Tein Flex Z Problems

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by zussypoo

Ah. That was actually my misunderstanding. The passenger front strut was replaced. I am not ruling out that the car could still be damaged, even though none of the shops nor the insurance company can see the frame being damaged. The message I got from the insurance company was that "most vehicles assessed with frame damage had much more severe impact", and this is treated as an employee loss, so I don't see them skimping on repairs and that their assessment was reasonable.

It's just frustrating that Tein's immediate response was that it is not their issue, and it is because my car was involved in an accident. Although it would be comparing apples to oranges, if I got a leaky brand new tire from the local Discount Tire, I'm pretty sure that is not because my car was involved in an accident.

What if you put on a leaky brand new tire from your local discount tire *on the rim that was involved in the accident*?

[zussypoo]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

What if you put on a leaky brand new tire from your local discount tire *on the rim that was involved in the accident*?

Hence why I said it was an apples to oranges comparison. I'm by no means an expert, but with the information I have, the car only drove oddly and had bad alignment numbers with the Teins on. Without the Teins and with any other combination the car was fine. It could be great if I can find something else that can prove it isn't the coilovers' problem, as that means there are more damage found that needed to be repaired, but as of right now there is nothing else found lately.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by zussypoo

Hence why I said it was an apples to oranges comparison. I'm by no means an expert, but with the information I have, the car only drove oddly and had bad alignment numbers with the Teins on. Without the Teins and with any other combination the car was fine. It could be great if I can find something else that can prove it isn't the coilovers' problem, as that means there are more damage found that needed to be repaired, but as of right now there is nothing else found lately.

Unless either the damper's shaft or the external housing is bent, this isn't possible. If the housing were bent, you wouldn't be able to adjust the height, and if the shaft were bent, you'd be puking oil by now...

[zc06_kisstherain]

I guess time to sell that TEIN and get different coilover?
i have Tein Z as well but havent installed it yet...

[zussypoo]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Unless either the damper's shaft or the external housing is bent, this isn't possible. If the housing were bent, you wouldn't be able to adjust the height, and if the shaft were bent, you'd be puking oil by now...

Wouldn't it be possible that Tein never manufactured this particular set properly and as a result the coilovers had mismatch build specs?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by zussypoo

Wouldn't it be possible that Tein never manufactured this particular set properly and as a result the coilovers had mismatch build specs?

Yes, it's possible, but again, if the specs are wrong, you wouldn't have alignment issues. You'd have damping issues.

[Ashikabi]

Does OP have a friend, they could trade coils for a bit and see what happens

[Bykov]

My unit constantly sends me to AZ so if this is still ongoing next time I am there, I can definitely offer up my car to see if I have the same issue with the Flex Z's. But that may be a ways away...

[zussypoo]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Yes, it's possible, but again, if the specs are wrong, you wouldn't have alignment issues. You'd have damping issues.

I just cannot comprehend how the car drives fine without Teins, but pulls to one side with Teins on. I did spoke to a frame shop and see if they can take the car around on Friday. The Tein coilovers were the only contributing factor in causing the car to lose its stability.

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

Does OP have a friend, they could trade coils for a bit and see what happens

I wish I can and have the time and money to do so, but I don't.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Could be just an isolated problem? I just installed my Flex Z about a week ago, along with Whiteline rear LCA. Car drove straight after the installation, but I knew my alignment was off since my steering wheel wasn't centered.



Car feels smoother than stock (7 clicks back of full stiff), and I pretty much maxed out the drop in the front. Had to reduce the rear via pre-load to even out the drop since the shock length was still about 3/4" too high at max adjustment.

Oddly enough, the click/clank/creak that I had with stock went away after I installed the Flex Z.

[Traktor]

I had a similar problem to the OP when I added camber bolts to stock suspension on a RHD GT86 which had never been in an accident. The factory fixed castor is setup to slowly drift away from oncoming traffic (in my case the left) and this seemed to be exaggerated when 1 degree of negative camber was dialed in.
Toe was neutral.
When I took the camber bolts out to sell the car the problem went away.
On my BRZ over here in the states I plan on running a racer x LCA for full camber/caster adjustment along with a camber bolt and will use OEM strut tops rather than camber plates.


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[zussypoo]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Could be just an isolated problem? I just installed my Flex Z about a week ago, along with Whiteline rear LCA. Car drove straight after the installation, but I knew my alignment was off since my steering wheel wasn't centered.



Car feels smoother than stock (7 clicks back of full stiff), and I pretty much maxed out the drop in the front. Had to reduce the rear via pre-load to even out the drop since the shock length was still about 3/4" too high at max adjustment.

Oddly enough, the click/clank/creak that I had with stock went away after I installed the Flex Z.

That's interesting. My thrust angle numbers as of right now is -0.03deg rather than 0. One of the older alignment sheets the steer ahead number was aligned to 0, but I distinctly remember that not changing anything, which should be viable to rule out steering component issue?
On a side note, there were a lot of more noises coming from the front end after installation of the Teins, but they were mostly related to the sway bar endlinks. The ride was bouncy I believe 12 clicks from stiff, and after driving extended periods on 9(?) clicks from stiff the dampers felt less effective. Car also felt to have a lot more body roll after the Teins were placed on, but that could be an alignment issue. There was also a consistent clicking near the right rear area going over bumps after the install of Teins.
I am by no means dismissing Tein in this issue and just ask for a refund at their expense, but it seems like they just sold me a defective product and refuse to deal with it under any circumstances. If they are willing to ship me another pair while taking back the current set I'd be happy to put another set on and retest everything.

Originally Posted by Traktor

I had a similar problem to the OP when I added camber bolts to stock suspension on a RHD GT86 which had never been in an accident. The factory fixed castor is setup to slowly drift away from oncoming traffic (in my case the left) and this seemed to be exaggerated when 1 degree of negative camber was dialed in.
Toe was neutral.
When I took the camber bolts out to sell the car the problem went away.
On my BRZ over here in the states I plan on running a racer x LCA for full camber/caster adjustment along with a camber bolt and will use OEM strut tops rather than camber plates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The factory bolt were put on and it didn't change a thing.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

When you had the alignment done with the Flex Z on, were they able to get the alignment back to factory specs (sorry if you answered this already). Fortunately for me, I think the tech that did my alignment has OCD since he tried his best to get every spec the same for both sides.

[zussypoo]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

When you had the alignment done with the Flex Z on, were they able to get the alignment back to factory specs (sorry if you answered this already). Fortunately for me, I think the tech that did my alignment has OCD since he tried his best to get every spec the same for both sides.

Everything was adjustable enough on Flex Z except caster. That's what every single tech raised as a possible factor as there was no instructions on adjusting caster on their machines.