Discounted Coilovers for Formula Drift Irwindale

We’ll be attending this year’s Formula Drift event at Irwindale Speedway on October 13-14, 2017.

Rumors abound that this will be the last Formula D event at this specific track (which has been the same rumor for the past five years or so; seems to be a legitimate claim this time).

As always, we’ll have our merchandise for sale, as well as some products on display.

We’ll also be bringing some discounted coilovers that we brought to JCCS (which was kind of a last-minute notice).

*These are technically used coilover kits (test & evaluation). In actuality, they were mostly used for fitment testing and for obtaining ride height adjustment range data and were not really driven on. These kits will be sold as-is and without warranty.

GSB14-1UAS2

GSK10-1UAS2

GSP26-1UAS2

GSHD6-1USS2

VSM40-C1SS1

DSE20-LUSS2

GSB90-51SS3

 

See special pricing below:

*Prices are for cash payment (we will not be able to process credit card transactions during Formula D)


***We will only be bringing qty 1 of  each part number listed. The list below is solely to show applicable vehicle models by part number***

Japanese Classic Car Show (September 23, 2017)

This weekend is the Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach, by the Queen Mary! We’ve been attending for the past 5 years, and while it may not seem like our kind of customer base, we do get our fair share of product inquiries for suspension for older Japanese vehicles.

We’re not necessarily posting about our past experiences at JCCS, or what new products we’re making. In fact, our SPECIALIZED DAMPER PROGRAM still exists and is what we refer these types of customers to, since it’s applicable to nearly all vehicle makes and models.

Instead, I wanted to mention that once again we’ll be there, and of course we’ll have our TEIN merchandise on sale, as well as some of our products on display (and a pair of S30’s on our SPECIALIZED DAMPERS!). We’ll also have some TEIN suspensions that we’re clearing out and at a special price!!! While there aren’t many of these kits that we’re bringing, we’re sure there are some customers with these vehicle applications that might be interested.

These kits were used for test fitment and ride height measurement testing by our Research & Development department. So they are practically brand new with some installation scratches.

 

BASIC/DSE20-LUSS2 (for 2008+ Mitsubishi Lancer)

STREET BASIS/GSB14-1UAS2 (for 2006-2011 Honda Civic, Incl. Si models)

STREET BASIS/GSHD6-1USS2 (for 2013+ Honda Accord)

STREET BASIS/GSK10-1UAS2 (for 2007-2012 Nissan Altima)

STREET BASIS/GSP26-1UAS2 (for 03-08 Nissan 350Z/03-08 Infiniti G35 Coupe & Sedan)

STREET FLEX/GSB90-51SS3 (for 08-12 Honda Accord/09-14 Acura TSX)

FLEX Z/VSM40-C1SS1 (for 90-05 Mazda MX-5 Miata)

Special pricing on the right side column (in bold):

****CASH ONLY. ALL PRICES ARE FINAL. NO REFUNDS****

****First come, first served-NO RESERVATIONS/HOLDS****

*****Kits sold in as-is condition; no warranty*****

PART# DESCRIPTION MSRP Price
DSE20-LUSS2 BASIC KIT,CY4A $960.00 $400.00
GSB14-1UAS2 STREET BASIS KIT,FG1/2&FA1/5 $750.00 $500.00
GSHD6-1USS2 STREET BASIS KIT,CR2/CT2 $650.00 $400.00
GSK10-1UAS2 STREET BASIS KIT,L32/U32 $750.00 $550.00
GSP26-1UAS2 STREET BASIS KIT,Z33/V35 $690.00 $450.00
GSB90-51SS3 STREET FLEX KIT,CU2/4,CW2 $1,450.00 $650.00
VSM40-C1SS1 FLEX Z DAMPER KIT,NA8C/NB8C $880.00 $550.00

TEIN USA Operations Closed for 4th of July

To our valued customers and TEIN USA Blog readers,

 

Please note that we will be closed on Tuesday,  July 4th in observance of the American Independence Day holiday.

