our Camber Adjustable Front Upper Control Arms (FUCA’s) for Tesla Model 3 & Y were a complex and challenging part to develop. Originally we had planned not to develop an arm to replace the OE front upper, simply because of how impressed we were by the stock arm. The factory arm is a lightweight, stiff, and compact with a ton of compression travel before chassis interference.
Design:
We thought it would be possible to achieve acceptable camber adjustment elsewhere, but that proved to not be the case. As you’ll know if you’ve been around in the community for some time, our arms were the first ones to match Tesla’s range of travel, and the first ones to use OEM ball joints and sealed OEM spherical bearings.
They were also the first to use a drop-in shim design, allowing for camber changes in as little as one minute – without removing a wheel!! Since that time some other companies have copied significant aspects of our designs and claimed them to be “innovation”, which is unfortunate. If you have questions about why we believe our arms are better designed and superior in function, please don’t hesitate to send an email and ask.
The Model 3 and Model Y have a serious lack of front camber – and any of you that have taken your car to the track know that from the tire wear. When the sidewalls start becoming the tread of the tire, that’s bad!
Due to the suspension geometry, the car doesn’t gain very much camber when the vehicle is lowered, or in roll. Statically shortening the front upper control arm helps both to increase the camber gain with suspension travel, and obviously to increase static camber. Lap time improvements are in the order of seconds when stepping from roughly -1 degree of camber to -3+. This is no small change!
Cameron’s Performance Model 3 with our prototype MPP Corkscrew Front Upper Control Arms
In designing this arm we had our work cut out for us, but what you see here is a suspension arm with pure motorsport DNA, that is designed to have zero compromises on the street.
While it would have been easy to put some open spherical bearings on the inboard end, we opted to keep sealed bearings and ball joints throughout to ensure that these arms would endure the test of time, and not leave your silent Model 3 squeaking and creaking over every bump a few years down the road. These sealed spherical bearings and ball joints come from high-end European cars, and these joints are designed to last for tens if not hundreds of thousands of miles without degradation. 
The camber adjustment mechanism uses shims – basically making camber settings infinitely repeatable. This is a huge advantage as it offers the end-user or the alignment shop the ability to drop in shims for a “track” alignment and then set it back to stock in a matter of minutes.
We have even prepared matching toe adjustments for various camber shim stacks. Say you want a street alignment with -1.5 degrees of camber, but want to turn it up to -3.4 degrees when you get to the track. No problem. Just take out the shims in the camber arm, turn the tie rod the exact number of turns specified in our instructions, and the toe will be within 1mm of where it was prior to the camber adjustment. When it’s time to go home, simply pop the shims back in and set the tie rods back. We’re talking about a few minutes per side to do this!
Front Upper Control Arms for Tesla Model 3 & Model Y – MPP’s Corkscrew Camber Arms – named after the highest compression corner in North America where we ran these arms through their paces, and set a new EV Production Lap record doing it!
The arm has been sculpted for maximum clearance in vertical travel, and we were able to get the same amount of upwards travel as the OEM arm – an impressive feat considering we also had to add in a camber adjustment mechanism at the outer part of the arm.
As an update in Late 2020, we’ve updated our design to be side-to-side specific to allow for additional travel clearance for the Tesla Model Y. We are able to do this WITH A PRICE DECREASE due to the investment in 5-axis machining. The finish of all of our products has also improved with the use of 5-axis machining.
While there will surely be some cheaper (and sometimes more expensive!) options available in the future, we are confident none will be as easy to adjust as ours or be as quiet and smooth on the street. As always, we focus on bringing motorsport performance to a road car with no compromises. We hope that those in the community will distinguish and point out the copycats from the originators, as it’s the only way we can continue to bring real motorsport-inspired, no-compromise parts to the Tesla platform.
Specifications:
These arms include shims in 2mm steps to go between stock camber (around -1.2 degrees when lowered) and -3.4 degrees of camber.
For those wanting less than OE camber, we can provide additional shims and longer bolts on request.
The suspension arms are 100% bolt-on and can be installed in around 2 hours by a competent experienced mechanic. The entire kit is made from CNC cut, North American sourced 6061 Aluminum billet.
Installation instructions HERE
John Laughlin –
The Model 3 is a very capable platform, but the lack of appreciable camber really hurts the performance. These arms simply transform the car, and the improved steady-state balance was immediately noticeable! There is also no noticeable impact to streetability, as the car is just as comfortable at -3.3° front camber on an 8-hr drive as it is from the factory.
One installation note – if running a particularly wide wheel/tire setup, be sure to confirm adequate clearance at full lock with the wheel speed sensor cable.
