So it took me awhile to finally write this review up, but I do have a solid amount of miles on the LSD and lockdown kit at this point which is a good thing.
I ordered the LSD through Steven @MFactory. We corresponded mostly through email, and he was always very responsive...even when traveling out of country. I did their core exchange program, and picked up a 3.46 LSD for my 6MT car, as I heard nothing but good things about the final drive change.
After they received my payment, they began reconditioning a large housing bolted pumpkin they had there and prepping it for the LSD. Once the oil seals arrived, it only took them a day to have it prepped and ready. One of the pics attached below so it in its prepped state. Shipping was fast as well, and it was at my door a few days later. It was super clean, and the pumpkin was freshly coated black :) I had Rick@Defiv fit me in his busy schedule for an install, and decided to get the lockdown kit done at the same time.
Rick and I had the whole diff swap + lockdown install process done in about 4hrs, including pizza and drink breaks. Not bad at all. We took it out on the road for a quick spin to verify everything was solid, then I was on my way. Thanks again Rick!
I've been driving on it for about 800 miles now over the past month or so, and I love how it has transformed the car. The LSD still adds forward thrust to the car even while spinning in 1st and 2nd. Previously, my car would get very unpredictable, and start to kick out the rear in either direction. Now it is planted and firm, just pushing you forward. Traction is greatly improved. It's also great to be able to rotate the car easily with the gas pedal going around turns and you can literally "feel" the LSD working. The 3.46 final drive + my worn tires aren't doing me any favors currently, but I will be switching to some r-comp semi slicks very soon, and going wider.
As for the lockdown kit, it is as great as advertised! Absolutely no wheel hop on the street. I did experience a tiny tiny bit my first pass at the strip after the installs, but as soon as I lowered my tire pressure a bit it was completely gone. This can be further adjusted if I had coilovers too, but I am on stock 135i suspension. For the first 400 miles or so, I'd say there was ZERO increase in NVH. After everything broke in, I did notice a very tiny increase in NVH. I can hear a slight whine / resonance between 50-60mph and sometimes in the lower rpm, but only with the windows up. I have catless downpipes, and a custom single 3" catless midpipe, but am running the stock axle back so my car is super quiet cruising around. Anyone with a louder exhaust will not hear a thing. Regardless, it is a "cool" sound. BC Racecar.
Running the Cobb Stg 2+ basemap at the strip w/ the LSD and lockdown kit, I was running consistent 12.6 @ 113-114mph all night. I couldn't get lower than a 2.0 60', but that is my tires fault. IAT's per my logs were very high too (105*+), since it was a warm night and. I fully expect to hit 12.1 - 12.2 simply with better tires. Then a PTF pro-tune to get me into the 11's on stock turbo, 6mt, 93oct.
I highly recommend that anyone making power get an LSD. You don't really know what you're missing out on until you experience it. mFactory was great to deal with and their product performs extremely well. Same goes for the defiv lockdown kit. Together, it's a killer combo.
See pics below!
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I ordered the LSD through Steven @MFactory. We corresponded mostly through email, and he was always very responsive...even when traveling out of country. I did their core exchange program, and picked up a 3.46 LSD for my 6MT car, as I heard nothing but good things about the final drive change.
After they received my payment, they began reconditioning a large housing bolted pumpkin they had there and prepping it for the LSD. Once the oil seals arrived, it only took them a day to have it prepped and ready. One of the pics attached below so it in its prepped state. Shipping was fast as well, and it was at my door a few days later. It was super clean, and the pumpkin was freshly coated black :) I had Rick@Defiv fit me in his busy schedule for an install, and decided to get the lockdown kit done at the same time.
Rick and I had the whole diff swap + lockdown install process done in about 4hrs, including pizza and drink breaks. Not bad at all. We took it out on the road for a quick spin to verify everything was solid, then I was on my way. Thanks again Rick!
I've been driving on it for about 800 miles now over the past month or so, and I love how it has transformed the car. The LSD still adds forward thrust to the car even while spinning in 1st and 2nd. Previously, my car would get very unpredictable, and start to kick out the rear in either direction. Now it is planted and firm, just pushing you forward. Traction is greatly improved. It's also great to be able to rotate the car easily with the gas pedal going around turns and you can literally "feel" the LSD working. The 3.46 final drive + my worn tires aren't doing me any favors currently, but I will be switching to some r-comp semi slicks very soon, and going wider.
As for the lockdown kit, it is as great as advertised! Absolutely no wheel hop on the street. I did experience a tiny tiny bit my first pass at the strip after the installs, but as soon as I lowered my tire pressure a bit it was completely gone. This can be further adjusted if I had coilovers too, but I am on stock 135i suspension. For the first 400 miles or so, I'd say there was ZERO increase in NVH. After everything broke in, I did notice a very tiny increase in NVH. I can hear a slight whine / resonance between 50-60mph and sometimes in the lower rpm, but only with the windows up. I have catless downpipes, and a custom single 3" catless midpipe, but am running the stock axle back so my car is super quiet cruising around. Anyone with a louder exhaust will not hear a thing. Regardless, it is a "cool" sound. BC Racecar.
Running the Cobb Stg 2+ basemap at the strip w/ the LSD and lockdown kit, I was running consistent 12.6 @ 113-114mph all night. I couldn't get lower than a 2.0 60', but that is my tires fault. IAT's per my logs were very high too (105*+), since it was a warm night and. I fully expect to hit 12.1 - 12.2 simply with better tires. Then a PTF pro-tune to get me into the 11's on stock turbo, 6mt, 93oct.
I highly recommend that anyone making power get an LSD. You don't really know what you're missing out on until you experience it. mFactory was great to deal with and their product performs extremely well. Same goes for the defiv lockdown kit. Together, it's a killer combo.
See pics below!