Tein Flex Z opinion

[Mim]

Originally Posted by churchx

It has one big minus in my eyes though. It is of very high potential capable .. framework. Yes, when tuned right, it probably may do wonders .. but then again it has to be tuned right. And there might be even less of capable suspension shops for some available, then eg. ecutek tuners. More flexibility .. also more possibility to set it wrong, if without needed experience in field, no? I certainly wouldn't trust myself to do things right, so unless i have competent shop/suspension techs around (i don't), in my case it might be also wasted investment. I kind of see it as many-way tunable suspension taken next step further .. that i can tune completely wrong unlike with simpler one-way or untunable coilovers.

I see what you are saying, but its likewise true for many other area's of moding like FI install's and tuning in general. Even simple audio installs. You simply mitigate the risk of failure via a combination of finding the right professional for the job and or studying and learning enough yourself to be able to make adjustments. That's why our own website is such a great resource.

The most important thing for me here is the baseline of knowing the system has been correctly installed and at least has a working basic setup programing wise. Then the real research and tweaking begins. I'm looking forward to this as its been wildly entertaining for me to make mods to the platform and then experience what impact it had on the car. This is why I keep mods a reasonable time apart from each other so as to allow more seat time to help learn whether it was an improvement or not.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Mim

I see what you are saying, but its likewise true for many other area's of moding like FI install's and tuning in general. Even simple audio installs. You simply mitigate the risk of failure via a combination of finding the right professional for the job and or studying and learning enough yourself to be able to make adjustments. That's why our own website is such a great resource.

The most important thing for me here is the baseline of knowing the system has been correctly installed and at least has a working basic setup programing wise. Then the real research and tweaking begins. I'm looking forward to this as its been wildly entertaining for me to make mods to the platform and then experience what impact it had on the car. This is why I keep mods a reasonable time apart from each other so as to allow more seat time to help learn whether it was an improvement or not.

If you read the manual for the EDFCAP, all the info you need to tune your specific damper, is already posted in this thread; the hard part has already been done for you.

[SHWNBRZ]

For those who stuck with the factory recommended setting for US (28mm/35mm), how much lower did the car go vs. stock? Any chance anyone could share a photo of how much tire/fender gap was after using the recommended settings?

Much appreciated!

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by SHWNBRZ

For those who stuck with the factory recommended setting for US (28mm/35mm), how much lower did the car go vs. stock? Any chance anyone could share a photo of how much tire/fender gap was after using the recommended settings?

Much appreciated!

it's about 1.1-1.2 inch


this is mine. i would do 25mm at front and 35mm at back.
front is little bit higher than rear.

I recently hearing little squeak sound from driver side suspension like some other people're having... too cold to check it out but i will check when weather is warm and have time. I am pretty sure everything is tighten since i did triple check when i installed.

any idea what causes? spring rate? i did little bit more on pre-load

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by zc06_kisstherain

it's about 1.1-1.2 inch


this is mine. i would do 25mm at front and 35mm at back.
front is little bit higher than rear.

I recently hearing little squeak sound from driver side suspension like some other people're having... too cold to check it out but i will check when weather is warm and have time. I am pretty sure everything is tighten since i did triple check when i installed.

any idea what causes? spring rate? i did little bit more on pre-load

I just heard cold weather causes squeak

[SHWNBRZ]

Thanks for the info. I posted that before getting the coilovers. It was actually in the manual.

Current ride height from the floor to the top of the fender arch is 25.5". With an additional 1/8" preload to the factory setting, I ended up with 28.4xmm and 24.6xmm under the "B" measure. I went with the rears sitting at 34.9xmm and 35.0xmm

I figured that the difference of ~0.1xmm wouldn't matter too much for a Street car.

Also, the measurement was with the car on MPSS 225/45/17's with ~9,XXX miles on them. Tread depth per the dealership report was at 7/32" I believe.

Helped my buddy install the coilovers for me. Everything was done properly...every nut/bolt was torqued to spec....the rings for height and preload were torqued to spec...camber adjustment bolts (4) were torqued to spec...my buddy is a lil bit OCD with things...even got the garage floor swept first because he said "Your work place reflects the kind of work you do."

He had some not so good things to say about the shop that last did my alignment and I totally agree with him. That shop will not be getting any of my business in the future.

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by SHWNBRZ

Thanks for the info. I posted that before getting the coilovers. It was actually in the manual.

Current ride height from the floor to the top of the fender arch is 25.5". With an additional 1/8" preload to the factory setting, I ended up with 28.4xmm and 24.6xmm under the "B" measure. I went with the rears sitting at 34.9xmm and 35.0xmm

I figured that the difference of ~0.1xmm wouldn't matter too much for a Street car.

Also, the measurement was with the car on MPSS 225/45/17's with ~9,XXX miles on them. Tread depth per the dealership report was at 7/32" I believe.

Helped my buddy install the coilovers for me. Everything was done properly...every nut/bolt was torqued to spec....the rings for height and preload were torqued to spec...camber adjustment bolts (4) were torqued to spec...my buddy is a lil bit OCD with things...even got the garage floor swept first because he said "Your work place reflects the kind of work you do."

He had some not so good things to say about the shop that last did my alignment and I totally agree with him. That shop will not be getting any of my business in the future.

[Mim]

Now that I have had FlexZ's for a while I can add more of my own experiences and perspective. Note I do have the top EDFC package for active Dampers. For DD duty the suspension has been truly amazing.

