Tein Flex coilover: Review - Tuner-Junction

DCxMagus · #1 (**permalink**) July 8th, 2006, 04:40 AM

You think your prelude had handling stock? you aint got shit, ooooohhhh man these things are pretty much awesome. Since I was unable to install these myself I had to have them done, and upon driving up even my mom that gave me a ride back to my car was like "wow your car looks so much better now I understand why you wanted these."

I have a 1.5 drop around and honestly I'm glad I didn't go any lower, there is no wheel gap at all and the wheels just barely tuck. On the ride home I saw like 10 people look over and try and firgure if the car can like that stock or if it was lower. That the way I like it but I could do lower if I really want to. As for the improvement in handling, fuck ya its there. I honestly tried my hardest to get the car to swing the back out, to become uneasy and I couldn't do it. I even took a 90 right hand turn at like 50mph and it was like nothing.

Had some fun on backroads kept it under 60 since these were 35mph roads but I know I wasn't even close to the cars limits. No more squat in the car during any turns. Right now I have the stiffness at 9 out of 16 all the way around, and the ride isn't honestly that bad at all. its a little bumpier but it's not the point where its all over the place, it's like short quick bumps but there is not that floating feeling at all, the car is STUCK to the road.

Like i said before I tried to 3 wheel and couldn't I only got a TINY squeel from the tires when I hit the right a 50 but the car went excatly where I wanted it to. Becuase of all this the car is a lot eaiser to keep in the powerband around corners and in the twistest I was very confidence in the car.

I may have went overboard just a tad, some may say I didn't need that much suspension but honestly I wouldn't trade it for the world just watch those dips or your going to hit them HARD.

Next day off I'm gonna go up the back of Ortega hwy and give these things a real test but until then I'll get some spirited driving around town when i can and see how they hold up, but after just todays short 45min cruise I have no worries in my mind.

Blake · #2 (**permalink**) July 8th, 2006, 10:07 AM

its about time you got those things on

I'm glad you like them. I may be going to the Flex's here in the future. But that wont be til i were out the HA's

98'Lude · #3 (**permalink**) July 8th, 2006, 10:19 AM

FINALLY. I would get them, but me needs a new motor

.

noopie · #4 (**permalink**) July 8th, 2006, 12:42 PM

Who has had Tein SS and Flex?

The guy I got the SS had the Flex as well.. or HA... anyhow, he said they were too stiff and that SS was 'perfect' for street.

Talking other opinions on this, cos I think maybe I would prefer a little stiffer but don't want something unbearable for street.

DCxMagus · #5 (**permalink**) July 9th, 2006, 12:55 AM

Honestly the flexes are VERY good for the street and I have it stiffer then recommended I'm sure I could soften it up a tad but I like it the way it is. You will feel the road but you can't really feel the bumps becuase of how the suspension is. I'm 6 6 and even some of the bigger dips I didn't evenworry about hitting my head becuase the recovery is so good.

I had some more fun after work tonight and on a nice twisty back road I left a BMW Z4 in the dust, by the time we came to the straight away(a good 7 turns left and rights and one hard hairpin right) I was a good 3 car lenghts ahead. I wasn't even racing him at that point I was testing the suspension. I could keep the car with in VTEC range the entire time except for the hair pin where I dropped to around 3.5K in 3rd gear. The car goes exactly where I want it to, and exactly where I expect it to be I have to stop myself from correcting anything becuase I'm use to the stock suspension.

KevlarRUN · #6 (**permalink**) July 9th, 2006, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noopie

Who has had Tein SS and Flex?

The guy I got the SS had the Flex as well.. or HA... anyhow, he said they were too stiff and that SS was 'perfect' for street.

Talking other opinions on this, cos I think maybe I would prefer a little stiffer but don't want something unbearable for street.

unbearable is in the eye of the beholder.
flex's arent an all out 'performance' coilover. its valving is decent and matches its relevant spring rates well right outta the box. but they are still relatively soft

u get good balance between street and performance. it negotiates bumps quite well, but dont expect crazy handling improvement in them.

compared to stock its like night and day. glad u like them

josh and i run pretty rock hard suspension. but i love the bumps, i love the shock thru my spine when i hit bumps/dips in the road lol. and are ALOT harder than flex's. mind you. i wouldnt go harder if i wasnt doing any form of motorsport/spirited driving.

so flex provides that entry level balance. and they arent too expensive either. good stuff

damping settings can only change so much, esp. in entry level coilovers regardless of brand. it depends how the 'clicks' actually work. but shock dyno's are a good tell-all. stiffness generally relies on the spring rate. dont think too hard about damper settings. they can only clean up minor adjustments here and there.

more importantly. wuts ur camber/toe settings. wut tyres and pressures are u running? i reckon i could help u get more out of them

ive spent 4 grand on suspension componentry so far. but its useless if u dont know how to 'read it'. thats where u start further refining ur suspension geometry to be the best at what ur comfortable with.