We will resume our daily operations on Wednesday, July 5th.

 

Thank you for your understanding. We hope you all have an enjoyable and safe 4th of July, you Hulkamaniacs!!!

 

TEIN USA Closed During Thanksgiving 2016

To our valued customers (and blog readers, if you care ;)),

TEIN USA will be closed during Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 24th as well as Friday November 25th.

We will resume operations on Monday, November, 28th.

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may bring you. However, we do hope you use this time to spend with family and friends, and be thankful for what you have!

Have a great holiday, everyone!

thanksgiving-fat

Global Time Attack’s Super Lap Battle 2016

This week is the Super Lap Battle Time Attack event at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, hosted by Global Time Attack.

Damn, that’s a mouthful to say…

Anyhow, we’ve continued to attend the event for the past 6 consecutive years now. Our main purpose is to check out how the event goes, see how it has grown, and also to assist any teams/drivers that are using TEIN suspension.

For the most part, most teams/drivers are pretty experienced with their setup. So it’s not like we’re trying to rearrange everything they’ve setup and working for them. We just want to see how we can extract a bit more performance with a little bit of tuning. We bring one of our in-house engineers to speak with the driver and get feedback on how the car feels. From that, we are able to make an assessment on whether any changes to the suspension should be made, or if some other aspect should be altered. Funny enough, tire pressures tend to be overlooked.

The past few years has really just left us looking like spectators, however. Again, most of the teams have their race cars sorted out. So there isn’t much for us to do except check out the progress of each session.

For this year, we really only know of two teams on TEIN-equipped cars competing. Evasive Motorsports is bringing their R35 GT-R to run in the Unlimited AWD class, and Sport Car Motion (SCM) has their DC2 Type R Integra in the Limited FWD class. Both teams using our Super Racing damper kits.

scm-itr

The SCM Type R has proven to be plenty fast, mainly because they know how to extract the most out of their Rotrex-charged K24 engine setup. [Not] oddly enough, their Super Racing dampers are completely off-the-shelf. No changes in valving, and spring rates are per our recommendation. We did a refresh on the dampers last year, but unfortunately the car couldn’t make the event. Considering this specific Super Racing kit was on the team’s previous EG Civic race car, and that it has just over 6 years of use, the dampers were due for a rebuild anyway. We look forward to seeing the Type R run again this week!

 

evs-gtr

Evasive Motorsports has only taken their GT-R, in its current iteration, to a couple of track days. Back when the car had the very basics (our Super Racing dampers, racing brake pads, upgraded wheels & tires), they were using our recommended setup. Now, with a slightly wider body and more aero additions, we’ve uprated their springs. Other than that, the Super Racing dampers have our 3-way units installed, but valving has been kept as out-of-the-box. Wheels are a bit larger now, and they’re using a much more sticky tire. On its maiden voyage in this setup at Buttonwillow, the car did something in the neighborhood of a 1:47.00 lap time. No time spent trying to fine tune anything, and that’s what they run……… Damn. We weren’t expecting something that quick for what is essentially a still very street-bound car with full interior, full amenities. While we would love to attribute this shockingly fast time to our dampers, the fact is that Evasive Motorsports aren’t any slouches when it comes to building a proper car for the track. We’ll see what else the team does to knock down a couple more seconds from the timer.

Other than those two cars, which would keep our engineer busy enough, we’ve yet to hear of anyone else that may need our assistance. But, as I mentioned, they probably don’t need our help……

 

……….. You know what,,,,, this is just starting to sound like an excuse for us to just go and watch some racing! Don’t tell my boss…

 

 

Formula Drift 2016

The drift season got off to a start earlier this month, and what an event it was! The city of Long Beach, CA. hosts the season opener for Formula Drift, and around this time, the city prepares for the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Celebrity Grand Prix, the later of which had the final race for the series.

