Super Street Magazine (or Online, for that matter) has put out a list of some of their favorites from SEMA! One segment, favorite Nissan’s, shows two of our sponsored vehicles:
The S14 240SX of Brian and Julia Duong made the list, as well as Evasive Motorsports’ R35 GT-R which happened to be our booth car for the show!
Congrats to both! I mean, it’s quite obvious that both cars look great, so it should have been easy enough to both be favorites!
Geeeez. 2015 is already closing out??? We can typically feel this when SEMA starts to come around, and we’re getting to work on our displays.
This year marked the launch of the new FLEX Z coilovers. A bit later than expected, but nonetheless it is now available! It’s done really well, too! In fact, a bit too well, and we’re now running into an issue with backorders. Whoops!!!
We were also planning on the launch of the new STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z for 2015. These two new products are to come from our new TEIN China factory, which is still doing preliminary manufacturing runs. However, due to an increase in orders for the FLEX Z, along with a year-long sale we had on STREET FLEX kits (and a reduced price for current STREET BASIS & STREET ADVANCE kits), TEIN Japan has been backed up with orders from each of their branches.
We mentioned several times that we have a new manufacturing plant in China. However, everything isn’t up and running 100% just yet. Again, we’re focused on maintaining that well-known TEIN quality, and that trickles down to our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z lineup, which the TEIN China factory will be producing for us. So, until it is perfected, we will hold off on releasing this product line. Expect to see the new “Z” lines to hit the U.S. shore by Spring 2016!!!
Anyway, back to SEMA. That is our biggest show for the year. Typically we’ll take a year off (skip a year). But this year we return to get the word out to vendors and distributors that some new products are soon to arrive. Afterall, that is what SEMA is- a place for manufacturers to showcase the latest and greatest. And, in our case, showcase a well built Evasive Motorsports Nissan GT-R on our Super Racing dampers w/ 3-way. Yowza, that’s a mouthful to say.
We hope to see many of you there. We know that the show is technically not open to the public, but from what we understand, the SEMA group opens up the last day (Friday the 6th) to consumers. So why not try to make it anyway!!!
A look back at TEIN’s SEMA past.
We like American cars. So what?
If you can make it, stop by our booth in Central Hall (Racing & Performance; booth # 24817), right next to Toyota!!!
We’ve been attending all the California Formula Drift events for the past few years now. This year we decided to attend all U.S. events. While quiet on our blog about this, we’ve kept followers up to date on our Facebook and Instagram feed (@teinusa). So of course we’re looking to go to the final event for the 2015 season!
An old-school picture of the Irwindale Speedway, probably in its prime and definitely well before drifting ever became a thought.
As we understand it, and as it has been a threat looming over this particular event, this may be the last Formula Drift event at Irwindale Speedway, as the current owners/investors have plans to bulldoze the facility and track and make way for a,,,,,,,,, shopping center?
Kinda BS if you ask me. Anyway, if this is true, we hope the race will truly be a memorable one. This season’s Formula Drift was full of unexpected turns (semi-pun intended??), and almost every event has had its own controversial matter. We’re almost guaranteed a big bang finale.
In terms of exposure in the drifting scene, TEIN has been relatively quiet. There are two cars out there using our suspension, but we’re not inclined to say who. Last season, we had Geoff Stoneback on board with TEIN, but for 2015, being his first year full-time in the Pro class (was Pro 2 last year), he was picked up by another sponsor. To be honest, we’re quite proud of that. It goes to show that Geoff is truly a talented driver, and now he has the backing of quite a few sponsors! We know he’ll only be doing bigger and better things for years to come! Fortunately we keep in touch with him, and he’s kind enough to pay us a visit at the TEIN booth for every event so far! Truly a great friend of ours!
Go Geoff!!!
Anyway, like always, we’ll be there and will have TEIN goods on hand. So stop by and say hi! We’ll also have our good friend Reginald Cunanan and his beautiful Mitsubishi Evo X on hand.
Rd. 7 for Formula Drift is on October 9-10, 2015! Get your tickets at the Formula Drift Webpage
It will be our fourth consecutive year attending the Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) out by the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA! Event starts at 9a and goes until 3p and is free to the public!!!