DCxMagus · #7 (**permalink**) July 9th, 2006, 12:47 PM

camer is 1 Degree in the front and i believe 1.25 in the back

right now I still got the crap ES100 the car came with running stock pressure which I believe is 35 all around

KevlarRUN · #8 (**permalink**) July 9th, 2006, 01:15 PM

go to 2.0-2.5 camber at the front. the rear isnt too bad depending on ur driver preferance really. toe kills tyres but 1-2mm toe out does a world of difference at a reasonable cost of tyre wear. say if u want to keep 0 toe. then 2.5 deg camber should be a good comromise. (hell i was running 2.0 for like 6 months and tyre wear was even to the mm).

depending on understeer. increase the damper settings to be harder at the rear and mAB bump up the tyre pressure a little....say to 38.

just make sure u go to a good alignment place and give them the settings. prinouts are always good so u know they've done their job and how well........get back to me on it. and tell me how it feels.

DCxMagus · #9 (**permalink**) July 9th, 2006, 07:42 PM

just bump up the rear pressure or the all around pressure?

Yeah when I was driving around today I felt the rear need to be a bit harder since the preludes has kinda front heavy the back kicked out a bit but I was really pushing the limits but over the car took it well.

I'm thinking of lowering the front maybe another .25 of an inch so that will kick out the camber some more I'll raise the pressure tonight when I fill up and stiffen up the back and get back to ya

thanks kevlar

KevlarRUN · #10 (**permalink**) July 9th, 2006, 09:48 PM

well it really depends. if ur finding that understeer isnt an issue dont raise the rear tyre pressure,
with the front, just use the pillowball mounts at the top to adjust ur camber. or yeah......just lower it. but get a proper alignment.

Team_Carnage · #11 (**permalink**) July 10th, 2006, 12:57 PM

Good thread. I might consider the these later down the road. I dunno, I feel like my suspension isn't cutting it right now. I'm on KYB AGX shocks, Skunk2 coilovers, Megan front/rear strut bar, and a lower rear tie bar but I still feel the Lude having a slight body roll lean through hard cornering. It's annoying as hell:mad: I know I most definately need an alignment. I'm also going try lightening up Lude as well to see if that helps, but I'm at a loss as to why it still has that feel to it.

DCxMagus · #12 (**permalink**) July 11th, 2006, 12:07 AM

OK I "Clicked" the back up 2 settings(stiffer) and it helped a lot actually, the car goes where I want even more, and no more tire squeel when I did a harder corner at speed.

I tired tires at 38 all around, seem to stick too much, not sure just didn't like it so I tired just the back at 38 and the fronts at 35 it was better but just didn't suit my driving style so I put them all back to 35 and took the car to work and make taking the scene and twistier route and man was it fun.

also noticed that today the front sat a little lower so I'm not sure if the car settled in or if it was a wierd shadow or something the back seem to stay the same.

I'm gonna keep it set up as it is right now since its a wonderful drive as it is and I'm enjoying every minute of it maybe ina week or 2 I will lower the front a 1/4 an inch if I think it needs it and kick out the camber a bit like you suggested Kevlar but right now it seems to fit my driving style perfectly I'm able to exit turns at the apexi with a LOT great speed, I'm able to enter turns with more confidence in the car and know it will go where I want. I haven't had an "oh shit" moment yet and I'm been trying so I think these are a perfect set up for me as an entry level. The performace seems to be more then I'm going to ask from it atm and it's still very streetable, A little bumpy yeah but it's with those bumps I know I have the performance on hand to me. In all honesty I might even stifting it up a little more all around but right now it's working beatifully.

Thanks again for the advice Kevlar I would have never though to just stiffen up the back would make a differance but it has