Hi,

I'm planning to purchase coilover and would like your opinion. The two choices I'm debating about are the Zeal B2 or the Tein RA. The Zeal are 6 way adjustable and come with either the soft springs (10kg/mm Front, 6kg/mm Rear) or hard springs (12kg/mm Front, 8kg/mm Rear). Tein comes with 14kg/mm Front and 10kg/mm Rear. The Zeal are about $1300 and the Tein are about $1500. Does anyone have any of these coilover that they would like to share their experiences?

Thanks,
Tim

 

The Zeals are top and a great upgrade for the street/track ITR owner. I just took a drive up some windy roads to Mt. St. Helens and cranked those babies up to 6 (usually cruise on 1 ). What a great, stiff, ride . The adjustability is so easy too make, it is a breeze to just stop on the shoulder to transform your ITR form a daily comuter to a track *****.

The coilovers are phenominal but with the "street" spring setup I chose it understeers some, but dont worry they are plenty stiff, I cant even imagine them with stiffer springs(unless of course i was on a track, in which case, they could always be stiffer )

The Zeals can be ordered with any spring rates you want ( I believe the springs are kg/mm?). I however, chose their "street" setup as a safe base for me to further improve my driving, with hopes of swapping springs later.

One thing that becomes more noticable the longer you drive and the less interior present in your car is how loud the shocks actually are. A constant swoosh sound emits from my rear struts. Although it is loud, it shouldnt bother a ITR owner, at least not one such as myself, who enjoys wearing my car rather than driving it.

Two more plusses:
-wont rust
-shocks can be rebuilt and springs changed.

Zeal B2s =

 

zeal b2's = one of my next mods
on the review

 

Here's some pics:

 

IMO I would take the Tein RA...

Aluminum construction

 

zeals b2's sucks
tein RA rock

 

B2's are on a lower level than RA's. You would have to atleast choose B6's to have a half decent comparison. The RA's would require an overhaul sooner because of their valving and spring rate. Both are good but if you will be hitting the circuit a lot get the RA's.

I know you guys don't have access to good distributors but you can get any rate that you want with Zeal shocks. The hard and soft setups are merely suggested settings. HTH... Dee


Oh yeah.. I'm a Zeal S6 user and 20kg/16kg on the streets of Okinawa is fun !


[Modified by Dee, 6:28 AM 7/4/2002]

 

Dee knows his chit.

 

Really depends on what you are intending to do. If you're 90% track 10% street then Tein RA is probably a better setup. If you're 10% track 90% street then Zeal B2.

Tein RA are RACE. They are setup extremely hard, you wont feel any friggen progressive nature of the damper and spring combo cause it's so hard. You'll be skipping over bumps.

Zeal B2 perfect street setup here in Ontario. 10K and 6K spring combo is firm for the street, dial in setting 5 / 6 for the track and you're good to go.

 

RA is actually street geared witha ratio that is closer to 60% track/40% street. Settings will depend on tires used, track surface, driver style and the amount of preload that is set.

Tein N1's are pretty streetable eventhough most people think they are not. I used a set of '95 spec N1's until I got my S6's last year. Using an aluminum body shock does have downfalls. I only found one and that is the price of overhauls since it cost almost 60% more to overhaul the upperend aluminum body shocks that also have larger diameter pistons and different valving systems.

There are plenty of good shocks out there so shop around and be frugile. The most important thing is to get a setup that will fit your needs. Is having a dampening adjustment with more than 10 settings necessary? Do you want 2 way or 3 way adjustable shocks? 2 way is height and dampening only (Tein HA/RA, Zeal B2 and the others) while three way adds preload to the picture (Tein N1, all other Zeals, Apex N1, and more). Why would you want a preload adjustable shock? With prelaod adjustable shocks the load on the spring is not changed when you lower or raise the height. With shocks like the Tein HA a helper spring is added to offset height changes in hopes of not disturbing spring preload. BUT, this helper spring sometimes causes wheelhop in some cars. How can you tell if shock is preload adjustable? If there is a second set of lock collars below the spring lock collars the shock is preload adjustable since the botton set is for adjusting the height.