Weather seemed to be the only detriment to the Formula Drift season opener, and an apparent downpour was the biggest threat to what is essentially always an outdoor event. We figured the wet weather was enough to keep spectators out of the stands and staying at home instead.

IMG_2177

But, we were proved wrong! Fortunately for us, we came prepared with our typical TEIN merchandise. However, missing for nearly two years was a full-size parasol (umbrella) from the TEIN Goods lineup. This time around, we were prepared with a new design. This bad weather proved to be one of the biggest favors we could have asked from mother nature, as we had a flock of customers NEEDING our parasol!!! We also had our smaller fold-up umbrella, which also sold well!

At any rate, the racing action also proved to be very eventful. As you can imagine, quite a few accidents occured on track, and any type of contact in drifting is usually met with cheers from the crowd.

gitting new mustang rain

We’re glad to see the 2016 race season off to a great start! Next weekend is Formula Drift at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA! We look forward to being there and seeing all of you race fans!!! So stop by the TEIN booth to say hi, and check out our booth car (and FD3S owned built by Phil Sohn)!!! And yes, we’ll have parasols with us 😉 !!!

phil sohn fd3s

Pics from: Speedhunters (by Larry Chen), Formula Drift, Phil Sohn

TEIN Japan Factory Tour with DSPORT Magazine

Never before has a consumer stepped foot into the TEIN factory, ever!

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016) 007 blog

As you can imagine, TEIN (as with many other manufacturers) has some proprietary methods for manufacturing shock absorbers, with several processes pioneered in-house. In fact, there are some machines developed specifically by TEIN engineers solely for our own use. So, to show that to the public may be detrimental to us since we do not want such information to be released to the public. This is information that can reach another suspension manufacturer!!!

However, there is a benefit to showing consumers what TEIN does and what we’re capable of. For one, it’s a sign that TEIN is confident in our technology. Second, consumers are just as interested in seeing how their products are made. So why not show them?!

Well, that’s exactly what we did! We worked with DSPORT magazine to arrange a tour of our facility during their Tokyo Auto Salon guest tour for this year.

Every year, DSPORT Magazine arranges a tour package for interested people. For about $3,500/person, guests get to take a trip to Japan and visit Tokyo Auto Salon and several Japanese performance parts manufacturers’ facilities. So it sounded like a prime opportunity to have TEIN show the public our factory.

We felt bad for our guests, though. The day before was to be a trip to Fuji Speedway. But, due to bad weather the event was canceled. We were hoping our tour would make up for that missed event!

We had just over 40 guests for our tour on January 19th.

Prior to the tour, we gave our visitors a general overview of our property, including our offices, R&D facilities, Quality Assurance facility, and manufacturing.

DSPORT Tour (Jan 19, 2016) 002 blog

Just a brief overview of TEIN’s facility prior to showing our guests our facility.

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Since it was a fairly large group for us, we had split up the group among 8 tour guides.

Below are a few pics of the factory’s facilities and processes. Again, we have to limit what we can show the public. Sorry:

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016) 094 blog

Our Materials Yard, where we keep inventory of parts to prepare for manufacturing our suspension.

ALUMINUM BILLET GRADES

Other than steel components, we also use aluminum alloys. We stock three grades of aluminum billets, each one to be used depending on the application and use. For aluminum damper shell cases, we use an A 7050 grade extruded tube, however.

BAND SAW FOR BILLET

Aluminum billets are cut into smaller billet blanks using either our band saw or circular saw.

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016) 022 blog

A series of some of our many lathes used to machine many types of our suspension components.

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A sampling of some of the suspension components our lathes can process, from prototype to finished product.

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016 021

Some of our components are machined from billet blanks, which we cut from larger bar stock, using various grades of steel and aluminum depending on the product requirements. These steel pucks will end up becoming our pillowball cases for strut type upper mounts.

