Tein Flex Z opinion
 

I had the opportunity to test the Tein Flez Z suspension in the past few weeks.

Most of you already know of my skepticism when it comes to cheap dampers. The general rule of thumb is, you get what you pay for, and a lot of reviews on this forum consist of owners who have only experienced their own suspension, and suffer from confirmation bias, regardless of price point or performance.

http://www.tein.co.jp/products/flex_z.html < Japanese
http://www.tein.co.jp/e/products/flex_z.html < English

First off, these coilovers are cheap. CHEAP. Like, suspect cheap. Made in China cheap. Except they're made in Yokohama, Japan.

So, why are they so cheap? They're not rebuildable. The damper portion is designed to be tossed when they wear out, and you just purchase a replacement. This makes sense. Tein dampers generally cause $175/damper for rebuilding + parts. Replacements actually cost LESS than the cost of labor for a rebuild. Because the damper is sealed during assembly, instead of being designed to be rebuildable, less components are used, less time is consumed during assembly, and less raw material is used, resulting in a less expensive damper. Oh, and in the last 6 months, the Japanese Yen dropped nearly 1/3 in value compared to the US Dollar, allowing Tein to offer their newer products at much lower price points.

Then what about comfort and performance? Admittedly, the dampers are paired with fairly soft springs. These aren't made for hardcore track duty. However, they do have a useable, functional adjustment knob that primarily affects rebound damping, and to a much lesser degree, compression.

My findings were that of the 28 settings available, sitting in the "more damping" range offered both better performance and comfort.

0 clicks from maximum damping: slightly harsh, overdamped, will probably be useable on a worn damper
3 clicks from maximum damping: critically damped, highly responsive
5 clicks from maximum damping: good balance for street driving; you feel the road, just enough to know the imperfections are there, but highway dots will barely be felt in the chassis
7-8 clicks from maximum damping: pure comfort setting. Don't expect too much performance here.
10+ clicks from damping: Lexus/Boat mode. I personally would never use these settings.

Performance was on par with what I would normally expect from ~1400-1600 dollar offerings, and on par with the previous Type Flex and Street Flex. The dampers are paired with lower rates, and there is minimal room to go with higher spring rates, but plenty of room for lower spring rates for those that want more comfort. I would not recommend these for those that are looking to track their cars, but they certainly will convey confidence to the driver for spirited street driving.

Most importantly, these dampers offer both (far) more comfort and performance than the stock suspension (both frs and brz stock, as well as the RS1.0).

Height is independently adjusted from spring preload/adjustment, so you could, theoretically, slam your car on these, and still maintain good damper stroke.

A camber plate is included with these dampers as well. WTF.

I do not know the spring rates of the suspension, as Tein does not know I was testing the dampers. However, the car had a mild bias toward understeer, which makes the car easy to drive hard. The understeer is mild enough that a slide/drift/oversteer can easily be initiated by just driver input in a highly controlled manner, similar to the SRC.

TL;DR: Flex-Z is shockingly good for the price point, made in Japan, and is being offered by an established brand name.

Pictures to come.

The Flex-Z is not yet available, but should be on the market early Q2 2015.

All testing was performed on a 2015 Scion FRS RS1.0

What is the ballpark price of these? I know these are supposed to replace the Street Flex that came out. Also, how much of a difference is there?

I'm guessing a MSRP in the 800-1000 range? I have no idea what it will end up being. I drove with a production unit, but the product itself is not yet released.

That's not bad at all!

I saw what you did there.

When you say 5 clicks from damping, do you mean 5 clicks from full soft or full stiff?

Max. If you read his description you would understand.

@CSG Mike did you get a chance to test the Flex-A?

In due time... I was more curious about the Flex Z's abnormally low price point, rather than the A's hydraulic bump stop.

subbd..

X2

With this price point I think the biggest comparison is what would you reccomend between this and a Swift/RCE spring paired with Koni/Bilstein struts? Both for DD or occasional autox/track time?

Thanks for this. Was looking for at Bilstein B14 for street driving but this may be a good alternative.

Thanks for the review. It looks like these have my name on them!