CSG Spec Tein Flex A Owners Thread

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by fancymalard

I only turned the shaft a few times, so hopefully, I didn't ruin the seals. Did a quick inspection on them today and so far no leaks. I guess time and mileage will tell. Ugh, I'm kicking myself in the head for doing that.

If everything is clean, then it's unlikely to have caused any damage. If the dampers have been used a lot and the seals are a bit dirty (from doing their job of keeping things out), then it can cause a bit of wear.

Most likely if you don't see anything fairly quickly, there's no short term implications.

Long term, seals are replaced anyways with servicing.

[Barefootdan]

Glad to see this thread is still alive and well. As some know, I sold my BRZ back in 2018 due to my commute getting too long. Luckily since then, I've moved to a fully remote position and just placed a deposit for a GR86. I'm excited to be back in the twins family and see what @CSG Mike are up to these days with the gen 2. Hopefully my GR86 will arrive in the next month or two!

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[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Barefootdan

Glad to see this thread is still alive and well. As some know, I sold my BRZ back in 2018 due to my commute getting too long. Luckily since then, I've moved to a fully remote position and just placed a deposit for a GR86. I'm excited to be back in the twins family and see what @CSG Mike are up to these days with the gen 2. Hopefully my GR86 will arrive in the next month or two!

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

Oooooh welcome back!

[menikmati]

Suspension newbie here and I stumbled upon this thread and this has gotten these coilovers on my radar.

Is there a recommended camber setting for strictly street/DD use? I'm assuming I would have to get rear LCAs to account for camber and that the OEM rear toe arms would be sufficient.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by menikmati

Suspension newbie here and I stumbled upon this thread and this has gotten these coilovers on my radar.

Is there a recommended camber setting for strictly street/DD use? I'm assuming I would have to get rear LCAs to account for camber and that the OEM rear toe arms would be sufficient.

How often do you "take a corner spiritedly"? What wheels/tire setup?

[menikmati]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

How often do you "take a corner spiritedly"? What wheels/tire setup?

Not much, honestly. Mainly just give it the beans to get on the highway. Running with stock wheels and PS4S right now and want to get into performance driving.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by menikmati

Not much, honestly. Mainly just give it the beans to get on the highway. Running with stock wheels and PS4S right now and want to get into performance driving.

That's gonna be the determining factor.

Maybe start with -1.75 front and rear. slight toe in both axles.

There is no universal answer, unfortunately.

[TurboLag23]

Originally Posted by menikmati

Not much, honestly. Mainly just give it the beans to get on the highway. Running with stock wheels and PS4S right now and want to get into performance driving.

I have CSG FLA V2s, 17x9s, and PS4Ss currently (although will likely go to RE71RS once these wear out). I'm on stock RLCAs, and currently at -2.8deg F/-1.7deg R camber, aligned and corner balanced. I drive on the default damping settings 99% of the time.

As set up, it's phenomenal for both autocross and DD. As an autocross car (driving at 10/10ths), it is well-damped and well-sprung, very predictable, and pretty much perfectly balanced between understeer and oversteer. As a DD (driving at 3/10ths and below), it's more darty on-center (mostly a factor of the alignment), but not so much so that driving in inclement weather is dicey.

If I were you, I would do the following:
0. Come out to the SCCA autocrosses at Lake Elsinore!
1. Get an idea of what your driving style is at the limit, and what you want out of the car's setup that you can't achieve as OEM (stiffer, softer, lots of front camber adjustability, rake, ride height, damping adjustability, etc.). "Nothing" is a valid answer - these cars are shockingly good out of the box! However, if you still do want them...
2. Get the coilovers and wait on literally everything else - keep with stock RLCAs, stock sway bars, don't swap tires, etc.
3. Get an alignment and corner balance at Amor Autosport (where I went) or Infinite Motion (also phenomenal).
4. Come out to the SCCA autocrosses at Lake Elsinore again!
5. Re-evaluate what you want out of the car's setup (stiffer, softer, bias towards understeer/oversteer, etc.) with the new modifications
6. Figure out the limits of adjustability to achieve those goals within your existing suspension setup. You would be shocked at what you can achieve with just your quick-to-adjust variables (tire pressure and damping adjustment), and your alignment variables (rake, ride height, front camber, front toe, rear toe).
7. THEN get additional suspension modifications (and alignments if necessary) and repeat as necessary.