SD_Engnr –
This car was a beast before the camber arms were installed, and an absolute monster after the arms were installed.
Once I was able to dial in -2 degrees of camber up front, the car had noticeably less understeer. This is very evident in my autocross runs, where this car tends to push the front end through certain corners. No more pushing! The best part about these arms (besides having the ability to adjust camber, and the beautiful color) is the ease of adjusting camber. It’s so simple!
No noticeable difference in regular street driving, other than knowing I won’t chew up the outer edges of my tires while cornering in a spirited manner… A must buy!
MasterC17 –
Eliminate understeer, inspire confidence, and save your tires! The stock Model 3 suspension has very little front camber adjustment. This leads to short tire life and understeer. Fortunately, these control arms completely solve that problem. These arms improved my cornering speeds and made the front end of the car more predictable. Making the switch to track settings and back is easy. This is a really nice kit, beautifully designed, and allows for all the adjustment you need. I strongly recommend these.
Chad Martin –
These are works of art – as others have said the Achilles heel of the Model 3 is the lack of adjustability from the factory. These solve the biggest of the issues – front camber which results in terminal understeer during dynamic driving. Get the rest of the adjustable arms too so that you can set the car up the way it should be! Thanks to MPP from teamPGR for producing these.
votangi1 –
I really like the way MPP FUCAs look, and I was bought by the simplicity of adjustment. However I was not able to reach full -3.5 degree of camber without shims as advertised. I guess This is to do with the whole front upper column structure of cowl tray and the way my mechanics bolted it. Maximum I managed -2.44 camber. It is enough with my 265/35R19 square setup with sway bars and lower springs kit. The main thing to really pay attention to during installation, is to secure speed sensor wire away from the tire and also I had weird stabilization sensor attached to the original left side FUCA which was NOT marked on the installation guide for both front and rare camber arms of my 2020 M3P. Have used them and abused them on three Track Events, without any issues.
chrisshieldsmith –
First off, these things really do look incredible. I was able to achieve -3.3deg which has been great for autocross racing. The quality of the parts and fit/finish is very good. I was concerned about spherical bearings being used and whether or not this would raise NVH levels for daily driving – Jesse assured me he hasn’t experienced it and now I can say, neither have i! This is obviously a must-have upgrade if you are needing to improve your camber for performance or lowering purposes. I highly recommend these.
ovidiupay –
Factory camber it’s ok if you just use the car to drive from point A to B. If you mount wider wheels, ( run now 245/40R18 on a 9.5J) than the factory camber is really bad, and only MPP FUCA can fix it.
It’s great that you can ajust yourself when you are on the track, just with 2 screwes and 6 shims, for maximum camber, and after track hours, mounting everything back for every day drive.
The fact that arm loock good is a bonus, but the biggest advantage is the silence in the car for every day use. Those spheres make wonders for my ears.
elkoubo –
I do not do track, but i was getting out of warranty. The OEM FUCA are known to get issues, and cost 800$ to be changed by tesla. With these ones, the possibility to adapt the camber, and the quality of the product, makes the car silent, which it worth the price.
ronny –
Love this product! Quick and easy install!
Calvin Lau –
OEM upper control arm clunking after 20000km (12427miles). Both Inner bushing and outer bushing.
Street setting and easy to tune and the solid spherical bearings is NICE.
TacoSteve –
I had another brand of FUCA (Bare Aluminum color) that I bought before knowing all the things I know today. After beating the crap out of my car for a couple years I had some issues with the other FUCA bending the tie rods. The MPP FUCA is signifactly stronger with less failure points. The ease of adjustment is also superior for track side adjustments with the shim design. I’m confident that I will not have any issues with the MPP design. Also the machining quality of the MPP products are top notch. My car now has the complete MPP catalog of suspension parts because I believe in their products and the people behind the scenes designing them. I contribute much of my success on the track to the awesome suspension they’ve put together. Thanks guys!
Omg_Tesla –
First thing I noticed about these FUCA was the quality and how simple they are.
Adding or reducing camber is so simple, quick and easy.
I had other another brand of FUCA before and my Model 3 never saw harsh winter conditions and that other brand FUCA was getting surface rust and corrosion over time making any adjustments difficult.
With any of MPP products, you can expect great quality and durability.
jacob –
I AutoX and run HPDEs and coupled Camber, Toe and Front Upper Control Arms to dial in alignment. Well made, easy to adjust and hold positions well. Definitely the main game in Tesla performance modifications.
These have far and away the simplest means of adjustment, and if you have toe plates they are pretty easy to dial in. Great build quality as well.