I have dialed out road bumps to the point where I only hear them and then feel them say 20% of the time (bigger impacts), but the car settles almost instantly ie no pogoing. EDFC starts out 10F/11R and then transitions quickly to 9F/10F at low speeds and settles on 8F/9R on my usual 60kph zones and then to 7F/8R as speed climbs to 70 and over. I've only been up to 80kph so far with this installed, but good lord does it glide along smoothly. With the softer settings my grip has increased and steering has become a touch heavier.

TC rarely triggers and I can get the back to slide a little and never see TC activate while driving in Sports mode. As you will see in my tracked fuel consumption (in sig below) it has improved as the tires are in better contact with the road the car feels like its getting its power down more easily. Note I'm still on stock wheels and tires.

For those interested I had it lowered 10mm over stock with natural -.75 camber in the back and set to -1.0 in the front. The workshop figured it was safe given my stock rubber. Looks great to me.

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by Mim

Now that I have had FlexZ's for a while I can add more of my own experiences and perspective. Note I do have the top EDFC package for active Dampers. For DD duty the suspension has been truly amazing.

I have dialed out road bumps to the point where I only hear them and then feel them say 20% of the time (bigger impacts), but the car settles almost instantly ie no pogoing. EDFC starts out 10F/11R and then transitions quickly to 9F/10F at low speeds and settles on 8F/9R on my usual 60kph zones and then to 7F/8R as speed climbs to 70 and over. I've only been up to 80kph so far with this installed, but good lord does it glide along smoothly. With the softer settings my grip has increased and steering has become a touch heavier.

TC rarely triggers and I can get the back to slide a little and never see TC activate while driving in Sports mode. As you will see in my tracked fuel consumption (in sig below) it has improved as the tires are in better contact with the road the car feels like its getting its power down more easily. Note I'm still on stock wheels and tires.

For those interested I had it lowered 10mm over stock with natural -.75 camber in the back and set to -1.0 in the front. The workshop figured it was safe given my stock rubber. Looks great to me.

nice review~ suprised that EDFC works very well and cant trigger TC

[Mim]

Originally Posted by zc06_kisstherain

nice review~ suprised that EDFC works very well and cant trigger TC

EDFC Active Pro + GPS works surprisingly well. It will auto adjust each corner's damper independently based on road speed and g forces so the outside will firm up while cornering and firm up front or rear depending on acceleration or braking. I've seen front go as firm as 5 on the damping when going hard on the brakes.

After two years of seat time I like to be as smooth as possible with the way I drive and with this active damping setup I asume the TC thresholds have been raised a touch simply down to the general ride being so much more stable vs stock. Not that stock is slouching around, but its just more buttoned down in a way that's kinda of hard to convey just through words.

Best way I can describe it (on a stock car) is a bit like how the car feels when driving along a stretch of newly laid smooth asphalt. This system dials out rough roads to feel closer to smooth asphalt more of the time and gets smoother as speed climbs.

On one hand you might think, why waste money on EDFC Active Pro on an entry level suspension, but the reality I've discovered is that it will take what is already a pretty solid set of coilovers for DD use and take it to a whole new level without blowing disgusting amounts of money. The ability to leave the system to auto adjust based on the quality of the roads and speeds really pushes the sweet spot envelope wider to the point where I wish this was a standard option on the twins. No mater what damping setting you chose on a non EDFC equipped car, you will always encounter roads that will make you cringe and second guess your settings.

Its the back and forth adjustment to try and find that elusive one setting fits all situation that erodes some peoples confidence in choosing a set of coilovers over stock and why some go back.

[churchx]

I wonder though on longevity of such setup. Are coilovers really made to be adjusted several times per minute without something wearing down? And how it will work out in few years of use of such active frequent readjusting?

[Mim]

Originally Posted by churchx

I wonder though on longevity of such setup. Are coilovers really made to be adjusted several times per minute without something wearing down? And how it will work out in few years of use of such active frequent readjusting?

This is an excellent point! Just like any other mod I suppose it comes down to the quality and correct installation. Playing to the strengths of the FlexZ's I can always toss out and replace any dampers that wear out with fresh ones at a fraction of the cost of rebuilding.

Time will tell I guess, but I suppose it really also comes down to having the right mindset being that when moding a car you need consider the wear and tear a mod might cause and the need to replace components down the line if they wear out. That said I will obviously report back on any issues I might encounter and when.

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by Mim

This is an excellent point! Just like any other mod I suppose it comes down to the quality and correct installation. Playing to the strengths of the FlexZ's I can always toss out and replace any dampers that wear out with fresh ones at a fraction of the cost of rebuilding.

Time will tell I guess, but I suppose it really also comes down to having the right mindset being that when moding a car you need consider the wear and tear a mod might cause and the need to replace components down the line if they wear out. That said I will obviously report back on any issues I might encounter and when.

I was thinking about same thing on wearing parts.
reason i choose Flex Z coilover is that you can replace shock/dampers without sending part out for rebuilding. I think nobody replaced their shock yet though. I hope it's not that difficult.

[Mim]

Originally Posted by zc06_kisstherain

I was thinking about same thing on wearing parts.
reason i choose Flex Z coilover is that you can replace shock/dampers without sending part out for rebuilding. I think nobody replaced their shock yet though. I hope it's not that difficult.

As easy as it might be to swap out a damper for some, I'm still taking it back to the same workshop if I need any swapped down the line. Aside from the peace of mind knowing it was done correctly, they also warranty their work.

Going on a yearly interstate drive this week so will be funky taking the car up to higher cruising speeds than my regular 80kph. Should glide at the 110kph limit on this suspension. Will also be watching in amusement for any change in fuel economy.