(Hi all-
I'm debating purchasing Tein flex and Tanabe Sustec SS. Both are similar in price (1300 shipped with tophats) and spring rates (Tein 559 F 336 R) (Tanabe 440 front 330R). I know tanabe uses KYB dampers and tein makes their own. Tanabe has a helper spring. Dampening on the teins are "16 way adjustable" and the sustec have 4 front 8 rear settings. I would prefer the tanabe settings which tells you where you are at instead of just guessing on the Teins without a reference. I want to hear from people who have experience with these and how they like them, long term durability, ride quality, bouncing problems, etc. Without shock dyno graphs word of mouth is all I have to go by. These are to be used on daily driver, weekend autoX. I figure instead of buying konis and a prokit now and then full coils later I would do it right the first time. Please keep ignorant comments to a minimum, easy on the Haterade as well

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cuban &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> (Hi all-
I'm debating purchasing Tein flex and Tanabe Sustec SS. Both are similar in price (1300 shipped with tophats) and spring rates (Tein 559 F 336 R) (Tanabe 440 front 330R). I know tanabe uses KYB dampers and tein makes their own. Tanabe has a helper spring. Dampening on the teins are "16 way adjustable" and the sustec have 4 front 8 rear settings. I would prefer the tanabe settings which tells you where you are at instead of just guessing on the Teins without a reference. I want to hear from people who have experience with these and how they like them, long term durability, ride quality, bouncing problems, etc. Without shock dyno graphs word of mouth is all I have to go by. These are to be used on daily driver, weekend autoX. I figure instead of buying konis and a prokit now and then full coils later I would do it right the first time. Please keep ignorant comments to a minimum, easy on the Haterade as well </TD></TR></TABLE>

why mess with inferior dampers when you could get the yellows and GC's and have a better setup than either the tein or the tanabe?

"xx way adjustable" doesn't mean anything without a shock dyno to show you how much each "adjustment" alters rebound damping. i could have a 42 way adjustable shock and still not have the same adjustment range as a koni or tokico illumina, the "# way" adjustable is just the number of divisions made in a given adjustment range.

since you'll be auto-x'ing, i'd recommend you do something about the shitty spring rates that come with either kit. that would mean ordering new springs from ERS or hypercoil for the front, and perhaps swapping the front springs to the rear. i'd look at 8kg/10kg as a good starting point for a real performance spring rate setup, but mind the throttle lifts before you start spinning everywhere.

personally it's a lot easier, and a lot better to go the GC/Koni route and save $500. the setup is proven time and again on all kinds of cars. but, if i had to choose b/w the two you mentioned, i'd probably take the teins.

 

Thanks for the reply, did you have to cut your shock tower to allow for the koni's larger diameter body? I have heard people talk about this, please shed some light

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bad-monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

why mess with inferior dampers when you could get the yellows and GC's and have a better setup than either the tein or the tanabe?

"xx way adjustable" doesn't mean anything without a shock dyno to show you how much each "adjustment" alters rebound damping. i could have a 42 way adjustable shock and still not have the same adjustment range as a koni or tokico illumina, the "# way" adjustable is just the number of divisions made in a given adjustment range.

since you'll be auto-x'ing, i'd recommend you do something about the shitty spring rates that come with either kit. that would mean ordering new springs from ERS or hypercoil for the front, and perhaps swapping the front springs to the rear. i'd look at 8kg/10kg as a good starting point for a real performance spring rate setup, but mind the throttle lifts before you start spinning everywhere.

personally it's a lot easier, and a lot better to go the GC/Koni route and save $500. the setup is proven time and again on all kinds of cars. but, if i had to choose b/w the two you mentioned, i'd probably take the teins.</TD></TR></TABLE>

how are you saying that you can save 500$ buy getting koni yellows with gc springs???? the koni yellows will cost at least 500$ and the gc's are another $300. the tanabe and tein kits he is speaking of are about 750-800$.

i had koni yellows/skunk2 springs on my hatchback a while ago. that thing would stick, but the ride was PATHETIC. that son of a bitch bounced all over the place. i'm about to buy a 5th gen prelude, and i wanna know what good suspension setups have been working for people, but can't find much light on the subject. and the only decent looking kits i can find are the tanabe & tein kits. i wish H&R made a cup kit for these things.

 

tein flex is 1100+

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 98vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">tein flex is 1100+</TD></TR></TABLE>

correct, cheapest I've found is 1250 shipped. You may be thinking of the tein super street (which in my opinion are junk.) I will be installing koni yellows with an eibach pro-kit next week, will let everyone know how it turns out.

 

my 99'Base w/ stock springs and bilstein HD's handles great and has a decent ride.

 

I'm not too good/familiar with suspension but you can tell your damper settings w/ Tein Flex's if you get edfc

 

EDFC is an item almost all people can go without. Not many of us NEED the ability to change damper settings on the fly. It's a race testing part or a showoff part.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cuban &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> (Hi all-
I'm debating purchasing Tein flex and Tanabe Sustec SS. Both are similar in price (1300 shipped with tophats) and spring rates (Tein 559 F 336 R) (Tanabe 440 front 330R). I know tanabe uses KYB dampers and tein makes their own. Tanabe has a helper spring. Dampening on the teins are "16 way adjustable" and the sustec have 4 front 8 rear settings. I would prefer the tanabe settings which tells you where you are at <U>instead of just guessing on the Teins without a reference</U>. I want to hear from people who have experience with these and how they like them, long term durability, ride quality, bouncing problems, etc. Without shock dyno graphs word of mouth is all I have to go by. These are to be used on daily driver, weekend autoX. I figure instead of buying konis and a prokit now and then full coils later I would do it right the first time. Please keep ignorant comments to a minimum, easy on the Haterade as well </TD></TR></TABLE>

i was refering to him.

 

Just from one of my previous posts awhile ago

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Me From Back In The Day &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I have no personal experience with Tien suspension systems, however, a couple of weeks ago I went to a local shop (Pro Spec Performance), looking for a set for my car. I had been to the shop previously, and they had always dealt with Tien suspensions, they use to swear by them. Well this time when I went in they no longer had any Tien products. I asked what was up with the switch, and they said for the past year or two the quality of the Tien components was going down hill, and it had gotten to the point where alot of customers were comming back with damaged or broken suspension parts, even without doing anything ridiculous with them, just the normal driving and alittle track time now and then. They have since switched to Tanabe and have been that way for about a year now without any complaints, and he also runs the system personally on his car. I suggest that you look into Tanabe as they are priced similarly and seem to have better build quality. just lookin out man. </TD></TR></TABLE>