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016 059

We use tubing of various sizes to make damper shell cases to lower brackets for full-length adjustable dampers.

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016 076

Lower brackets, after any necessary welding, go through shot blasting prior to any surface coatings.

TEIN Japan New Facility (Jan 4, 2016 050

Semi finished piston rods that have just been gun drilled (for damping adjustable suspension applications). Still a few more steps to being completed sub assemblies.

NC LATHE

We have many lathes to handle different processes, such as piston rod machining. Here, threads being cut for piston valve assembly.

PISTON ROD INSPECTION

Vital for our piston shafts is our high-resolution inspection machine. It is capable of detecting even the slightest flaw on the piston shaft surface. Each and every piston shaft is inspected. If defects are found, we must discard the shaft.

Our Swiss Precision Lathes help create small damper components like our ADJ Needles. Such small parts require great detail, which this machine can do consistently. It also runs nearly non-stop!!!

NEEDLE STOPPER

A finished batch of our ADJ Needle Stoppers out from the Swiss Precision Lathes.

LASER CUTTING

A recent addition to our factory is this Laser Cutting Machine, capable of cutting steel up to 16mm thick using a carbon dioxide laser beam. Quite a fast and efficient process!

LASER CUTTING 2

Here’s the Laser Cutter in action, cutting our camber plates for strut type pillowball upper mounts.

SHOT BLASTING

The second floor of our factory handles our surface coating stages. First, we shot blast our steel components. This allows our powdercoatings to adhere better to the steel bodies.

POWDER PAINTING

After shot blasting, some shell cases go through our patented 2-Layer/1-Bake powder coating process, where zinc powder is first applied, followed by our trademark green powder paint, then cured.

PACKAGING

After final assembly, kits are packaged up and shipped out!

 

While a couple groups went out for the factory tour, we also set up a test drive so visitors can try our new FLEX A dampers and EDFC ACTIVE PRO on a Toyota Vellfire.

The tour went faster than expected, and considering the factory was in full swing when we had it, it was difficult to hang around the machinery for very long with TEIN staff trying to navigate around us.. We even had to speed through some demonstrations by factory staff. Fortunately we were able to showcase a lot of our machinery and even some prototypes.

Afterwards, we took our guests out for a sushi lunch.

Overall, it looked to be a fun experience for our guests. I got to speak with several of them and they were all impressed with our manufacturing. So many people wanted to purchase TEIN suspension kits right away!!! Lol. I felt bad that we couldn’t arrange any suspension purchases while we were there, but I’ll be taking care of them on their return to the U.S.!

TEIN Japan DSPORT Tour (Jan 18, 2016) 1 blog

Thanks to DSPORT and all of our guest for joining us in our Factory Tour!!!

 

We hope to continue doing tours for guests each year. So, if you plan on making your way to Tokyo Auto Salon, take a little extra time from your trip to stop by TEIN!!!……

……..Like our friends at Evasive Motorsports!

evasive at TJP

Thanks for stopping by, guys!!!!

 

Tokyo Auto Salon 2016

We sent a couple of TEIN USA staff to Japan to attend the Tokyo Auto Salon car show at Makuhari Messe, as well as to assist and represent the North American market.

TAS 2016 (iPad Pictures) 027 blog

The TEIN group has been active in Tokyo Auto Salon for many years now. Each and every year is a perfect time to showcase our latest technologies and product releases directly to the consumer.

Unlike shows like the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tokyo Auto Salon allows consumers (potential customers) to see what’s new, and to also speak directly with the manufacturer. That’s great since there’s not really any salesperson trying to breathe down their necks and push products on them. The customer has the freedom to choose WHAT THEY LIKE!

The turnout was good- just over 144,000 visitors during the 3-day event. We had a total of just 14,000 visitors to the TEIN booth alone. So for sure we kept very busy. I personally felt bad since my Japanese speaking skills are next to nil. However, I met several Westerners, and even some TEIN USA dealers! That was nice! Better than standing quiet the whole weekend, hahaha!!!

