Clicking noise and high ride height after Highland front struts retrofit on 2022 M3 RWD
Hi everyone,
I decided to upgrade the ride quality on my 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD (pre-facelift) by retrofitting the new Highland front complete struts.
I ordered the exact parts for the Highland SR RWD variant directly from Tesla:
1344365-00-B (Front Left Assembly)
1344365-01-B (Front Right Assembly)
After the installation, I ran into a couple of annoying issues and wanted to see if anyone else had the same experience:
- Ride Height: The front of the car sits significantly higher now. It looks noticeably lifted compared to the stock 2022 setup.
- Clicking/Popping Noise: There is a light, consistent clicking/metallic popping sound at low speeds (under 20-30 km/h / 15-20 mph) when driving over small bumps or slightly turning. It sounds like the spring is binding or clicking against something due to the extreme angle.
Important context:
The Highland struts are brand new, completely fine, and have no play or defects.
We only replaced the complete strut assemblies; the front steering knuckles (knuckle assembly/цапфи) were left original.
When we swapped my stock 2022 struts back in, the car returned to its normal height, and the noise completely disappeared.
Has anyone encountered this clicking noise and lift issue after doing the Highland retrofit on a legacy RWD? Did you fix it by swapping your original 2022 springs and top hats onto the bare Highland dampers?
Would love to hear your thoughts or solutions. Thanks!