Tein Flex Coilovers

[Serran]

for those who have tein flex's. can you tell us what spring rating are your springs? and comment on riding with these rated springs?

thanks!

ps. you can get 3 spring ratings per tein flex coilovers. recommended advise i've been given for sydney roads is 5kg force / mm.

comments?

[lextcy]

huh?

I knew you can change the springs over for the ones that come with the Tein CS for a smoother ride, but I didnt know u could choose spring rates from the factory

[Serran]

yep 3 ratings.. confirmed by 2 reliable sources.

do you think you can get this info of your coils from advan? (that's where you got yours wasnt it?)

[lextcy]

http://www.mohdparts.com/tein/#For%202000+%20Lexus%20IS300

My ones are the standard rates in the chart

[Serran]

10 front 8 rear for is300

5kg front/rear for is200

ive ridden in matts ride with the eibachs.. how would u compare ride with your normal street setting eg. parra road, and epping road with the coils?

[lextcy]

The eibachs are much softer

The Flex are a harsher ride but tolerable

I dont like Parra Rd at all

Where's Shane, you should get his input too

[Serran]

shane would have forgotten how his car handles :P

ok without knowing the rating with the eibachs and differences in shock absorbtion and from your comments that eibachs are much softer ride.. then opting for a lower spring rating is the go

[?UESTLOVE]

The eibachs are much softer

The Flex are a harsher ride but tolerable

I dont like Parra Rd at all

Where's Shane, you should get his input too

I dunno about that man, on the softest setting, the Flex feels the same as the Eibach

[Serran]

yeh can u clarify that edwin.. ur average/normal ride setting on the edfc is what? lowest? if not, what number

[lextcy]

15-16 usually

[?UESTLOVE]

yeah, 16 is the softest, I cant see a difference with 15 and 16 hehehe

Edwin, you put it harder or softer at the fron or b ack?

[lextcy]

Harder at the front

Supposed to make the steering more neutral

[Thunderbird2]

I had a run in Gwiin's car the other night, i found his Kings a bit softer than my Eibach's, but still better than stock, as they had that quick 'return' you find with progressive rate springs.

Yes, stock gives more body roll, but harder suspension does not = better handling, particularly on public roads. I have found with my Eibach's that hard cornering IS improved, but they do not deal with bumps very well. I think this is more to do with the (mis)matching of Eibach springs with factory shocks? The car does not settle on it's line quickly enough for my liking when you hit mid corner bumps. It seems to hit it's stops more easlily too.

All in all i'm glad i did the upgrade though because they are better for the 'touge'!

[?UESTLOVE]

oooo I cant wait for another togue battle! The AE86 guys just had one last week, saw the pics looked awesome!!

[Serran]

next after the cruise.. will be a track day! everyone WILL have FUN!

i cant afford to speed for the next 2 yrs.. so i will be a good boy.

so its no choice, but track for me!

[?UESTLOVE]

Track work definatley, we need to represent represent, eh Cuba!

[Serran]

hmmm $1750 to hire out wakefield for a day for ourselves... 10 ppl is $175.. its not cheap but by no means unreachable.

:D

[greeneyes]

Back on the springs, it is unreasonable to expect standard shocks to work with stiffer springs. Thats the usual problem with outrageously lowered Civics bouncing and hopping down the road...

There is a thread on IS300.net about it here, and they point out that many ppl are dissapointed with paying big money for suspension tht doesn't work as well as a standard setup!

On the weekend's wet run in the country the guys with lowered stiff cars were pussyfooting, while Greeneyes with a good set of Toyo tyres and a Cusco rear sway never put a foot wrong. You need softer suspension on wet or bumpy roads.

[Serran]

great to point that out keith. yes so for normal street in sydney roads, the lower than normal spring rates given by tein (for example), it is best to go for a much lower spring rate.

however, reading that article, there is uneven weigh distribution between the front and back compared to the rs200 with the is300's; and is200's would be the same.

now tein has spring rates for their coils for the is300, and i assume (without emailing tein) have adjusted their spring rates according to the rs200 because of the uneven weight distribution.

so having said that 5kgf/mm front and rear may not be completely optimal (as the fronts need to have a higher spring rate). the mech who quoted 5 all round has vast experience in rs200's so would be familiar with the rs200s even weight distribution. and it makes sense now why he quoted 5 all around.

ill let him know the is200's weight distrubtion (after some research) and he should be able to recommend a higher spring rate for the fronts for the is200.

thanks for that keith!

[Serran]

to clarify my last post..

5 all round is sufficient.

7 (front) 5 (rear) to improve handling.

6 (front) 4 (rear) for a very comfortable ride.

UPDATE

*******

saw the workshop last saturday, and we agreed we didnt know how the softer spring rates would affect the dampners on these cars as they are a heavy car.

so they made calls to tein jp and his colleagues in hk this morning and tein said customers (local and os) who have opted for softer spring rates on similar road conditions have eventually changed to a harder spring setting (the normal setup of 10/8) because the weight of the car significantly affects the dampeners on the softer spring rates.

so my order went in with 10/8 which is the normal recommended setup for street for our roads :D

its nice when you can clarify things like this with a workshop that has the best interests in our cars. B)

[Thunderbird2]

On the weekend's wet run in the country the guys with lowered stiff cars were pussyfooting, while Greeneyes with a good set of Toyo tyres and a Cusco rear sway never put a foot wrong.  You need softer suspension on wet or bumpy roads.

To an extent. I have driven along our fave local 'touge' (mountain road for anyone who is still scratching their head about this touge business) in a very large range of factory and modified vehicles. Since it's the kind of driving i like, i find it an excellent benchmark of a vehicle. I mean, it tests driveability - stability in smooth and rough, fast and slow corners. Speed, both high revving power and low down torque. Braking! Comfort, sound, etc etc!

I have found in some cases that cars with tight setups were no good when the bumps came along. However, i have also found some aftermarket setups that were vast improvements on stock. In particular, an R33 Skyline with an awesome Enkei wheel, Michelin tire and HKS(?) suspension combo which had it handling far better than a car like that should! And an MX5 with King Springs on stock shocks which handled better than the stock version of the same car which came along that night. I sampled them both back to back and the MX5 with the Kings was just that bit better in all aspects of cornering! We are talking about a light car though, so it's easier to get the handling right!

I will definitely change my suspension setup as soon as i am able, however i will be sampling as many different setups first to find out what i like. Any comments are welcome - what suspension setups are people running and how do they find them? I know there are alot of Tein setups, what else are people using though? At this stage, i am thinking TRD shocks, springs and sways, as i don't require the adjustibilty of the TEIN's. But i can be persuaded!

Anyone changed their bushes as well? I am told the TRD suspsension comes with TRD rated bushes as well, is this true?

[Serran]

dunno about the suspension but the sways do have the associated bushes.. and you can get the whole bushes kit from trd.. ive asked a quote from matt already last night :)

[lextcy]

How are you enjoying the TRD sways? Did it make a big difference?

[Serran]

dood.. me n shane dont have our cars hahaha

[?UESTLOVE]

LOL! Adding so much to my car, but havent driven it in 2 months :(

Sways, Wheels, etc etc