Tein Street Flex Review and Short Video!
 

Okay, first I must say I feel bad for being so late to get this review and feedback out on the Tein Street Flex Coilover kit. I know there were a few people requesting it, so I tried to get this written up as soon as possible, and with that said, let’s move on to the review shall we? At this time I did not have a chance to really push this suspension in the way I wanted to due to the cold weather and crazy snow we have been getting here recently, however on my first drive I did note some initial impressions of the suspension in general.

First let’s start with the boring details of the install. From start to finish, we were able to get this done in about 3 hours, and that was with me taking my sweet time and enjoying the peanut gallery’s commentary while I did the install. Fitment was spot on with all of the ABS and Brake line brackets, they were right where they needed to be, which made for an OEM fitment, a huge +1 in my opinion. With the car being so new, all of the bolts came off with no fuss, and the new suspension went on like butter on warm toast. All of the adjustments are easy to get to, including the spring pre-load, height adjustment, front camber adjustment and damping adjustment, I could not be more pleased with this. Now, we did lower the car a bit more than what Tein had set for us right out of the box, but with some careful measuring, this was a breeze, even with the wheels still on the car. I always expect a bit of fuss with just about anything I do with a car, but to have these go on so easily, I almost feared that the car gods would strike me down when I went for a test drive.

Now comes the moment of truth. I double checked all of the bolts and nuts for proper torque, torqued the lug nuts, lowered the car from the jack, put on my big boy pants(which are actually just my clean pants in this case), kissed my Tein Dampachi doll for good luck, and rolled out of the shop. Listening for any odd sounds or clunks as I went lock-to-lock with the steering wheel, and there was nothing but the sound of my tires picking up some small pebbles from the road(more likely tiny chunks of salt and ice) and bouncing them off the fender liners. This is the time when you can finally ease down from being a paranoid, hypersensitive freak, to just sitting back and enjoying the ride, and I am planning on it.

First stop, Nurburgring! Well.. not quite, it was actually the local chevron to fill up the bone dry fuel tank, but close enough right? After some much needed liquid hydrocarbons, I was off for a real road test. I swung onto the freeway to see how the dampers did in a higher speed situation with some pretty decent sized bumps, and I was really surprised to feel just how comfortable these coilovers actually are. Now I am never going to say they ride like stock, as that would be a lie, but if you ever find yourself wanting a more out of the stock suspension, I really think you would be happy with the comfort level on these new Street Flex coilovers. The damping felt like a perfect match for the springs, they absorb small sharp bumps just as well as they absorb the larger smooth bumps, and they were doing everything quietly as well. I made a quick exit off the freeway just so I could jump back on utilizing a long sweeper turn which put me right back on the freeway in the opposite direction. Not trying to push these “summer only” tires too hard in the bitter cold temps, I was being pretty careful around the turn, but still managed to go fast enough to put a smile on my face. I could instantly tell the response from the suspension and feedback from the car was greatly improved, allowing me to feel what the front and the rear end of the car were doing at all times, and this made me a happy boy!

Knowing the direction I was now going on the freeway was taking me directly to some very nasty roads, I thought that this would be a great time to really test the comfort of these coilovers as there was no way I could really give a solid impression of their performance this time of year. The suspension had no problem dealing with pot holes, cracks in the roads, smoother washboard sections, or medium sized bumps. I was very impressed that they were able to handle themselves on these horrible roads, but I knew I was quickly approaching the big one, the mother of all bumps, the one that makes me cringe even in a bone stock car, and I hit it hard. I could feel the suspension struggling to absorb such an impact so quickly, which happily transferred that shock into the chassis of the car, and then directly to my spine. I winced for a split second, perhaps knowing in advance what I was about to put the car and myself through, and then it was over. Ha! That was it? I expected so much worse! Not that I would want to turn around and do it again, but that is about the worst, most worthless, car destroying patch of road I could find for miles around, and the car did fine! I quietly apologized to the little Albino Rhino, and petting its dash panel for what I had just intentionally put it through. I made a promise that I would never put it through that much abuse again unless it was strictly for fun.

The rest of the ride home was quiet and enjoyable as I was able to just sit back and relax and reflect on how far we have come with this car. One thing that has never changed is the looks that this car gets. I counted no less than 7 “thumbs ups” on my short test drive, and countless necks turning into rubber, with my favorite being the small boys who stare in amazement at this tiny little car with blue wheels bopping down the road. If for nothing more than my own amusement, this car would still be an amazing ride just so other people can enjoy it. Needless to say I am still enjoying this car very much and really look forward to where we are taking the Albino Rhino in 2013, I truly think you guys will love it!





