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wongy

Another coilover question

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Hey guys

I’ve been reading through most of the coilovers threads... but still don’t have the 100% answer I want

plan on lowering the car I have tein masters in atm but there not low enough for me, car gets tracked once in a blue mood so let’s say it’s just for daily road use but personally I like the low low look

 

id there much difference/worth paying the extra for tein flex z over just the tein z

 

is there any other coilovers I should be looking at around that price mark???... if I tracked it often enough I’d go high end but tbh it’s more of an cosmetic thing for me.

Ps I’m running jr11s 18” 8.5 square all round

cheers guys 🙏

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I suggest to not lower then 1" and reduce urge to fsck up handling for sake of arguable slammed looks, even more so that you plan to use it on track. Or you may have need to buy much more parts to fix geometry and other issues that got out of whack due overlowering, eg. for roll center adjustment, diff riser to reduce load/wear on bearings and so on ..

Flex Z is about the cheap as it gets and of good package (eg. it includes camberplates) but you want even cheaper? :/ Most of rest at that price range may have more quality issues.

Maybe cheaper might be strut replacement to eg. koni yellow shocks, but you also wanted lowering/height adjustment.

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The answer is probably as TEIN Flex A or Z certainly can go low. I've not had anyone really say they can't lower it enough on Flex. You could email Yukiko at TEIN:  <koito@tein.co.uk> to be sure. 

 

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Thanks church and Lauren... 

 

so its worth paying the extra £ to get the flex Z ... I spoke to tarmac as he’s around the corner he said to post up on here but his most popular seller is tein..

 

so if im paying 700/800£ would tein flex z be ur choice? I guess bc and few other brands are in that price bracket to

 

Cheeers :)

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Don’t know if the pic came through but I think I’m already sat at an 1” drop with the tein springs.. 

 

always been told no more than 1” on stock suspension when buying lowering springs 

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20 minutes ago, wongy said:

Don’t know if the pic came through but I think I’m already sat at an 1” drop with the tein springs.. 

 

always been told no more than 1” on stock suspension when buying lowering springs 

I thought the same to be honest, then I had a test ride in an '86 with TunedUK's 40mm springs on. I was surprised to say the least, they offer the looks and a fair proportion of the handling improvements at a much lower price. They're a specific design for our cars and have had a lot of time put into them, and the designer Rich knows a thing or two about suspension given he's looking after that aspect of two BTCC privateer teams this year. I wouldn't write off springs entirely - on a forum everyone is going to say what they did is 'best'. It's self justification at its finest, so take any suggestions with a pinch of salt. :)

 

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46 minutes ago, Lowe said:

I thought the same to be honest, then I had a test ride in an '86 with TunedUK's 40mm springs on. I was surprised to say the least, they offer the looks and a fair proportion of the handling improvements at a much lower price. They're a specific design for our cars and have had a lot of time put into them, and the designer Rich knows a thing or two about suspension given he's looking after that aspect of two BTCC privateer teams this year. I wouldn't write off springs entirely - on a forum everyone is going to say what they did is 'best'. It's self justification at its finest, so take any suggestions with a pinch of salt. :)

 

Yeah I have the tein springs on atm... but there’s still to much arch gap for me 😂😂 I cant fault the springs I’ve got on not crashy it anything at all just need that bittt more I’m want the 1 finger rule not 2 finger rule lol

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The problem with lowering the car too much on stock dampers is the bumpstops. They are long and progressive so with a 50mm drop you are well on the the bump rubbers even at static. 

Id say tein flex A would be the best low cost option as they dont sacrific bump travel to lower the car and can be had for less than £800.

Ive got Ohlins myself and love them, but they dont go -50mm out of the box without changing the top mounts.

Im sure I dont need to say but lowering the car too much, especially the front, has a significant affect on handling. The front being a strut, once you lower to the point where the lower arm goes past about horizontal, you gain camber as the car rolls into the corner and you give up cornering grip essentially. This can be helped with roll centre adjustment kits but im not sure how much they help. 

To put this into perspective, I was at a toyota trackday at Outlon Parlk a few years back and there was a car on eiback -50mm springs. Despite being fitted with wide V105s I could hold the same steady state corner speed on primacies in a completely stock car. 

Anyway with that sacrifice in mind , flex A are what id choose to lower the car as much as you want. 

 

 

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4 minutes ago, wongy said:

Yeah I have the tein springs on atm... but there’s still to much arch gap for me 😂😂 I cant fault the springs I’ve got on not crashy it anything at all just need that bittt more I’m want the 1 finger rule not 2 finger rule lol

T1ZVAg8.jpg

1 finger. 18"x8 on 225/40/18. 40mm TunedUK springs, but the 18's raise it up 5mm or so. Ride quality is firm but not painful, not had issues with hitting the bump stops which surprised me.

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Lowering springs are often of higher rates, to compensate reduction in travel, so most often chance to completely bottom out similar to stock springs. Travel is reduced though of course.

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^^^they are usually progressive rates too, which helps. Never bottomed out on my tein springs, it's a great setup.