Japanese Classic Car Show Website
While not known for really being related to older vehicles, we do have our Specialized Damper Program. This is the perfect program for such vintage vehicles that no longer have a strong aftermarket support program. We’ve used this for many older vehicles in Japan, and it continues to grow Stateside!
Apologies, but we didn’t have a Japanese classic last year. Hopefully this year??
Anyway, we’ll have our booth setup with TEIN goods for sale. We hope to see plenty of you there!!!!!
Honestly, our Specialized Damper program hasn’t really taken off like it has overseas. However, there are a few customers stateside that have interest in getting a completely custom suspension made by us, instead of having to piece together their own coilover using damper inserts and some spring setup they’ve found online. Nothing necessarily wrong with that setup. In fact, it’s quite common since that is pretty much the only option available for consumers.
We, on the other hand, pride ourselves in designing kits specifically for each vehicle application and to the customer’s specifications.
Not too long ago, Troy from Five Axis Designs, the guy responsible for many of Scion’s prototypes, as well as some of Toyota’s prototypes (like the FT-1 concept), contacted us about his personal project. He’s currently working on a Datsun 240z.
His car is all original, including paint, and Troy wants to avoid doing anything really crazy to the car. In fact, he’s planning on keeping the paint as-is, even with a little fade after all these years! It’s also a relatively low mileage car!!!
Anyway, Troy had an extra set of factory suspension that had damper inserts. He wanted to get a set of TEIN dampers made after he saw one of our posts on a similar project TEIN Japan posted on Facebook. Troy essentially wanted the same thing. And since TEIN USA really wants to show what we are capable of doing for customers stateside (even though the manufacturing still has to come out of TEIN Japan’s factory). So we ordered up a set for Troy!
For this particular application, we still needed the factory suspension since we needed to cut and remove the damper inserts, then send the factory assemblies to TEIN Japan to have the bottom front spindles and rear hubs retrofitted onto our dampers. This means that the factory components must be inspected and have to be in serviceable/usable condition (in other words, TEIN is not responsible if they receive components out of factory specifications).
A few months later, we received the completely assembled coilover kit from TEIN Japan. Below are some pictures:
First, we took the factory suspension and inspected them. Again, this should be done by the customer prior to sending them to us (and before we send to TEIN Japan).
For the rear factory dampers, we had to press out the wheel bearings from the hub.
After sending to TEIN Japan and having them work on retrofitting a completely customized damper setup, this is what we ended up with:
Each Damper is individually serialized.
This helps us whenever the customer may send them back to us for either rebuilding or revalving the dampers, especially if they decide to change spring rates, or if they just want to alter the handling characteristics of their dampers.
Also, if the customer plans to reorder another set of the same dampers, we can refer to our catalog data from this part number and determine what components we used, what spring rates we used, as well as the damper specifications we used just for this customer.
We’re looking forward to updates from Troy, as he continues to do a mild restoration to this car! Stay tuned for those updates!!!
If you’re in the market for custom suspension, whether it be because no one offers a suspension kit for your vehicle or if you need something that isn’t exactly like the factory suspension, or if you just need some customized components like upper mounts only or custom wound springs, give us a ring at 562-861-9161 and speak with one of our sales staff. We’d be happy to help you in creating your very own TEIN damper kit made to suit your needs!!!
We’re glad to see some of our friends back at it at this past Friday’s Super Lap Battle by Global Time Attack, which took place at Buttonwillow Raceway Park!
As far as TEIN-equipped cars go, we had Sportcar Motion’s Acura Integra Type R on Super Racing dampers, which ran a 1:52.886 just last year. We also had Pradana “Ping” Wilianto’s Acura CSX on our Mono Flex dampers, who had ran a 2:01.314 last year, and Bobby Lane Racing’s Honda Accord on Mono Flex dampers (1:59.158 last year).
During the off-season, if there even is one, we hadn’t received any special requests from these guys. Normally, we’ll at least get a damper refresh/rebuild request. Instead, they all focused on a few other modifications to get their car ready for this year’s event. With the exception of Sportcar Motion, who hadn’t really touched their Type R since last year except to rebuild their transmission and try a different rear diffuser. They are using a different tire for this year, however.
