ENDURA PRO Install

With the Endura Pro line still relatively new to Premium OEM replacement market, we would like to continue the promotion with another Endura Pro install. This installation of our Endura Pro dampers was done on a 2011 Toyota Carmy base model. Being that the vehicle was in for some other product testing, we said “why not” and see how the install goes.

Upon initial side by side comparison between the factory and the Endura Pro, they are overall similar with the exception of the strut body being thicker larger on the Endura Pro for added oil capacity which improves the durability and increases damping force performance long-term.

When we design our Endura Pro line replacement struts and shocks, we try our best to mimic the OEM strut or shock design as to allow worry free component and coil spring installation.

With the Endura Pro Plus offering the damping force adjustability, some top strut mount covers may not pop on as before and would need to be removed. However the struts and shocks will include our add caps to protect the click adjuster from any debris.

Since all of the OE strut components were in decent shape, we proceeded to just clean them up the install them on the Endura Pro as seen in the image below.



With all components installed including the upper mount being tightened down, everything lined up just as it would on the factory struts. Even the install onto the vehicle, all components lined up and mounted as they should.

Initial test drive impressions left me very surprised. Now obviously most folks would feel that this is biased being that I work for TEIN USA INC. However this was based on how the factory felt as well as other vehicle experiences with the auto parts Monroe and/or cheaper replacements. I feel that the vehicle rode as though it were brand new from the dealership even though with around 70K on the chassis. This would put the factory shocks slightly over the manufacturers recommended  replacement interval of 50K for shocks and struts which can attribute to the original struts being worn but not completely blown. Now another contributor to this ride would be from the Hydraulic Bump Stop system offered on both ENDURA PRO lines.

I can honestly say I am impressed with the ENDURA PRO and look forward to getting a set for my daily driver civic as I am interested in ride comfort of the Hydraulic Bump Stop and the damping force adjustment offered on the ENDURA PRO PLUS. I will definitely be making a post on the install one the time comes.


Merry Christmas from TEIN USA!!!

From all of us at TEIN USA, Inc., we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

We’ve been very fortunate to continue a successful growth in the U.S., even with tariff increases due to the U.S. and China trade squabble. If anything, this only strengthened our sales for items coming from our Yokohama, Japan factory! Still, our TEIN China factory has continued to produce our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z, as well as our ENDURAPRO & ENDURAPRO PLUS shock absorbers for a global market, and we couldn’t be happier with the demand for our products around the world! At any rate, we’re continuing to pursue manufacturing the most reasonably priced suspension package at the TEIN high-quality levels our customers are all aware of, and we thank each and everyone of you for helping us achieve those standards year after year!!!

Just to let you know, TEIN USA Operations will be closed on Christmas Day (Wednesday, 25th). But, we will be open Christmas Eve (Tuesday, 24th) and after Christmas! So, whether you have questions about new products for your car, overhaul/revalve, or just want to give us some company during those days, please feel free to give us a call!!!

Once again, Merry Christmas, and we hope Santa puts a new set of TEIN coilovers or lowering springs under your Christmas tree this year!!!

ENDURAPRO Shock Absorber Testing on S550 Mustang GT (w/ Performance Package)

This past week we had a 2018 Ford Mustang GT (S550 chassis) come in for testing. This particular one has the Performance Package. This package looks to include “heavy-duty” front springs and a thicker rear sway bar. Our guess is that the factory shock absorbers and rear springs have also changed from earlier S550’s Performance Package, with the shocks being a tad big more aggressive in valving, and so far we can say that we feel these differences.

ENDURAPRO PLUS (damping adjustable) for S550 Mustang shown

You can say it is a much sportier ride now. However, for some of us older fellows at TEIN USA, it was a bit too uncomfortable, whether it was street or highway driving. Personally I don’t really like how overly sensitive the steering was. Felt like I could accidentally loose control should my reflexes overreact. It just felt very twitchy and unstable.

Anyway, we wanted to test our upcoming STREET BASIS Z coilovers for this vehicle. BUT, it was also an opportunity to test our ENDURAPRO shock absorbers on this car, and it was definitely an improvement from our point of view!