Thanks,
Rick

Great to see more quality options on the market :)

Indeed! I'm just excited there is so much aftermarket support for these cars, always excited to see what comes out next. :)

Thanks,
Rick

Great writeup for your initial impressions on these coilovers!
They sound like what I am looking for; a natural advancement of the stock suspension with accommodating room to adjust. I'd like to see your verdict on them once they settle in, after few hundred miles or so!

Thanks! And once the weather warms up I will do a more in-depth review and should be able to touch more on the performance aspects of them.

Thanks again!
Rick

Nice write up. I'm interested in the monoflex. If the street flex are that good I can only expect better with the monoflex.

Indeed! I have been looking at the MonoFlex's for my personal car for quite some time, now I just need to make a decision haha.



And just wanted to leave this here:


http://theattack.rallysportdirect.co...03/custein.jpg

Pretty :)


Thanks,
Rick

seems like a another very high quality option out there judging by your initial impression, but i'm curious... anything else modified aside from the coilovers? swaybars?

@mediumbrown- My car is stock (aside from cosmetic upgrades) and I just installed these yesterday with some new wheels and tires. Took it for a spin on both streets and highway and the car feels amazing. Not to harsh on the streets and very responsive. Cant wait for fine tuning, but my initial thoughts on the set up is nothing short of Rick's praise for them.

Very interested in these coils! Maybe I should worry about taking delivery of the car first. . . Maybe?!

Yes, we have the Whiteline front and rear swaybars, the Cusco lateral links, wider and stickier Bridgestone RE-11 tires, and a Cusco front strut tower bar with Master Cylinder brace.




Thanks for the feedback, and glad you felt the same way. I am always hesitant to recommend products as "comfort" always comes down to personal opinion. Glad to see someone else feels the same way, and even happier to see that you are enjoying them! :)



HAHA maybe! Always hard to resist looking at mods when you have a mod friendly car on the way!! :)

Thanks,
Rick

Love the video showing the coils at work.

Thanks! The angles were a bit messed up, but I think it turned out pretty good :)

Thanks,
Rick

Just installed Type Flex - tighter handling, no movement and looks much better with tyre line just at arch. Spring rate and damping comfortable as daily drive - I was talked out of mono flex as whilst better on the track too unforgiving on the street. Good advice I think.

Nice! Glad you are liking the Flex coilovers! I also think going with the flex on a daily drive is a good idea. I would not mind running a set of stiffer coilovers just to see how comfortable they are, but we are extremely happy with the Street Flex coilovers we have :)

Thanks,
Rick

I'm very tempted on new TEIN Street Flex. I used TEIN Type Flex on my Civic a few years ago, and was very happy.

Yeah they are fantastic! I can't wait for summer to really start testing them, but so far we have nothing but great things to say about the Street Flex on our BRZ! :)

Thanks,
Rick

I have MonoFlex on my GTS and it's perfectly fine for daily driving.

interesting [especially cos Brisbane streets are shit lol] - how much damping you running at the moment?

What's the difference btw Street Flex and Type Flex? Thanks

Utilizes Advanced Needle and revised manufacturing process to make the Street Flex more robust and slightly more cost effective.

So you're saying the Street Flex is cheaper AND BETTER than the Type Flex? I feel like I just got kicked in the balls :(

On a side note, the PF01s in your Tein SRC photo on your suspension page, what's the specs (colour/size/offset/weight) if you don't mind? Thanks

Thanks CounterSpace Garage! Nailed it. There are also a few minor improvements as well, but overall the damper was redesigned using their newest technologies and needle design.
And DR 86, I would not be too bummed, the Street Flex are better, but I don't think it is worth dumping them and getting the Street Flex. I have and would run the Flex's again in a heartbeat. :)

Thanks,
Rick

Like the Type Flex, these are compatible with EDFC and Active EDFC (whenever it releases)?

It is EDFC compatible.

Thanks again David! And yes, these are EDFC and EDFC active compatible :)

Thanks again,
Rick

Have they released the EDFC Active yet? Tein's page keeps saying January 2013...

Sending you a PM :)

Supprised no one has asked...but scince i just recieved my set of street flexes.....I am very curious to know what set up specs were used. Preload, ride height and alighnment also did you adjust the damping force throughout your road tests and if so what was the best setting, and how noticeable is the damping effect per click.

thanks

Unfortunately I do not have a ton of data for you, but will do my best :)

Preload was not touched out of the box, but we did measure per the tein manual to make sure everything was spot on, but I don't have the exact specs for that at the moment.
For the ride height, the front is almost maxed out, we might have an extra 2 full turns to go down, but lets just call it maxed out :) On the rear we have an extra 10 turns to go. I can grab the exact center bore to fender height if needed.
For the alignment, we are running -1.2 up front and roughly -2.5 in the rear. I say roughly as we had it dialed in, and was close to rubbing, so I had them add a bit more negative camber in the rear to prevent rubbing.
I did mess around with the damping, but was not able to get a proper performance review as the test was done during the winter and using summer only tires, so I was not comfortable pushing the car. However I can comment on the overall feel of the coilovers, and you can feel a difference for sure. I ended up leaving ours 3 clicks from full soft. I will be playing with this more as the weather warms up so I should be able to give a more indepth review in regards to the damping adjustment.