Anyway, it was still an event for us to attend with our in-house engineer, in hopes that we could provide some trackside support to these guys and any other teams/drivers using TEIN dampers.
Just like previous years, we ended up just looking like the Maytag repair man with nothing to do except take notes on each vehicles suspension setup.
We were absolutely impressed with each teams performance. Their results are as follows:
Sportcar Motion’s Integra Type R (Limited FF class)- 1:51.916
2nd Place Finish!
Pradana “Ping” Wilianto’s Acura CSX (Street FF class)- 1:59.639
2nd Place Finish!
Bobby Lane Racing’s Honda Accord Limited FF class)- 1:55.241
3rd Place Finish (behind Sportcar Motion’s Integra)!
Each achieved personal best times, which was great news! As you can expect from their placement in their respective class, competition was stiff. In Limited FF, Point Zero Autosound and Performance trucked their Acura RSX all the way from Ontario Canada for this event! They finished in 1st place with a 1:51.789! Just a narrow margin between first and second place!
*We must note that the Sportcar Motion looked to be on pace for an even better time. But, on the last stint out on track, a brake failure caused the Integra to spin. Fortunately, driver Tim Kuo was able to recover from the spin without any further damage to the car. However, the damage to the brakes was all that was needed to prevent another fast lap.
Pradana “Ping” Wilianto had one goal in mind- a sub 2 minute lap. Why? He’s one of the few Street FF cars that is a legitimate street car. He retains full interior and air conditioning (you gotta maintain some amenities on the track!). Last year, he was under Enthusiast FF with a 2:01. Now under the Street FF class, he clocks in a 1:59, and not much else has changed to his CSX’s setup!
Bobby Lane Racing also kept their car relatively the same. Last year, we revalved for much stiffer springs to compliment their new aero package. A 1:59 was a very respectable time last year. This year’s 1:55 is even more impressive!
Overall, we’re very happy for these guys. Of course, we’re impressed with the out-of-the-box performance our Super Racing set for Sportcar Motion’s Integra and Mono Flex set for Ping’s CSX did. But, it always comes down to overall vehicle preparation, which each of these guys did a stellar job at! We won’t be satisfied until they stand atop the highest podium. So you can bet we’ll do what we can to get them there next year!
It was also great to see some of our other friends, such as Evasive Motorsports Scion FR-S and Will Wattanawongkiri and his S13 at the event. Unfortunately for Will, mechanical issues plagued him from staying in competition.
We also fancied the Spoon Sports Civic Type R being piloted by Dai Yoshihara! Ran a super quick 1:48 in Unlimited FF!!!
And this year’s overall winner- GST Motorsports’ GC8 piloted by Jeff Westphal! 1:38!!!!! Whoa
The 2014 SEMA Show is in full swing. Many exhibitors displaying this years must have products. Just as great as the years past.
Check out these other pictures taken of a few TEIN Sponsored cars which are looking sweet seating on TEIN suspension.
For new photos of the show, check out the TEIN USA facebook and Instagram pages. Thanks to those who have had the chance to stop by our booth this year. If you havent and would like to their still is time to stop on by and see whats gonna be new for 2015. We’ll be in the South Upper Hall in booth #34291. Hope to see you there!
Our good friend, and super talented, Geoff Stoneback!
Congrats on your first year under the Formula Drift series, Geoff! We’re proud to have you showcase your talents on our products, and we look forward to a great 2015 season for you!
Our good friend Geoff Stoneback has made a pretty great impression on his rookie year under the Formula Drift series, especially in the Pro 2 category, which he currently leads.
It has been far from easy. Geoff and crew have had to learn along the way just where they stack up against the heavily funded teams we all cheer for and are familiar with. Newcomers never have it very easy in this competitive sport. We’re glad to see Geoff sticking to it and giving it his all.
Round 6 in Texas was another tough event. Here’s Geoff’s report:
“After a tough defeat at Round 6 Formula Drift, we brought the car back to R/T Tuning to fix our drivetrain issues and make the car 100%. We had enough time to get the car working perfect while also adding a 100 shot of nitrous to keep up with the horsepower wars. We headed to Texas, hitting some scenic routes and stopping at skateparks to ride our BMX bikes. We arrived on Tuesday, hung out with our friend Nate Hamilton and did another once over on the car.
