Looking at Tien coilovers, but wondering what other people use and what they think. Input is appreciated!

 

TEIN FLEX coilover system is not too shabby....However, I would go with something that people normally use on 8's. Like MAZDASPEED COILVERS, or HKS, or TOKICO

edit: My Cuz (girl) has TEIN FLEX on NISMO Z
Her BF has TEIN FLEX on S2k SP2

The lower stance is super aggressive! And it handles a little stiffer....

 

what do you want to do, do you canyon, track or just cruise? that would kind of affect your answer alot, if you just want some bling, tein flex does its job pretty well

 

I have Tien Type Flex, also have the EDFC, have had them for 4 years and they are awesome...

 

I have Tein "SuperStreet" with EDFC, IMHO coilovers and sways has to be the best performance mod for this car.

 

KW V3 Coilover + Agency Power swaybars + Agency Power End-links + GT Spec strutbar + Greedy rear strutbar did perform really well.

But there are better coilovers out there for example Bilstein PSS9 Coilover and some really excotic ones as Öhlins.

 

I know this is a hard thing to meet quality for all of them, but I'm looking for something that I can take to the track that will perform well as well as take on the street to cruise, and the canyons...

 

Define "best"

 

In NY i think i would go with tokicos and a good spring set it gives you quick adjustability and will make a significant difference in how your car rides. If you like them enough then upgrade in a year or so ans sell them. I would ride in someones car with coils first. I liked coilovers on my previous car stg 3 wrx but well nobody else did so i switched to a nice strut and spring set and had them soft with people in the car and hard when i was alone and the change took all of 2 minutes.

 

Tein Mono Flex.

 

I don't even know where to start....

first off: define "best"
what are your plans / goals for the car and for the suspension. Will this be a daily driver? track car? auto cross?
have you done suspension mods before?
why are you considering the Tein Coilovers? What about them has you wanting to buy them?
(not putting them down, just trying to follow along and get a clearer picture of what you are looking for)

what is your budget?
Have you considered a strut / spring combo instead of coilovers?


With all that said, take a look around this subforum and I belive you'll find TONS of useful info. Also, read up on the sticky thread (located at the top of this subforum) there is a very helpful one by DPE regarding a strut / spring combo and corresponding suspension rates.

 

Where in NY are you? When you mean track, what track do you mean? When you mean canyons, what type of road is that? What NY people think of as "canyons" is quite different from the CA definition.

I lived in upstate NY for four years, so that's why I'm asking. Also, how much driving experience do you have?

 

is it your daily driver that you want to be able to track or the opposite? are you located in a pothole central like me (jamaica ave)?

 

The Variant III's seem to be your best bet, BUT they require some adjusting and know how to get the proper settings for whichever of the three you are doing. How bad/good are the roads you daily drive on? The Tein Flex's have a slightly higher spring rate right? Something like 10k/8k (off the top of my head)? Try looking at some coilovers with slightly lower rates like the HKS units for example.

 

Hmm, I'm looking for a good coilover set up also. After talking to some members on this thread who autocross and use as daily drivers, I am told that coilovers are the way to go for maximizing ride height, quality, and performance. I was thinking about slapping on some Koni Yellows and maybe some Tanabe springs, but I am curious what people think of Tokico D-Spec coilovers and why is it that they are so inexpensive. Any input would be great. I autocross on the weekends and I use my car as a daily driver. I do push it a bit on the roads. My current setup includes Hotchkiss Racing Sway bars front and rear. Any advice would be greatly helpful.

 

i too was wondeirng why they are only 900 dollars

 

Here is my 2cents. Because I live in Ny.

I do a lot of Mountain driving, aswell as track time in the summer. I needed a suspension that was good enough for Daily driving, but would be adjustable for the track and Mountain days. At the time my budget was small. So my options were limited.

I went with "Megan Coilovers." I dont here much about them here on the forums. I dont know if because they are cheaper or not as established, as lets say Tein or HKS. But I believe they are around $900 shipped. You cant get better than that.
I've had them on my car for a littel over two years. Living in NYC. And they have been holding up greatly. They provide the adjustablity I need, and they have been reliable. If your not a Brand name junky. I think this is the best bang for your buck. Now that I'm more finacially sercure, I haven't had a reason to buy a more expansive set. I believe 'Topgear" had Megan's and then bought "Stance" coilovers. You could ask him if he felt any tramendace difference.

 

i was debating a set of ohlins or going custom valved bilsteins for track and canyon, i think the bilsteins are winning so far due to expandability and ease of customizing and they'll be wayyy cheaper

 

I didn't read all of his post so i'm not sure if he plans on Tracking or AutoCrossing at all...

But..

If you just want some that will last, will lower your car, and will be good for street driving, then yes, go with the megans.

If you are competiting in TT or SOLO, then the Megans will not be good for you. I hated the way my car handled when pushed to the limit both on track and at a autocross event. The rear end would come out unpredictable and I was not able to put the power down like I wanted. After switching to the Stance GR+ I noticed a big improvement in the handling of the car, it was much more neutral and allowed me to put power down much sooner comming out of low speed corners.

 

The KW V3s are very, very good. I trophied at nats this year in STX using the V3s, (5th fastest on day 2) and drove the car from Portland, OR to Lincoln, NE and back on the V3s. Very fast, and very comfortable. Yes, you need to make good choices about the damping, particularly with the compression setting, but get them from a good vendor (like Goodwin Racing) and they will tell you how to set them up. It's not rocket science and you can adjust the compression while they are on the car, so it's not the end of the world if you play with them a bit.

PSS9 would be another good choice. If you want to go with shocks & springs, then I would go straight to the Progress Technology autocross springs, and put them on Konis or Tokicos (both should work, with the Konis maybe being a little better in a heat-of-the-battle scenario like autocross). Tein, JIC, Megan are probably all OK, but I don't think they will be in the same class as the KWs or Bilsteins.

In the end, quality shocks with appropriate spring rates will make a huge difference in how your car handles. Just don't wimp out on the spring rates (like most aftermarket springs) or go too stiff - again, KW Bilstein, and Progress all have made excellent choices in that arena. The advantage of the coilovers over the shock/spring combo is that the shock designer can tailor the high speed compression valving to match the intended spring rate, which keeps the ride from deteriorating too much.

Again, I'm very happy with the KWs, both as a daily driver and as a nationally competitive solo car, but I'd love to try some custom valved Bilsteins some day.

 

JDM no-proven-shock-brand-name, psychodelic anodized colors, cool drifter car magazine ads, hyped up claims with no serious hardcore championship results by nationally known drivers to back anything up, and just sounds cool





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what are custom valves and would that cost more? i too was looking at the pss9's

 

Custom valving is a way of alterning the response of the damper in order to meet some goal.

For example, if you increase the spring rates from what the shocks were originally designed to handle, ideally, the valving should be changed to alter the forces generated by the shocks to more ideally match the new spring rates.

Or, if you are trying to achieve a certain performance characteristic to more ideally match a particular style of competitive driving, such as autocross, a different valving strategy may provide a competitive advantage over off-the-shelf setups.

For typical street driving, including canyon carving, revalving PSS9s will likely provide only marginal gains, unless you have bumped the spring rates. For competitive driving, this is best left to people who have experience doing this - i.e. recognized shock tuners. FatCat Motorsports has done good things with Bilsteins (the '08 and '09 ES National Champ, Jerry Jenkins, uses FCM Bilsteins in his '94 Miata, for example).

 

ah ok, thank you so much!!!!

 

that's pretty demanding.. how often do you plan on tracking your car? which part of ny are you from? haven't seen you at the meet