Tein S-Tech ... a pleasant surprise

[Silver Ignition]

This is my full and personal review of the Tein S-Tech springs.
I will rate different things about the springs on a 1-10 basis; 1 being hard/bad, 10 being perfect/easy.

INSTALL:7
Install was fairly easy. I had a lift, air tools and a wall-mount spring compressor so "easy" is relative. I cut one rib off the bump stops as per the many threads on here. I did not have the tool that stops the shaft from spinning but being that my car only has 2800 miles on it, I was able to painlessly zip them off with an impact gun. Fronts were easier than the rears because the top hats have bearings in them that allow you to zip them all together without worrying about the top being in the correct position. For the fronts I had to remove the sway bar end link, brake line and ABS cable clips. The rears I took out the three bolts; knuckle bolt, lower shock mount and sway bar end link. Everything was cake.

RIDE HEIGHT:10
Ride height is PERFECT in my opinion. Just enough fender gap to stuff a slightly bigger tire but not sky-high like factory. This is how it should come from factory. I found the springs to sit slightly lower than Tein specified but I did not measure to confirm. Car gets on and off the two-post lift fine with no rubbing or scraping.

RIDE COMFORT:7
I would rate the OEM springs as a 5.5, my 2000 Camry as a 10. The Tein S-Tech springs actually ride BETTER than stock. Smaller bumps like expansion joints in the freeway are non-existent anymore. Dips in the road are only noticed by watching the cutoff on the headlights. I will still avoid potholes the same way I did stock, but the few that I hit didn't feel too bad. DEFINITELY daily-driver worthy.

HANDLING:8
Although I still want some more seat time before I really say definitively, I believe the car handles just as good as stock. Obviously this is only seat-of-the-pants measurements. I would say the handling of this car in OEM configuration is an 8.5. The only reason I scored the Tein's a little lower is because they're mated to the OE shocks, which are not meant for this ride height. I have noticed a the car tends to understeer easier with these springs. I am assuming this has to do with the increased negative camber in the rear, which will also increase grip in the corners. I have corrected the camber in the rear, allowing the car to oversteer easier as was intended from the factory.

ALIGNMENT:5
With no adjustments at all, the car tracks straight and will only require minor, if-not no toe adjustment at all. Front camber appears unchanged but have not aligned it yet. Rear camber has been amplified which is the reason the score is so low. I was expecting this but not so much. Rear camber out of the box is already negative, but with the Tein springs it's quite a bit more. This has been dealt with using SPC's stamped LCA's with the adjusting cam bolt. I was able to get all values back in the green on my Hunter rack; front camber is at -.7* and front toe is zeroed out. Rear camber is set a little more negative than stock at -1.7* and toe is zeroed out. The car is once again tail-happy with the rear camber minimized.

Action Shot:

[Pickleahoy]

No pics how dare you

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by Pickleahoy

No pics how dare you

It's obviously a made up story.

[Silver Ignition]

updated with pic

[Silver Ignition]

Installed SPC lower arms and got the alignment dialed in. Updated first post.