As mentioned, the new GT Performance Package offers factory upgraded suspension. It was a far cry from how the first S550 GT we tested felt (when we were developing our FLEX Z coilover kit).

With the ENDURAPRO shock absorbers, ride quality was much more bearable for a daily drive. Much of the harshness we feel from the factory suspension is gone (however we can feel a difference with the stiffer front spring). Turn-in hasn’t changed dramatically, which we can possibly attribute to both the front springs and the larger rear sway bar.

Front ENDURAPRO strut compared to OEM strut.
Rear ENDURAPRO shock absorber compared to OEM shock.

How this compares to earlier S550 GT suspension is quite different, however. Again, with the current Performance Package suspension being more aggressive, the ENDURAPRO shock absorbers now make the car feel more compliant (not soft, not boaty, just better comfort). On an earlier S550 much of the sportiness is still there. But in both cases, the included Hydraulic Bump Stopper of our ENDURAPRO shock absorbers adds a much smoother ride quality under heavy loading. Over very large bumps, like expansion joints or overpasses on a freeway, this Hydraulic Bump Stopper really helps suppress upward jolts and smooths out the rebound. Given that the Mustang has relatively short suspension stroke, this pays huge dividends to providing comfort!

ENDURAPRO shock absorbers for the S550 Mustang are in stock and ready to ship!

Part numbers:
Front- VSGC0-A1MS2-L (left side)
VSGC0-A1MS2-R (right side)
Rear- VSGC1-A1MS2

Also available in ENDURAPRO PLUS (16-click damping adjustable)!

Front- VSGC0-B1MS2-L (left side)
VSGC0-B1MS2-R (right side)
Rear- VSGC1-B1MS2





TEIN Hydraulic Bump Stopper Technology

Lately one of our greatest developments to hit the mainstream in TEIN suspension kits is our Hydraulic Bump Stopper (H.B.S.) system.

This technology isn’t anything new. However, the current derivative is a much more affordable design, and has now made its way into coilovers like our FLEX A and FLEX AVS kits, and now our ENDURAPRO & ENDURAPRO PLUS shock absorber lines.

Why are we creating so much buzz about this system? Mainly because a comparable Hydraulic Bump Stop system isn’t typically found in passenger vehicles, outside of trucks where you’d have to opt for something like an externally mounted bump kit.

Even our current Hydraulic Bump Stopper system used in our FLEX A, FLEX AVS, & EnduraPro/EnduraPro Plus shock absorbers differs from systems used in rally suspension, which are typically much more expensive units and require rebuild. Our current system is more affordable to make and doesn’t require servicing (FLEX A and FLEX AVS dampers are rebuildable, but the H.B.S. system doesn’t need to be rebuilt, per se).

Still, all this hype we’re making about a Hydraulic Bump Stopper doesn’t mean much if you don’t know what it does. So, picture this: You’re in a fully loaded vehicle (max occupancy) and have the trunk fully loaded. Already you can picture the suspension starting to sag. Then, while driving, you hit a big speed bump. On any normal suspension, chances are you’re hitting the bump stops, which will do a great job of preventing the shocks from bottoming out. However, the consequence of hitting the bump stop is a harsh impact and resulting bouncy or wallowing feeling.

Now, a Hydraulic Bump Stopper eliminates this bouncy/wallowing feeling. It does so by creating more damping force towards the end of the damper stroke.

Typically our dampers are valved to offer a digressive feel, meaning that as piston speed (of the shock absorber) increases, it will only increase damping force to a certain extent, then it actually does not increase in force if piston speed is even higher. That is typically fine, but when this high piston speed is towards the end of the shock’s stroke length, it will have that harsh feeling (remember that bump stop?) we’re mentioning about.

Honestly, a damper with progressive or linear rate damping can still hit a bump stop and cause that harsh feeling.

But why does creating more damping force with the Hydraulic Bump Stopper help? Essentially it’s slowing down the piston of the damper. It gradually builds up this damping force so that the end result is a smoother absorption of force, while letting the damper rebound normally without oscillation.

When you see Stadium Trucks or Baja Trucks take on a massive jump, what you see on its landing is actually quite impressive. The suspension fully compresses, but as the suspension extends again, it’s nice and smooth. No crazy up and down oscillation. That’s what our H.B.S. system does, but for a smaller scale (shorter stroke length than Stadium or Baja Trucks, obviously).