[menikmati]

Originally Posted by TurboLag23

I have CSG FLA V2s, 17x9s, and PS4Ss currently (although will likely go to RE71RS once these wear out). I'm on stock RLCAs, and currently at -2.8deg F/-1.7deg R camber, aligned and corner balanced. I drive on the default damping settings 99% of the time.

As set up, it's phenomenal for both autocross and DD. As an autocross car (driving at 10/10ths), it is well-damped and well-sprung, very predictable, and pretty much perfectly balanced between understeer and oversteer. As a DD (driving at 3/10ths and below), it's more darty on-center (mostly a factor of the alignment), but not so much so that driving in inclement weather is dicey.

If I were you, I would do the following:
0. Come out to the SCCA autocrosses at Lake Elsinore!
1. Get an idea of what your driving style is at the limit, and what you want out of the car's setup that you can't achieve as OEM (stiffer, softer, lots of front camber adjustability, rake, ride height, damping adjustability, etc.). "Nothing" is a valid answer - these cars are shockingly good out of the box! However, if you still do want them...
2. Get the coilovers and wait on literally everything else - keep with stock RLCAs, stock sway bars, don't swap tires, etc.
3. Get an alignment and corner balance at Amor Autosport (where I went) or Infinite Motion (also phenomenal).
4. Come out to the SCCA autocrosses at Lake Elsinore again!
5. Re-evaluate what you want out of the car's setup (stiffer, softer, bias towards understeer/oversteer, etc.) with the new modifications
6. Figure out the limits of adjustability to achieve those goals within your existing suspension setup. You would be shocked at what you can achieve with just your quick-to-adjust variables (tire pressure and damping adjustment), and your alignment variables (rake, ride height, front camber, front toe, rear toe).
7. THEN get additional suspension modifications (and alignments if necessary) and repeat as necessary.

I appreciate the thorough and informative response!

Would you recommend waiting for a Starting Line School date to open up or just heading out to an autocross event? I am a 100% newbie when it comes to performance driving so I will be asking a lot of questions.

I live within minutes of Amor Autosport so it looks like I will be in good hands when it comes to suspension!

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by menikmati

I appreciate the thorough and informative response!

Would you recommend waiting for a Starting Line School date to open up or just heading out to an autocross event? I am a 100% newbie when it comes to performance driving so I will be asking a lot of questions.

I live within minutes of Amor Autosport so it looks like I will be in good hands when it comes to suspension!

JP is legit.

From this past weekend on CSG Spec Flex A.

[TurboLag23]

Originally Posted by menikmati

I appreciate the thorough and informative response!

Would you recommend waiting for a Starting Line School date to open up or just heading out to an autocross event? I am a 100% newbie when it comes to performance driving so I will be asking a lot of questions.

I live within minutes of Amor Autosport so it looks like I will be in good hands when it comes to suspension!

JP @Amor is the man!

And although I would absolutely recommend a Starting Line school, it doesn't look like there are any imminently planned. I would sign up for an event and do two things:

1) Novice course walk, led before every event.
2) Request an instructor. Every practice day, and I believe most championship days, they have instructors who will ride along with you and give you pointers. When I was new, I would take my first two runs slow to learn the course and identify any spots that are particularly difficult. Then I would take my third run with an instructor to give me pointers, get more pointers while waiting for my fourth run, then fourth run again with instructor to see if/how I improved and get a list of things to work on improving for the rest of the day.

[BlueWhelan]

Fellow SCCA cal club / SD driver here.

Come to a practice day! The comp. days are less seat time.

Run what you got. That’s all you need.


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[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by TurboLag23

I have ... PS4Ss currently ... it's phenomenal for ... autocross ... As an autocross car (driving at 10/10ths), it is well-damped and well-sprung ...

That's a strange combination of facts and conclusions.
Given that you use PS4Ss, I presume you mostly do autox for fun, not competitively?

Back when I had a gen1 with CSG FLAs and finally switched to 200tw tires for autox, I quickly found the suspension to be too soft. The body had a lot more rolling, squatting and diving than the top cars.
My results improved once I switched to a stiffer setup.

FLAs can definitely handle casual autox, but I wouldn't call them "well-sprung" or "phenomenal" for autox in general.

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by menikmati

Would you recommend waiting for a Starting Line School date to open up or just heading out to an autocross event? I am a 100% newbie when it comes to performance driving so I will be asking a lot of questions.

This is getting off topic, but just go and have fun!
Pick an event/club that will give you the most seat time.
Go socialize with other 86 owners, and try to learn what you can from the faster folks.