I love both Zeal and Tein but please try to get something that is middle of the road since the lower lines are CRAPPY. Zeal B6 would be a better choice than the B2 but neither one compares to the RA on the track. The S6 is better than the RA because of valving and the addition of adjustable preload. The Tein competitor for the S6 is the RE. I'll stop now since this is getting a little long.

Both Tein and ZEAL have english sections on their websites and I included some pics below so you can see the differences.


Zeal B2

Zeal B6

Zeal S6

Tein RA

Tein RE





[Modified by Dee, 9:11 PM 7/24/2002]

 

Can you get the Teins Dee? I'm thinking of the RE or N1. Will be on the track for lapping days.
Jeff.
p.s. when did the Carbing bar ship out? I keep getting excited when I pull in my driveway...hehe

 

The stock suspension is not so bad.

 

If you go hardcore go with the Buddyclubs It offers much much higher tunability over Tein RAs. ZEAL Super Functions

 

When I am ready to purchase a full coilover, I'll be looking at the Zeal Superfunction. However, if I were to choose between the Zeal B2 and Tein RA, the Zeals would definitely get my vote.

 

jdm cut springs

 

If you are thinking of getting the B2 for street, take a look at this and think again https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=220967. It started to leak oil after 4k with one track event and the rest is street driving.

 

Great post Dee... thanks.
You always have great insight into suspension...

 

I have the Buddy Club Race Spec Dampeners, and I love them. Very stiff and will be great fir track applications, but yet also tolerable for daily driving! Got mine form David @ R&D. Always great a prompt service! I will be posting pics soon!

 

Performance wise

Zeal
Tein

For a comfort ride

Zeal
Tein

In comparison with the same class, B2 vs. HA, S6 vs. RA
I will pick Tein over Zeal anyday. I think the stiffness of all Zeals is like drop spring.

 

very very true!

 

I'm running on race valved JIC's, and I'm very happy with the shocks. If this is primarily a track car, consider running stiffer springs in the back. The softer springs in the back causes excessive understeer and it's too sensitive to pavement changes. Plus you'll have to do evil things to make it more neutral.

Warren

 

RA is a hands down loser when compared to the S6 in both comfort and track worthyness. Eventhough the Tein RE has adjustable preload it still loses when compared to the S6 and the S6 barely loses to the Tein N1 on the track. Tein N1 gets snuffed really hard by Super Functions and Tein doesn't have a shock that can compete with "lease only" Zeal race shocks.

I have street and Tarmac driven every model of Zeal (except for the Race Only version) and Tein. Both companies make good shocks but I wouldn't recommend the lower level Teins (HA or lower) or Zeals (B2) to anybody since these are merely "coilover look" shocks. Cheap price normally indicates cheap engineering. Not always but usually.

There are many good shocks out there so I wouldn't limit myself to just two brands. If you only want a lowered stance with a slighty stiffer spring a set of Koni's with Eibach springs is unbeatable. If you want "price is no limit" race shock setup you will need to do a lot of research since some setups are track specific (short, windy and bumpy/long and smooth/Tarmac/Gymkhana).

A lot of people don't know this but Tein makes a lot of the aftermarket shocks in Japan. Some companies just get the shock repainted (RSR) or they have Tein make a shock to their specs.

As you can see I am trying to stay somewhat unbiased but it is difficult to compare Tein and Zeal setups since there is never an even matchup.

 

i have RAs, do you like street driving??? they arent the best on street, unless you like feeling every bump... i love it though.. i like the RAs alot..

 

Why cut springs when you can just put a blow tourch up to them until they start glowing red and begin to sag?

 

Dee
Can you give me your opinion on Buddy Club Racing Spec dampers??
How do they compare to the other coilovers mentioned in this thread????
How are they on the street and track???
Tell me everything you know about them
Thanks