Or, another example: Using lowering springs on OEM or replacement shock absorbers. While this setup is common place, and most work relatively well, some lowering springs might be too low of a ride height or too stiff a spring rate for the OEM valved shocks. A premium replacement like our EnduraPro line is a better match. Valved to offer a beneficial increase in performance, the added Hydraulic Bump Stopper is a nice addition because of the lowered ride height with lowering springs.

While our EnduraPro/EnduraPro Plus shock absorber line is a match in terms of overall length (compared to OEM), they offer larger internal capacity and more damping oil, and improved damping characteristics. So from a performance standpoint, these are a great upgrade for your lowering spring. Again, these include our H.B.S. system, and when lowering a car using OEM/standard replacement shocks, reducing that stroke length can mean exacerbated issues with ride quality and more chances of hitting that dreaded stock bump stop. You’d end up with similar ride issues in a fully loaded vehicle. Now we can resolve this potential issue by using the increased damping force the H.B.S. system creates further down the shock absorber’s stroke length!

It really is an ingenious system, and one that we’re glad to bring into mass-production. The fact that we can adapt this product into our replacement shock absorber line means that this feature is available to all consumers, whether their budget allows for just our premium shock absorber replacements only, or for those looking for greater handling performance (like our FLEX A or FLEX AVS coilover kit). We’re hoping to add this to many more of our products in the near future!

Rubber Suspension Bushings (and Revisiting Bushing Preload)

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This isn’t the first time we bring this up to you, our customer. Actually, it is a very common problem for people setting up their suspension. Once our suspension is installed, they lower the car back to the ground and notice uneven ride height from left to right side.

We’ve found this to be an issue with a few vehicles, mainly vehicles with a multi-link or “double-wishbone” suspension. And mainly this is because these types of suspensions have more rubber bushings in their suspension arms.

Once you disassemble some suspension arms in order to access the shock absorber assembly, like in a Mazda RX-8 for example, you’ll have to reassemble the arms through their respective nuts/bolts. That’s not uncommon, and this probably sounds relatively straightforward to you.

However, what we fail to account for is the fact that we typically do this when the vehicle is in the air, on jackstands or on a lift, leaving the suspension drooping down (fully extended).

Why is this important to note? Well, once you start to loosen these nuts/bolts at suspension arm joints, you’re essentially removing any tension on the bushings associated with each arm. When that same bushing needs to be reinstalled (by way of connecting the arms with the nuts/bolts you removed), you end up tightening all these bushings while the suspension is drooping down (fully extended). Those bushings that were just recently relieved of the tension they were once under are now at zero preload. Now, when you put the suspension back on and the vehicle back on the ground, these zero preloaded bushings start to twist. The only issue is the twist isn’t necessarily going to be even from any specific corner. This leads to the uneven ride height you might be experiencing.

How can we prevent this uneven ride height? Well, this requires loading up the suspension PRIOR to tightening any nuts/bolts to these suspension arms. Obviously this isn’t easy to do since the best way to load the suspension is to put the car back on the ground. There are 4-post lifts that also serve as ramps. This gives you undercar access to these nuts/bolts that you can tighten. Those with vehicle ramps tall enough to let you creep under the car to tighten any nuts/bolts is also good. However, this is the BEST way to avoid any bushing preload issue. We must note, though, that this doesn’t cure uneven ride height completely, since all vehicles do have a weight bias from one side to the other, and of course from front to back.

Does this mean that rubber bushings are a terrible design? No, not at all. In fact pretty much all production vehicles use rubber bushings. They’re effective in terms of performance and cost, which most OEM companies are very sensitive about. Quite honestly, they’re probably more durable that some aftermarket floating bushing designs since they really don’t require maintenance (periodic greasing), with the exception of sway bar bushings. Once they’re bad, you have to either replace the bushing or replace the arm that the bushing is pressed into (the latter being the most commonly offered for ease of installation).