I will give you guys an update once I am able to play around with it more :)
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Rick

Thanks. Any info helps.

i guess my biggest concern is maintaining the ballance front and rear spring rates like stock being that the teins are 7k front and back how do you adjust the coilovers to maintain that stock ratio at higher spring rate?
is it a combination of preload and damping or can you dial in more damping force in the rear to make the spring rate stiffer in the rear.

do you have the same damping force on all 4 coils?
also does the ride height being lower in the front make the ballance for front and rear spring rates?

You said maxed out front drop and ten clicks rear. What is the mm measurement of the drop? And lastly what are wheel tire measurements?

thanks for the reply and the info

Cant wait to hear what your summer time tests results and review produce

In regards to maintaining the balance, I would adjust the damping to bring the car back to where you like it set up. You can adjust the pre-load but really this is only recommended if you can do a corner balance at the same time, which really would be ideal if you really want to get the most out of the suspension.

Yes, our damping right now is set at the same on all 4 corners. I am positive I will adjust it to a different rate, perhaps a bit stiffer on the rear as the car does generally want to push with the setup right now. But I will wait until warmer temps so we can get the tires up to temp and see how it does then. I also might mess with the adjustable Whiteline swaybar to get the car where I want it as well.

We only used the lower perch for the height adjustment which is independent of the spring pre-load adjustment, so our pre-load was not adjusted. I will have to measure to give you the actual numbers on that, would you like me to measure on the coilover itself or would you like me to measure from the center of the wheel up to the fender?

Our wheel and tire spec are:
Wheels - Work CR KAI Ultimates
-18x9.5 +38 Rear
-18x8.5 +47 Front
Tires - Bridgestone Potenza RE-11
-245/40/18 Rear
-235/40/18 Front


Thanks again! :)
Rick

Ok good info...
When you say corner balance... after adjusting preload..what exactly are you reffering to..i apologise if the ? Sounds dumb just tryin to learn as much as possible before i install.

as far as the height messurement im looking to compare coilover ride height from stock height ...like how many mm lower than stock is the set up..so i guess hub to fender would give me something to compare...by any chance do you know what the stock measurement would be from hub to fender?

any reason you chose to max the front as opossed to even drop front and back?

thanks

Sorry, I should have been more clear. With the pre-load, I would not mess with that unless you have a professional to help you out, as it does get pretty in depth. To maintain the balance really you will be adjusting the ride height, to keep the weight on all 4 wheels as even as possible. Now damping is different as that will change how quickly the suspension is allowed to compress and rebound, but it does change how the car handles and feels and you can dial this in to your preference on any given surface. For example on a very rough uneven surface, you would want to run softer damping so the suspension can load and unload quickly which will help maintain the tire's contact with the ground. On a glass smooth surface you could run more aggressive damping as you won't have to worry about the tire leaving the road over bumps.

And I will measure the height of the car here shortly for you, but I was able to find a member who measured stock height from center of the wheel to the fender. #SVThis measured:
Front 14 5/8 inches
Rear 14 1/2 inches

Now this may vary with the amount of fuel, accessories and other things in the car, but that should be a pretty close measurement for a stock car.

And we adjusted ours based on the looks to be honest. I am not the best at determining what looks best, so I had some other guys look at the car, and they said "lower in the front" so I adjusted it until they were happy. It does look great for sure, but I imagined we sacrificed a bit of handling in the name of "looks", but it is always a compromise. The car does look fantastic, so I am not complaining :)

Thanks again,
Rick

Anyone know the part number for the Street Flex?

These are straight from the tein website:
Street Flex: GSQ54-51SS1 $1580.00
Flex: DSQ54-61SS1 $1790.00
MonoFlex GSQ54-F1SS1 $2300.00

I'm debating whether to get the street flex or save for the monoflex. Had the regular flex for the miata but i'd really like a more comfortable setup for daily driving. Gonna do a few track events stock the next couple months to learn how to drive the car stock since its more car than the miata was then mod as my driving skill progresses.

Thanks @xero404! :)

Rick

This is cool

Thanks!