Wongy if its purely aesthetics you want it for I'd seriously consider going for the TunedUK springs. Otherwise you are forking out several hundred quid just for that extra finger which seems bonkers to me.

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5 hours ago, Ade said:

The problem with lowering the car too much on stock dampers is the bumpstops. They are long and progressive so with a 50mm drop you are well on the the bump rubbers even at static. 

Just a couple of things - probably a typo, but the springs are -40mm, not 50. Also there's different bump stops in that kit. :)

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10 hours ago, wongy said:

Thanks church and Lauren... 

 

so its worth paying the extra £ to get the flex Z ... I spoke to tarmac as he’s around the corner he said to post up on here but his most popular seller is tein..

 

so if im paying 700/800£ would tein flex z be ur choice? I guess bc and few other brands are in that price bracket to

 

Cheeers :)

Flex A is the obvious choice with hydrobumpstops. They are rebuildable too, though that is only a small bonus as they are very hardy units. If you cant stretch to them then Flex Z is the obvious winner. 

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Wow, thanks for all the feedback! Literally the answers I needed.. I think the tuneduk May be the way.. anyone local to Nottingham got them on?

ill hang fire see if any second hand coils appear in the next few weeks. If not teins off and tuneduk on :) lol

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Just noticed that TunedUKs new site is up, and they’ve got a sale on their springs - £141. Worth a trip up there just to see the garage and watch Rich do an alignment. 👍🏻

https://www.tuneduk.com/limited-edition-eibach-lowering-suspension-springs-kit-fits-gt86-40-38159-p.asp

 

/edit - found the link:

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12 hours ago, Lowe said:

Just noticed that TunedUKs new site is up, and they’ve got a sale on their springs - £141. Worth a trip up there just to see the garage and watch Rich do an alignment. 👍🏻

https://www.tuneduk.com/limited-edition-eibach-lowering-suspension-springs-kit-fits-gt86-40-38159-p.asp

 

/edit - found the link:

Cheers mate I’ll take a look :) 

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On 5/15/2018 at 8:35 AM, wongy said:

Thanks church and Lauren... 

 

so its worth paying the extra £ to get the flex Z ... I spoke to tarmac as he’s around the corner he said to post up on here but his most popular seller is tein..

 

so if im paying 700/800£ would tein flex z be ur choice? I guess bc and few other brands are in that price bracket to

 

Cheeers :)

I have recently put the BC BR (cheapest) coilovers on my car and in the softest setting they're much more comfortable for daily use compared to the stock suspension and even the Mrs noticed the difference straight away! 

I'm yet to have a fiddle with settings as it currently ticks all the boxes for the driving I'm doing at the moment - primarily bumpy Yorkshire A/B roads :D

Doing a track day at Anglesey in August so plan on having a fiddle with them whilst there B)

There seems to be a good range of height adjustment too. The rears will go about 10-15mm lower and the fronts about an inch lower compared to pic below.

On a side note I was originally going to go for Tein Flex Z or A but was informed by a man in the know that they don't have the same corrosion resistance as the BC suspensions. Whether thats the case or not I don't know but alas it helped made my mind up for some reason. 

Also worth noting they redesigned the rear top mount/hats to avoid the knocking noises you may have read about online. Also my mate bought some of the same for his Subaru to replace his even cheaper ebay specials and also found ride comfort fantastic :)

IMG_5725.jpg

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If it's any help my TEIN Streetflex have not suffered any corrosion issues in four years and 75K miles! The pillowball mounts do seem to corrode though. Though these are easy to change if need be. Sounds like you met a salesman. 

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On ‎15‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 8:37 AM, wongy said:

always been told no more than 1” on stock suspension when buying lowering springs 

At the risk of upsetting Lauren (!) my H&R Super Sport springs lowered it by about 35mm.  It's as low as I would dare go and I still bottom out on the occasional sleeping policeman.  It looks good to me and the ride is still very nice.  I would not have it any harder or lower.

http://www.hrsprings.com/products/detail/springs

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It's fine Maurice, but you lost 35mm of damper stroke with a lowering spring like that. The beauty of coilovers is that you don't lose any of the damper stroke. 

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27 minutes ago, Lauren said:

It's fine Maurice, but you lost 35mm of damper stroke with a lowering spring like that. The beauty of coilovers is that you don't lose any of the damper stroke. 

Depending which ones they are of course :)

Was Mike from TD that mentioned the corrosion protection and he happily recommended the cheaper product which makes a change these days :lol:

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Lauren: depends on which coilovers. Some have shorter travel from beginning (and vice versa, eg. i've heard that KW's have longer travel) and even if their height is adjustable independently and even if total height can be set to that of stock and thus adjusting it may mean it won't reduce travel below initial, i wouldn't claim 100% that coilovers = keep same suspension travel (as unmodified stock).

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2 minutes ago, Church said:

Lauren: depends on which coilovers. Some have shorter travel from beginning and even if their height is adjustable independently and even if total height can be set to that of stock, i wouldn't claim 100% that coilovers = keep same suspension travel.

I didn't say they all had the same travel as stock units only that they don't lose damper stroke travel. I'm talking about the ones that are height adustable. 

/pedant. 

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