Again, the difference between rubber bushings compared to typical aftermarket floating bushings is that the rubber bushings have any steel components, such as the crush tube and shell, bonded together through the rubber filling. Floating bushings, typically polyurethane in the aftermarket, simply have the bushing free moving between the shell and crush tube. This is great for having free-pivoting arms, allowing the damper and spring to do their job more effectively, but also requires quite a bit of maintenance to make sure they’re greased properly (you don’t want polyurethane to dry up). Not a big deal if you really enjoy wrenching on your car, and in some cases, aftermarket bushing manufacturers have included zerk fittings to either the steel tube or crush tube to ease the greasing process! Not all bushings have easy access for a zerk fitting to be placed, however, which has led to the development of bolts being gun drilled and cross-drilled and a zerk fitting threaded to the end.

Rubber bushings, again bonded to any steel shell or tube, don’t allow this free pivoting. Instead, the bushing relies on strain, or stretching of the rubber, meaning you have a limited range of motion either up or down, or even side to side. For most cars, this isn’t a problem.

Because most rubber bushings are “maintenance-free”, over long periods of time, they will dry rot and the rubber material will break away. This creates excessive movement of the suspension arms (moving in directions not intended), and can cause poor and unsafe driveability.

Front Street Media’s Article on Suspension

Although we’re glad to have our own audience reading our blogs and following us on Facebook and Instagram, we know we have a very niche customer base. Whenever we have a chance to reach different consumers through other forms of media, we find it to be a great opportunity to get the word out on TEIN and what separates us from other suspension manufacturers.

Front Street Media is a relatively new outlet in the eastcoast that is doing their part in reaching their readers and informing them on all things related to automotive performance. Working closely with their parent company, Turn 14 Distribution, they’re able to have hands-on experience with performance products.

However, they also have access to manufacturers and can get an inside view into how each company runs and develops their products.

They recently reached out to us and Bilstein for information on suspension and what a damper does, as well as what separates us from other companies (in terms of what goes into building a quality suspension).

Read their article here.

 

Corrosion Protection

Without a doubt, a huge hurdle we must face with our suspensions, other than properly tuning the dampers for a given application, is making sure it will last for many years. Of course being a wear & tear item, dampers don’t necessarily need to last forever. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to attain such a goal anyway.

Coatings, or paint, for that matter, have come a long way from a technological standpoint. The thin barrier that these coatings add to a surface turn an otherwise corrosion-susceptible item to a long lasting one. Over the decades, improvements in coating adhesion have made it an economical solution for many manufacturers, such as TEIN.

Customers have asked us before why we don’t adopt certain materials that are corrosion resistant off the bat, such as stainless steel. It’s not that we feel stainless steel isn’t a suitable material. Cost is a big factor. Rigidity is also a very important factor. We use high-strength steel because it’s cost-effective and provides a great structural base to build a suspension from. Like steel, stainless steel comes in various different alloy grades. For the most part, stainless steel is a great material. If we wanted to select the most appropriate stainless steel for a damper body, it would be fairly expensive to produce a coilover kit. There are cheaper alternatives of stainless that we can use, but make no mistake- stainless steel can still corrode (just not as easily). It may have stain resistance, as its name implies, but it will not be fully corrosion resistant.

The high-strength steel we use offers us great engineering freedom in trying to make as light a weight suspension without sacrificing a damper body’s needed rigidity. On applications like MacPherson strut designs, dampers not only have to endure stresses from compression and rebound cycles, they also have to endure side loading. Being an integral part of a strut suspension design (keeping the knuckle assembly in place requires a relatively robust design), it may prove to be difficult to build a lightweight steel strut assembly. However, our kits are quite a bit lighter than OEM suspension. High-strength steel is still our number one choice for such applications, and for a majority of our suspension kits because of this factor.

We do use aluminum for various components- spring seat locks, upper mounts, lower brackets, and of course damper bodies. Common grades of aluminum we use are 2017, 6061, and 7075. The key benefit is aluminum alloy’s lightweight and structural rigidity. But again, cost is a limiting factor in why we don’t apply it in every suspension kit. Also, making an aluminum bodied strut (MacPherson), even though still lightweight, would be extremely expensive. And yes, aluminum can corrode. We have to use anodizing to protect aluminum parts. However, these still require periodic maintenance and inspection to make sure there is no surface corrosion.

stbn-spring-seatrevised

So, all this talk about corrosion is probably making every suspension manufacturer sound bad. Not really. Quite obviously there are ways to extend the life of certain materials. We use advanced coatings and processes on our suspension components. Again, is that perfect? No. But it does at least give our products a long service life. To date, we’ve pioneered a 2-Layer/1-Bake powdercoating process that streamlines damper body coating and increases productivity for us. Typically, setting up a powdercoat process takes a lot of time, and baking (curing) of the powdercoat is a majority of that time.