On top of our displays, we had goods for sale, a “Garapon” raffle, and a real-life Dampachi and Dampatty that visitors could take photos with!

Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 075 blog Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 052 blog Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 058 blog Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 048 blog Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 080 blog Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 097 blog

Speaking of our “Garapon” raffle, we had a few big winners:

Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 067 blog

This visitor got the grand prize- a damping adjustable TEIN suspension of his choice + an EDFC ACTIVE PRO setup!

Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 050 blog

This was our second big winner. He wins a TEIN suspension kit of his choice!

Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 046 blog

This winner gets a free set of TEIN lowering springs!

Other prizes ranged from TEIN original goods and stickers, to calendars and posters. So there was something for everyone that played!

As for new products, TEIN Japan brought out the upcoming STREET SPORTS line of premium shock absorbers. A perfect match for our S.TECH and HIGH TECH line of lowering springs, or as a great upgrade replacement of your stock shock absorbers.

Also showcased was our line of 4X4 Dampers. We have a total of four offerings- Sports, Gravel, Premium, and Rally. To date, TEIN Japan has already launched the Premium line, with applications for the Mercedes G63 AMG and Nissan Patrol (these are for the Middle East market consumers). 4X4 Rally dampers are a made-to-order application, which we’ve catered to competitors in rally raids and such. I’m personally interested in the Sports line, and I think that would be a great offering for the North American market!

TAS 2016 (iPad Pictures) 041 blog

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Our EDFC ACTIVE PRO display also got a lot of visitors. It’s a unique offering in aftermarket suspension. There’s no other unit out there that gives you the option of having dynamic suspension tuning on the fly like our ACTIVE PRO controller!

TAS 2016 (iPad Pictures) 019 blog

Our Hydraulic Bump Stop (H.B.S.) display intrigued a few visitors, as they weren’t sure what it was or how it worked. We had a tester for them to try out, as well as some clear models for them to see the inner workings of our H.B.S. system!

TAS 2016 (iPad Pictures) 048 blog

While we were there, we had a chance to walk around and see what else is new among other manufacturers. We even visited our friends at Defi! Here’s their upcoming release, the new Sports Display F unit!

Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 030 blog Tokyo Auto Salon (Jan 17, 2016) 028 blog

Here are some other things we got to see!

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That was a wonderful experience for our U.S. staff, and we certainly look forward to representing the U.S. at next year’s Tokyo Auto Salon!

TEIN Staff TAS 2016 blog

 

 

TEIN Black Friday Sale

We completely agree that Thanksgiving is a time to be spent with family and friends. It’s the one time out of the year (other than Christmas, maybe) where you get to do that. Afterall, there’s a lot to be thankful for! So why not share that with friends and family!

Here at TEIN, we’re very thankful! Each and every year, we have found good fortune, and each year we’re doing our best to bring the latest and greatest to the customer! Black Friday for us is a great way to bring our customers some great deals.

For the record, TEIN USA, Inc. will be closed November 26 & 27 in observation of Thanksgiving.

Since we know there are still plenty of people looking for the best deals on TEIN suspension, we will be bringing our Black Friday sale back to eBay where, if you’ve got the time, we appreciate you looking into!

So again, please take this holiday to give thanks to the ones you love. And if you have the spare time and are looking for TEIN suspension at great prices, please check out our TEIN USA eBay Page

All items will start going on sale at 12pm November 27th. TEIN USA staff will process all orders upon our return from the holiday on Monday, November 30th.

From everyone at TEIN USA, thank you for your continued support and happy holidays!

Below is our list of items to be listed on our eBay page on November 27th (click on the list to enlarge)Black Friday 2015 (eBay)-page-2:

Black Friday 2015 (eBay)-page-1

 

 

All product descriptions list vehicle by chassis code.

