Tein Flex Z opinion

[evan_gt86]

I've had these installled in my car for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed feelings about them. I was able to drop my car to the perfect height, and it looks great, however, the car feels like it handles worse than stock. It's been aligned, my preload is set to "snug" on all 4 corners, and I've tried several different damping settings, and the car still feels worse. It feels floaty and more unstable on high speed corners, and body roll feels way increased.

Anyone else feel like it made the handling worse? The ride is pretty good, better than stock, ill admit that.

Is the increased body roll due to the spring rate being the same front and rear? Do I need a stiffer front sway bar, or possibly rear?

Here's my current alignment specs, top is before, bottom is after alignment.

[nickg]

Originally Posted by evan_gt86

I've had these installled in my car for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed feelings about them. I was able to drop my car to the perfect height, and it looks great, however, the car feels like it handles worse than stock. It's been aligned, my preload is set to "snug" on all 4 corners, and I've tried several different damping settings, and the car still feels worse. It feels floaty and more unstable on high speed corners, and body roll feels way increased.

Anyone else feel like it made the handling worse? The ride is pretty good, better than stock, ill admit that.

Is the increased body roll due to the spring rate being the same front and rear? Do I need a stiffer front sway bar, or possibly rear?

Here's my current alignment specs, top is before, bottom is after alignment.

The roll geometry in the suspension actually increases body roll the lower you go. I'm pretty sure white line has a kit to correct this.

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[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by evan_gt86

I've had these installled in my car for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed feelings about them. I was able to drop my car to the perfect height, and it looks great, however, the car feels like it handles worse than stock. It's been aligned, my preload is set to "snug" on all 4 corners, and I've tried several different damping settings, and the car still feels worse. It feels floaty and more unstable on high speed corners, and body roll feels way increased.

Anyone else feel like it made the handling worse? The ride is pretty good, better than stock, ill admit that.

Is the increased body roll due to the spring rate being the same front and rear? Do I need a stiffer front sway bar, or possibly rear?

Here's my current alignment specs, top is before, bottom is after alignment.

Well you lowered your car; your roll center has dropped so you *did* increase your body roll. Not only that, you also deleted all your front camber; you have less front grip.

[WRBrzRX]

Originally Posted by evan_gt86

I've had these installled in my car for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed feelings about them. I was able to drop my car to the perfect height, and it looks great, however, the car feels like it handles worse than stock. It's been aligned, my preload is set to "snug" on all 4 corners, and I've tried several different damping settings, and the car still feels worse. It feels floaty and more unstable on high speed corners, and body roll feels way increased.

Anyone else feel like it made the handling worse? The ride is pretty good, better than stock, ill admit that.

Is the increased body roll due to the spring rate being the same front and rear? Do I need a stiffer front sway bar, or possibly rear?

Here's my current alignment specs, top is before, bottom is after alignment.

I'd get that front camber to -1.5 asap, you went the wrong way with it

[shattered_memory]

Originally Posted by evan_gt86

I've had these installled in my car for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed feelings about them. I was able to drop my car to the perfect height, and it looks great, however, the car feels like it handles worse than stock. It's been aligned, my preload is set to "snug" on all 4 corners, and I've tried several different damping settings, and the car still feels worse. It feels floaty and more unstable on high speed corners, and body roll feels way increased.

Anyone else feel like it made the handling worse? The ride is pretty good, better than stock, ill admit that.

Is the increased body roll due to the spring rate being the same front and rear? Do I need a stiffer front sway bar, or possibly rear?

Here's my current alignment specs, top is before, bottom is after alignment.

You should do some research on suspension bro. First of all, if you lower your frs more than 1.5 inches on these coilover, you are messing with your geometry. This means that you will get more body roll because the angle of the LCA is pointed at a higher location than stock. Sure the flex zs have a higher spring rate, but you are also on stock crap tires. Stiffer suspension plus all season tires will make handling horrible. Plus your alignment is wack. Plus you are running rear spacers, which also contribute to more roll in the rear. It's not the suspension that's at fault, it's the way you tuned your car. What I recommend is better tires. Michelin pss at the minimum. Then raise the car up a little. I recommend 1.2 inches drop in front and 1 inch rear. Then get a new alignment. - 1.5 front and - 1 camber rear. Then you will see how much better your car will handle. Also set front shocks 7 clicks from stiff and 8 from stiff in the rear. I have my flex zs for 2 months now. They are fantastic! You need to learn to set your car up.

[shiumai]

Originally Posted by tracerit

I do have a box in there that appears to slide around but I put on what I thought were protective enough homemade caps from some tubing. I only got two caps and placed those in the front, already lost one too.

I'll look into putting the box in the back seat and leaving the trunk empty to see what's going on. That night be the issue. Thanks guys

i have the subaru trunk liner in my trunk, and it covers up the rear damper adjustment knobs; protecting them from anything moving around in the trunk. no trimming needed.

[tyler_win_photo]

Originally Posted by evan_gt86

I've had these installled in my car for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed feelings about them. I was able to drop my car to the perfect height, and it looks great, however, the car feels like it handles worse than stock. It's been aligned, my preload is set to "snug" on all 4 corners, and I've tried several different damping settings, and the car still feels worse. It feels floaty and more unstable on high speed corners, and body roll feels way increased.

Anyone else feel like it made the handling worse? The ride is pretty good, better than stock, ill admit that.