POWDER PAINTING

Making sure our powdercoating adheres to the damper bodies properly, we have a few stages of surface treatment prior to the final powder paint being applied.

stbn rustrevisedIf we didn’t do surface treatment (Blast Treatment), the powder paint would easily chip and flake off the damper. All these steps produce a coating that holds up better to debris, which can easily get kicked up and flinging in the wheel well, easily damaging the damper body.

ZT coating has been one of our saving graces when it comes to corrosion protection. This provides us an ultra durable surface over our steel components that has both low friction and abrasion resistant properties, while also being lightweight.  It’s also a process we can’t give too many details on. It isn’t really a liquid paint, nor is it a powder paint. Also, unlike paints, ZT coating adheres evenly on our dampers, including threaded bodies. Typical painting on threads may cause excess paint to gather in the valleys of a thread, while the peaks of the threads are only thinly coated. ZT coating coats completely even. However, we’ve been able to perfect the process in-house further increasing productivity (rather than outsourcing). Due to its low-friction nature, ZT coating provides smooth seat lock adjustment year-round.

We previously used a chrome plating process for threaded bodies (we still do on very limited applications). However, being able to do our ZT coatings in-house means we can quickly turn around manufacturing and reduce our costs. We can now make ZT coating part of our approach to affordable and reliable performance suspension.

stbn ztrevised

Speaking of outsourcing, we do have to outsource for anodizing. That’s one of the few things we don’t do in-house.

Our goal, other than creating a high performing, long lasting suspension, is to provide an affordable suspension offering. High performance doesn’t have to be associated with high costs, which is what we want to prove. By attaining the ability to do a majority of our coating processes in-house, we’re able to apply a very important aspect towards creating reliable suspensions at very reasonable pricing.

All these extra measures in surface protection aren’t perfect. We can’t predict what type of circumstances our suspension will be subjected to, which is why we continually do research and development both in the lab and on the roads to improve our processes. With that said, we’re quite pleased with how our surface treatments have performed. Used not only on street-bound cars, we’ve applied these very techniques to racing applications, with rally racing being one of the most brutal on our suspension. Because of our continued developments, we know that newer methods for surface protection and corrosion resistance will make our current methods obsolete. However, we know we’re already putting out some of the best, long lasting suspension kits out into the market. As always, we’ll continue to pursue technical innovation and pass along our achievements to you, our valued customers.

New Video of Evasive Motorsports’ Nissan GT-R!

We never really get bored of the project vehicles that Evasive Motorsports works on every year, even if it’s a project we’re not directly involved with. GT Channel, in collaboration with Nitto Tire, put out a new video showcasing Evasive Motorsports’ Nissan GT-R, the very same car that was displayed at our SEMA booth last year.

Progress on this car is relatively slow. However, as you can see in everything Evasive Motorsports creates, these are all well-thought modifications. Rather than jumble a bunch of parts to create a race car, the team at Evasive tests each and every component in a long-winded effort to extract the absolute highest performance they can. It’s a balancing act, and an act they know very well.

For several years now we’ve been very fortunate to not only have Evasive Motorsports as one of our customers, but also as one of our largest promoters for our products. That’s not to say that they are necessarily brand exclusive. They also do builds using suspension components from various manufacturers. We were glad that they approached us when it came to their project GT-R.

There is already a plethora of suspension components available for the GT-R, none of them really being all that cheap. And if we’re being honest, neither are our coilover kits. The GT-R, from the factory, already comes with a great suspension setup. It takes time to R&D a kit that can really improve the vehicle’s performance. To date, we’ve released our MONO SPORT coilovers and our SUPER RACING coilovers. Evasive Motorsports chose the latter, opting for the SUPER RACING dampers’ separate compression & rebound adjustment, as well as aluminum bodied dampers. Available as an option through our Overhaul & Revalve service is our 3-way unit, giving our SUPER RACING Dampers both low and high-speed tuning abilities for compression.

