It had become clear to me that I need a new suspension setup, so I was going to go with tein as they seem to have pretty good setups although they are a bit expensive. I am competeing in SFR SCCA FSP solo2 and I want a good adjustable setup for height and damper stiffness. Tein now offers electronically controlled dampers for their coilovers. My question is for my level of competition can I get a good setup for less that $1000 (500ish) that I can adjust ride height and damper settings, and has anyone tried Tein and the new cockpit adjustable dampers?

 

I believe electronically controlled shocks are verboten. (or am thinking of Solo Stock classes?)

Tein stuff is ok, the biggest complaint is service - there wasn't a stateside service center (I think there is now, not sure tho). That, and for the same price you can get stuff that has been proven again and again...

It's hard to go wrong with revalved Konis and Eibach ERS. Or if you want to spend stupid amounts of money, look for inverted shocks and all that fun stuff (probably have to do a semi-custom job for that).

 

TEIN EDFC is illegal in Street Prepared and Street Touring classes.

14.5.C says the following:
Any shock absorbers may be used, provided they attach to the original mounting points. The number of shock absorbers shall be the same as Stock. No shock absorber may be capable of adjustment while the car is in motion, unless fitted as orignal equipment. MacPherson strut equipped cars may substitute struts, and/or may use any insert. This does not allow unauthorized changes in suspension geometry or changes in attachment points (e.g., affecting the position of the lower ball joint or spindle). It is intended to allow the strut length changes needed to accommodate permitted modifications which affect ride height and suspension travel. This allowance differs from Improved Touring Allowance 12.1.4.d.5.d.1.

And TEIN does have a facility in the U.S. now. It's in So Cal. I'm thinking about having the TEINs on my Prelude re-valved.

 

14.5.C says the following:
Any shock absorbers may be used, provided they attach to the original mounting points. The number of shock absorbers shall be the same as Stock. No shock absorber may be capable of adjustment while the car is in motion, unless fitted as orignal equipment. MacPherson strut equipped cars may substitute struts, and/or may use any insert. This does not allow unauthorized changes in suspension geometry or changes in attachment points (e.g., affecting the position of the lower ball joint or spindle). It is intended to allow the strut length changes needed to accommodate permitted modifications which affect ride height and suspension travel. This allowance differs from Improved Touring Allowance 12.1.4.d.5.d.1.

Anyone who can adjust their suspension while threading it through the cones at a local autocross is greater than I, and possibly anyone else, I mean really, why not adjust your radio and your ac while you at it? I was thinking it would make life much easier then having to actually mess with the shock itself...

 

Welcome to the world of SCCA rulemaking...and most of them are because someone tried to bend the spirit of the rules. Imagine someone with a ton of money developing a shock setup that automatically adjusts compression or rebound damping depending on brake and steering input...or the danger to course workers if someone <u>did</u> try to reach over and adjust their shocks in the middle of a run.

But back to your original question. Most folks seem to be pretty happy with Koni yellows, Ground Control or TrueChoice collars, and Eibach springs. This setup runs about $1,000.00 +- and gives good value. GC and TrueChoice can give you good advice about spring rates depending on what you want to do with the car.

 

Hehe.. well, there are magneto-rheostatic ( http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~database/...mems/smrt.html ) shocks coming out on vehicles like the Z06 (and some uber-luxury vehicles). These shocks with some sensors and a computer controller _can_ change the effective damping on the fly, and nearly instantaneously (far faster than any mechanical valving system). Basically, you tune your shocks by tuning the computer controller. And they become nearly the perfect shock absorber.

One might imagine making those legal in stock class could make the price of competition rise slightly..

Some rules seem silly, and some make a little sense if you have the right test case to understand why they were made.

 

If you do decide to go with Tein (I recomend Zeal as the sponsor ***** that I am) I would call up Niki at Acutech Autos in South San Fran. His shop just started selling the Tein line of suspension systems. I personally have all my car maintenance (that I can't do in my driveway) at his shop. He's also a SFR SCCA autocrosser and tell him Jeremy referred you.

Oops, forgot the phone number 650-871-7797




[Modified by Geratol, 3:08 PM 9/16/2002]