Is the increased body roll due to the spring rate being the same front and rear? Do I need a stiffer front sway bar, or possibly rear?

Here's my current alignment specs, top is before, bottom is after alignment.

You should consider some rear lcas to adjust camber in the rear. -3 in the rear is an awful lot to be running on a street car if you're aiming for performance.

[evan_gt86]

Originally Posted by nickg

The roll geometry in the suspension actually increases body roll the lower you go. I'm pretty sure white line has a kit to correct this.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input, I'll look into that.

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Well you lowered your car; your roll center has dropped so you *did* increase your body roll. Not only that, you also deleted all your front camber; you have less front grip.

Thanks Mike, your input is much appreciated. Sounds like I need to dial in a little negative camber in the front.

Originally Posted by WRBrzRX

I'd get that front camber to -1.5 asap, you went the wrong way with it

I see, my guess is the alignment shop geared the alignment towards tire life, instead of performance. Unfortunately I don't have any performance oriented shops in my area. May have to dial it in myself.

Originally Posted by shattered_memory

You should do some research on suspension bro. First of all, if you lower your frs more than 1.5 inches on these coilover, you are messing with your geometry. This means that you will get more body roll because the angle of the LCA is pointed at a higher location than stock. Sure the flex zs have a higher spring rate, but you are also on stock crap tires. Stiffer suspension plus all season tires will make handling horrible. Plus your alignment is wack. Plus you are running rear spacers, which also contribute to more roll in the rear. It's not the suspension that's at fault, it's the way you tuned your car. What I recommend is better tires. Michelin pss at the minimum. Then raise the car up a little. I recommend 1.2 inches drop in front and 1 inch rear. Then get a new alignment. - 1.5 front and - 1 camber rear. Then you will see how much better your car will handle. Also set front shocks 7 clicks from stiff and 8 from stiff in the rear. I have my flex zs for 2 months now. They are fantastic! You need to learn to set your car up.

Thanks for the input. I understand it's the not the coilovers fault, and I know it's my suspension being tuned improperly. This is why I came looking for advice in this thread. I am inexperienced when it comes to suspension tuning, however I do install all my own stuff, so I have that going for me at least. I'll take your advice and start with the ride height, and camber adjustment.

Originally Posted by tyler_win_photo

You should consider some rear lcas to adjust camber in the rear. -3 in the rear is an awful lot to be running on a street car if you're aiming for performance.

Yeah I agree, the alignment shop told me this as well. I'll look into some adjustable LCA's. I'm aiming for a good daily driver setup, with an occasional autocross event during the summer months.

[shellslinger]

Everything work out for you? @evan_gt86

[Tor]

Originally Posted by evan_gt86

I see, my guess is the alignment shop geared the alignment towards tire life, instead of performance. Unfortunately I don't have any performance oriented shops in my area. May have to dial it in myself.

..or just tell the shop what you want. They dial it as close to stock specs as they can (green) if you don't explicitly tell them otherwise. You don't want stock specs, because your car isn't stock anymore.

In addition to what's already been said:

If you raise the car a bit as suggested, it will not only correct your geometry as explained (and make the Whiteline roll center correction kit redundant).
It will also reduce the negative camber in the rear (more low = more negative camber).

Also, I second the need for rear lower control arms in any case. They should be mandatory on any lowered car. They are not that expensive all things considered. You can get a set for around $200.

[evan_gt86]

Originally Posted by shellslinger

Everything work out for you? @evan_gt86

I haven't made any changes yet, hopefully this weekend.

Originally Posted by Tor

..or just tell the shop what you want. They dial it as close to stock specs as they can (green) if you don't explicitly tell them otherwise. You don't want stock specs, because your car isn't stock anymore.

In addition to what's already been said:

If you raise the car a bit as suggested, it will not only correct your geometry as explained (and make the Whiteline roll center correction kit redundant).
It will also reduce the negative camber in the rear (more low = more negative camber).

Also, I second the need for rear lower control arms in any case. They should be mandatory on any lowered car. They are not that expensive all things considered. You can get a set for around $200.

Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it. I'll start by ordering some rear LCA's and raising the car a tad, then go back for an alignment, and specify the specs I'd like.

Thanks everyone for the help!

[finch1750]

@CSG Mike in terms of durability for a supercharged car running 2 or less track days a year would you go with the Flex Z, RSR Sport I, Bilstein B8/Swift Spec R, or something else?

Looking for a good mix of comfort driving 20k miles a year. I have some bushings (rear subframe and rear uca) and on Feal 441s right now. Love how it handles but its a bit rough for DD. Tempted to dump my autox build for a better DD canyon experiance since thats what I do more.

[gkubed]

Originally Posted by Tor

..or just tell the shop what you want. They dial it as close to stock specs as they can (green) if you don't explicitly tell them otherwise. You don't want stock specs, because your car isn't stock anymore.

In addition to what's already been said:

If you raise the car a bit as suggested, it will not only correct your geometry as explained (and make the Whiteline roll center correction kit redundant).
It will also reduce the negative camber in the rear (more low = more negative camber).

Also, I second the need for rear lower control arms in any case. They should be mandatory on any lowered car. They are not that expensive all things considered. You can get a set for around $200.

What LCAs can you get for ~$200?

[mtblackfrs]

Mine. Currently selling my PBM for $150.


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