We’re working closely with Evasive Motorsports as they dial in their suspension for the GT-R. Again, it’s a process, and any major changes to the vehicle, whether additional power, or additional aerodynamics, or even more grip, directly affects how the suspension reacts. We want to make sure they get the most out of our suspension. Also, they’re perfecting their suspension setup using our EDFC ACTIVE PRO system! That certainly makes for a very adaptive suspension package!

Anyway, we’ve delayed you long enough getting you to the video. Check it out below!

 

MotoIQ’s Top 13 Tuner Cars of SEMA

Once again we’re proud to see some TEIN equipped vehicles to make MotoIQ’s list of top tuner cars of SEMA 2015! One of them, Evasive Motorsports’ Nissan GT-R, happened to be our booth car for the show (OH, DID YOU KNOW THAT ALREADY?! ;)). That’s definitely something for us to be proud of! Evasive’s GT-R uses our Super Racing dampers (which also has our 3-way unit for low-speed and high-speed compression adjustment) and EDFC ACTIVE PRO.

Another vehicle to make the list was Whiteline USA’s Scion FR-S owned by Jonathan Polidano, Technical Sales Manager for Whiteline USA. He’s using our MONOSPORT dampers and EDFC ACTIVE PRO.

While we took no part in physically building these two cars, we are honored to have our engineered suspension grace these builds. Evasive Motorsports plans to use the car for local Time Attack events in California (and possible out of state events), while Jonathan Polidano plans to use his FR-S for NASA series events. Make no mistake, neither of these cars were meant to be show cars!

Congrats to Evasive Motorsports and Whiteline USA! We’re certainly glad to be a part of your beautiful cars!!!

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

polidano frs

 

Phil Sohn’s Defi Equipped RX7

Probably one of the most well-built FD3S RX7’s around, Phil Sohn has sought to build one of the best looking cars around. And it ain’t no trailer queen either!

phil sohn fd3s 2

Earlier in the year, we ran into Phil at Formula Drift at Road Atlanta in Georgia. He brought his RX7 to be in Exedy’s booth. He visited our booth to ask about Defi gauges, as he had already installed the Link BF series of gauges in his car.

phil sohn fd3s 3

He caught a glimpse of the Defi Smart Adapter setup we had on display and immediately wanted to jump on that. According to Phil, he wanted something to simplify his gauge cluster. The Smart Adapter seemed like the perfect solution since he had an extra iPad Mini he thought would be nice to incorporate into a custom gauge cluster.

In case you’re not aware, the Smart Adapter turns a smartphone or tablet (iOS and Android compatible) into a completely customizable gauge cluster. You can get speedometer, tachometer, boost, oil pressure, oil temperature, water temperature, exhaust temperature, voltage, intake manifold pressure, and you can set the peaks and warnings for each of those readings. Two of the gauges will be dial type, while oter readings will be numerical. You can change from kPa to PSI for pressure readings. Temperatures are either Celsius or Fahrenheit. Tachometer can be set to maximum 5,000 rpm or 11,000 rpm. You can also change the color of the gauges. If that wasn’t enough, there is a timer setting that lets you set up the smartphone or tablet to do standing start times.

Phils Smart Adapter

This is probably the most unique Smart Adapter setup using an iPad Mini. Phil really knows how to utilize the latest technology and incorporate it in a useful and beautiful package!

Now available is a separate application, Defi Logger. This lets you use your smartphone or tablet as a datalogger while driving and it will record all vitals of your vehicle. Using your phone or tablets accelerometer, you can also monitor vehicle dynamics such as g-force under acceleration, braking, and turning. The Defi Logger also can be used as a track transponder and you can set sector timing and mapping, as well as start-stop points.

Obvious is Phil’s passion for his RX7, so much so that he’s trying to get his car to SEMA through PAS Magazine’s Tuner Battlegrounds competition! Please give Phil your vote so we can get to see his lovely RX7 in Las Vegas!!!!

http://tunerbattlegrounds.com/competitors/909-philip-sohn