Tein Street Flex Review!

[Mikepage]

Well, there he is my Tein street Flex Review, enjoy.

http://www.tein.co.jp/e/products/street_flex.html



For lazy if I summarized in three words, stiff, silent, solid.....and the sweet spot it positions 8.

My first impression out of the box: the coilovers seems very solid, well painted and protected against rust, seem to be a very good quality, click adjustment gives a really good feeling, the top plate on pillowball are great and you can easily adjust the camber in front, adjusting the vehicle height is very easy with the Tein key and without modifying the preload.. seriously the quality is insane I love them.




Installation: very easy and mainly if you have anti-seize everywhere. The place to fix the brake lines and ABS lines are positioned as the original ones, so no problem there ... In a few hours it's done. All fit #1 without any adaptation or modification except for the 2 holes in the trunk to provide an access on the rear damper adjustments. The instructions include 8 pages in Japanese and 6 in English ...+1 for the fit.



Adjustment: very easy with the tools provided in the kit. I dropped the car an inch and I have not touched the preload to begin.

First road test: I'll start with my old setup, spring Mach V front: -0.75 "/ 3.4k rear: -1.0" / 4.5k vs Tein Flex street 7k everywhere and about 1 inch of drop.

We started with the most stiffer position setting 0 as advised by Tein support (completely clockwise) on the 4 coils ... Then we did a little road test, I can tell you it's stiff but not at the point we are not able to drink a coffee ... but I would not advise this to your mothers . It was a residential road with a lots of ice and bumps and it was a good place to see how that feel in the worst situation...then this is not too bad but I will suggest this setting for the racetrack...

Then we tried at the most softer position, 16 clicks in the counterclockwise direction, it's more comfortable but anyway I have not installed these coilovers to have an comfortable ride... We can really feel the differences between the adjustment 0 and 16 on the same road. There was more comfortable but not as original and not as my springs over OEM shocks... but I prefer the new feeling beyond my springs. The springs and dampers are well matched and it's less bouncing.

To finish my test I drove during about 2 hours, in town and in campaign, with damper on the 8th positions so in the center. It was a nice feeling like I really like how the car is stiff now. We can feel all the little cracks on our "beautiful" Quebec roads (we have very bad roads...). The pillowball do a good work to give more response and feeling on the wheels without adding too much noise and removes the soft feeling of the original tops plates... the car go more directly where you want.

NVH levels??? I do not think there is more noise compare to my previous setup on springs with OEM shocks...All is really tight and no special sounds.

I would add, the car has almost no more body roll in curves and also during decelerations and acceleration, the car is very stable... It's just more a easier to skid the back wheels... we must say that I am on winter tires too, but still... We must also mention that I have replaced the sway bars, added a strut bar and some bushings to help on this side.

I would not suggest to roll these coilovers without upgrading the tires... With the oem tires I will say maybe the cars will handle less because of the easy way to broke the traction now.

I would also suggest a good set of adjustable sway bars to allow adjustment between the understeer oversteer... Not yet adjusted, I will wait for this summer...

Important Note: adjustments to the dampers can go to 28 clicks but after the 16th they are only useless click (dead clicks) and it is not advisable to drive beyond that, as this could potentially damage the damper if you hit a deep pot hole or a aggressive bump... I asked Tein directly to be sure about this...

I can't wait to try it on summer tires to really see the differences.

I still have to get an new alignment too.

Comments?

[vroom4]

How did you fix the toe and and camber without an alignment?

[Mikepage]

Originally Posted by vroom4

How did you fix the toe and and camber without an alignment?

I was already dropped an inch before then it's not to bad... I will make an alignment in a couple of weeks of course... I just want to make sure the suspensions is correctly placed and will not move anymore...

The front camber was already set by the previous owner...

I will corner balance soon also...

[Vten]

just to add my week of these same set installed on my brz.


really happy with them so far. I replaced my bc br coilover with the swift 8/8K spring rate with these tein , in my opinion , these tein is a far superior in dampening and a better setup for my brz as a DD.

I experience a little bit more body roll with the tein, but it seems to hug the corner a lot better compared to my previous bc br.


I took the liberty to take one of the collar ring off on the front suspension as I hate the wheel gap with them ...and Voila ...love how it sit .


overall , loves how these coils performs so far. as on the current price ....its a steal, don't think twice if you need a coilover setup for a dd ...go get them while theyre still available .

[superleggera]

you sir are brave. I'm waiting until spring to install my street flex setup.

[Mikepage]

Originally Posted by superleggera

you sir are brave. I'm waiting until spring to install my street flex setup.

Haha yes, it's to hard to wait the Summer!!! Or it's pretty easy when you have an proper garage

[eguzman6]

I just ordered a set and noticed when I opened the box that they didn't come with end links. Did you guys use the stock ones?

[CSG Mike]

People really underestimate what the established names can achieve, even at an affordable price point.

[smg1138]

How much stiffer is the ride with these when turned to full soft compared to stock suspension? Is it pretty tolerable as a daily driver?

[Mikepage]

Originally Posted by eguzman6

I just ordered a set and noticed when I opened the box that they didn't come with end links. Did you guys use the stock ones?

On front yes, on rear i have the links who come with the Whiteline sway bar...

Next time you can read what is include in the packages but you absolutely don't need links with these coilovers. Enjoy!

[Mikepage]

Originally Posted by smg1138

How much stiffer is the ride with these when turned to full soft compared to stock suspension? Is it pretty tolerable as a daily driver?

On full soft this is definitively not like OEM suspensions but it's totally tolerable for an DD.

My car is a DD and I run on 8 clicks, it's stiff but I love them like this.

[Mikepage]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

People really underestimate what the established names can achieve, even at an affordable price point.

I agree with you, the problem is we need to give a try to a product before saying anything and sometime this cost a price...

This is why I made an review to share my opinion to everyone... Am not an pilot or an professional but I use my car like 99% of the peoples here then I hope I can help someone.

[DustinS]

I kind of wish I would have ordered these instead of the FA500s. Especially at the price they are discounted to.

[Mikepage]

I road test now and 8 clicks vs 15-16 clicks, I will say, when they are set to 15, it's realy more comfortable compare to 8. I can't imagine compare to 0... 15-16 is not like OEM but I can maybe say, it's comfortable and you feel less the road and every cracks...