Since we did Pro-Am with Lonestar Drift last year, qualifying first and finishing on top of the podium, we felt very confident going into this round. However, this year the course was changed a little bit with the run up being cut about 100 ft. The clipping points were all moved up 20 feet for the first outer and the second outer clip. They added a second inner clip around the big sweeper, which would drastically change how tandems would be run. A third outer clip was added at the end of the sweeper as well. I didn’t think this would be a drastic change but it took a couple runs to get used to it, but it didn’t flow as well as the previous year.
We made tiny adjustments on the car during early practice and headed into pro 2 practice and into qualifying. The weather was very odd during Texas, with temperatures in the 70s, totally different from last years 110 degrees. During Pro-2 Qualifying it started to rain and we went out to make our first pass. We landed with a score of 68 landing us in 2nd place. Before our second run we were bumped out to the 6th seed and I was ready for the second run! The run started out perfect hitting every clip just how the judges wanted it. As I was entering the sweeper my serpentine belt ripped, I lost power steering and ended up off track getting a 0, ending with qualifying in 6th place. The team and I stayed late, fixed the issues from going off track and put on a new belt after inspecting each pulley.
Friday practice went around and the rain still came. We kept our rain setting on and went out for our practice runs. We felt good going into it and as we did our first Pro-1 qualifying run I ended up with a 69. The rain dried up and the track was getting gripper and people started to make some smoke. We switched to our dry setting and prepared to lay down a solid run to keep us in top 32. We qualified a lot better than some of the top guys so I knew that I had to step it up and secure a good qualifying spot. Our second run landed us in 17th place with a 76. We were set up to go against Conrad Grunewald in Pro-1 Top 32.
After hitting the Pro-1 drivers meeting, it was time for Pro 2 Top 16. Our first battle was against a long time friend and old Team mate Dennis Mertzanis. We led first and on the first turn, Dennis went off track giving us a huge advantage. During our chase we applied pressure throughout the whole course and got the win. Our second battle in the top 8, would be against Jeff Jones. He beat me last time in Seattle, so I definitely needed this win. He led first and we put great pressure on him especially in the sweeper. In our lead run, we laid down a great run, gapping him a couple car lengths and got the win. Moving up into the final 4, we face Brandon Witnick. I led first and had the advantage with him barely anywhere close. In our Follow run, I had to play catch up and went to aggressive into the sweeper, almost spun, giving him an easy win.
Saturday was another day. We wiped the slate clean and stayed positive. Practice went well and we were up against Conrad Grunewald in Top 32. On our follow run, he left us off the line but caught him through the first outer zone and was door to door the entire run. I felt amped and was ready to lead. On my lead run, I came off of the inner clip weird and shot me off line through the whole track. Entering the sweeper I threw too much angle and scrubbed too much speed and Conrad made contact with me. It was deemed my fault and Our weekend was ended.
Although we had a tough weekend physically and mentally, I had a great time hanging out with fans signing autographs and taking pictures. We finished Pro-2 in 4th place, still keeping 1st place in the standings. in Pro-1 we only lost one position and are currently in 24th place. We have a great chance in winning the first Pro-2 championship as well as Rookie of the year!
Thank you for support!”
We now go into the final round at Irwindale Speedway on October 10-11. We hope to see some great results from Geoff. Most importantly, we hope to get to hang out with this swell guy!
Here’s a great in-car from Geoff at Texas!
Another year has passed. This time, however, is more like “hurry up and go already!” Why? Because JCCS is just around the corner, and with it comes some of Southern California’s (and some out of state visitors!) finest examples of vintage Japanese cars and motorcycles, and everything in between.
While not always associated with vintage cars, we have made a few applications through our Specialized Damper Service. A program that lets a customer build completely custom suspension to their requirements. Perfect for the old car owners who are having a hard time finding a high quality replacement suspension, or just wants to take their vintage ride racing!
Back to the event- It will be held near the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. as usual. Free to the public, the gates are open from 9a-3p.
Make sure to bring some cash as there will be plenty of vendors selling classic car parts, nostalgic items like old magazines and car-related toys, and we’ll be bringing some goods to sell at discount!
So, stop by and enjoy the beautiful Long Beach weather!
See you there!