SS-P = Super Street Coilovers with Pillowball Mounts

SS = Super Street Coilovers

BS = Basic Coilovers

STBN = Street Basis Coilovers

STAA = Street Advance Coilovers

STFA = Street Flex Coilovers

MNSA = Mono Sport Coilovers

FLZ = Flex Z Coilovers

CST = Comfort Sport Coilovers

S.Tech = Lowering Springs (green)

H-Tech = High Tech Lowering Springs (gold)

 

 

 

TEIN Equipped Cars of SEMA 2015

Each year we are very fortunate to be able to attend SEMA (either as an exhibitor or a visitor). We always look forward to seeing all the great aftermarket parts so many manufacturers are putting out, and we also always look forward to the vehicle builds that manufacturers and individuals bring to Las Vegas. Each and every year we attend we get to see some of these cars using TEIN, and that makes us very proud. It is truly an honor to have our suspensions grace some of the most beautiful builds!!!

This year, we had the opportunity to assist with several builds. Starting with:

Evasive Motorsports’ Nissan GT-R:

This is actually a vehicle we have had on TEIN Super Racing since last year (it was in the Volk Racing/Rays Wheels booth for 2014 SEMA). This year, we wanted to showcase our Super Racing dampers with the new 3-way Unit (for low and high-speed compression adjustment). However, for 2016, we will convert back to 2-way as Evasive rebuilds the car for Time Attack Duties (as part of their class requirement).

top-ten-nissans-at-sema-2015-evasive-motorspots-time-attack-gtr

 

Mackin Industries/ Project Mu Nissan 204SX:
Brian and Julia Duong of Mackin Industries built their 240SX for Project Mu. Unlike other 240SX’s, this one is not all hacked up and fitted with some crazy widebody. That is a large part of this car’s appeal- just how clean the body looks and with just some simple modifications! Looks great with our STREET FLEX damper kit.

top-ten-nissans-at-sema-2015-project-mu-240sx

 

Evasive Motorsports’ 997 Porsche GT3:

This vehicle is using our custom Specialized Dampers made through TEIN Japan. We hope to do more testing on this platform soon and bring the kit to market!

evasive 997

Nissan GT-R Nismo:

This was in Mackin Industries/Rays Wheels booth for SEMA. Very tastefully done and using our MONO SPORT suspension.

SEMA 2015 (Pauls iPhone) 003 resized

Whiteline’s Toyota FR-S:

Owner Jonathan Polidano took his personal FR-S and made it into Whiteline’s occassional track car. Using our MONO SPORT dampers with EDFC Active Pro.

whiteline zn6
X-Force Exhausts Ford Mustang GT:

This 2015 Mustang GT is currently on our prototype set of S.Tech lowering springs. Sitting on 20″ Volk G25’s, this has the perfect stance!

x force s550

 

Lexus GS-F:

Built by Gordon Ting, this brand new Lexus GS-F is on a prototype set of our STREET ADVANCE coilovers. Another tastefully modded car still incorporating most the the car’s natural body lines.

lexus gs-f

Evasive Motorsports’ Evasive-Spec S2000 Ver.3:

A customer car that was just freshly built from the ground up and using Evasive Motorsports’ very own Evasive-Spec Super Racing dampers. Such a beautifully executed build. Nothing spared, everything to the highest quality!

Evasive S2K resize

DC Sports Subaru WRX:

Using our newest FLEX Z dampers and paired to our EDFC ACTIVE PRO setup, this simply prepared WRX looks good and has the performance to match its appearance!

dc vaf

Toyota RAV-4 Rally Car:

And let’s not forget the Rally RAV-4 of Ryan Millen! This was sitting across from the TEIN booth. We love it in all its dirt and splendor! Using a customized set of our Group N dampers.

rally rav4

It was a great SEMA for us, and one that had TEIN’s presence wherever we walked! Glad to be a part of so many great cars!!! We hope to be just as prevalent for next year’s SEMA, if not more so!!!