Overhaul Repair Cost Confusions

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Sergio M.

Recently it seems that many Overhaul customers whom have sent in their dampers for service have been under the assumption that the overhaul repair base price includes any other parts which may be needed or replaced. However, this is not correct.

As an example, I will use the Super Street coilover overhaul base price. The base cost for the repairs, which includes damper oil, seals, nitrogen gas recharge, o-rings, and overhaul labor is $75.00 per damper. This service does not include (should they be required) any other internal or external components such as piston rod, piston valve, bump stop, dust boot, etc.

The area highlighted in white and blue on all three images shown below detail this info.

OH.Page.2

A few customers have claimed to have been told over the phone by a TEIN Staff that the total cost to repair one damper would be our listed base prices (ex. Super Street $75/ HA $80/ Type Flex $100) and would include extra parts, which is incorrect. These notes are also detailed on our overhaul agreement form which is the customer is to fill in and sign agreeing upon the terms of the service, and sent in with the dampers.

We would just like to bring this to everyone’s attention as to try and avoid any future confusion as well as show everyone that we do express the possibililty of extra charges for the service on top of the standard overhaul service.

Geoff Stoneback Takes On The Lone Star State!

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Paul P.

He obviously stands out as one of the youngest and most talented drifters out there right now, and we’re extremely proud to see how he progresses. Geoff has continued to put on a great performance during each event. This time, Geoff and team took their talent to Texas Motor Speedway, which was also hosting the Formula Drift Championship series.

This was truly a great chance for Geoff to shine and show the Midwest what he was capable of.

As mentioned, Texas Motor Speedway was also hosting the Formula Drift Championship, where many teams that have better funding also have some of the better built cars out there. It really reflects on how well this sport has grown in popularity within the last decade. It is great to see drifting recognized as a sport!

Geoff, although not backed up with the same type of sponsorship, and mostly making his way through the drift circuit on his own, still has plenty of support from the manufacturers he represents. It was time to impress.

Geoff has always represented TEIN well ever since his sponsorship, even including the TEIN mascot, Dampachi, as part of his graphics scheme! Then again, who doesn’t love to sport this mascot?!

Here’s Geoff’s experience in his own words-

“We are always trying to better our driving. It doesn’t matter if it’s grassroots events, pro-am series or other miscellaneous competitions. We are there to have fun and improve our skills. When we heard that Formula Drift was going to have a pro am competition at round 6 in Texas, we knew that this was going to be one of our biggest events this year!

We kindly messaged our friend Aaron Losey, runner and founder of Lone Star Drift series and asked if we were able to come down and compete in this event. We did not want to upset anyone coming down and only doing one round of the series and possibly messing up their points brackets, but for us this was a stepping stone to get the experience of being at a Formula Drift event. We got the green light from Aaron and headed down to Texas after getting second place at Holley LS fest.

We arrived at Texas Motor Speedway on Thursday morning, unloaded and headed out to practice. We have driven this course before last year for XDC but we did it reverse, hitting the big sweeper first then going into the long straight power alley. We had a little idea of what to expect going into practice.

The track layout was awesome! There was tons of runway to enter at speeds around 90 MPH. You could really throw the car with tons of angle hitting the first clip, then lift off the throttle the tiniest bit to swing the car around into the second inner clip. After that it was hammer time as you go WOT and clutch kick in 4th gear if you needed to get closer to the rear clipping zone in the power alley. Once you pass the rear clipping zone you stay 100% WOT and stay committed until you transfer to the next rear clipping zone and e brake check and foot brake to scrub the fast speeds and finish off taking the deepest line in the sweeper.

We had a great practice session Thursday, so we decided to sit back and watch the FD drivers tear the track up.

On Friday we took 45 minutes to practice where we just kept doing what he did on Thursday and took really deep, wide lines filling all of the clipping zones. We headed into qualifying and we focused hard on our task and laid down a 92.5 on our second qualifying run, securing the 1st qualifier spot.

We then took some more time to watch FD and watched how their cars were so much faster, the suspension set up that those guys run and the way the car squats and sets itself as they power through the line was insane!

On Saturday we had another 45 minutes of practice where we took things easy and kept doing our runs like we did the previous two days. We had a Bi run in the top 16 so we moved to the top 8 to face a Texas local- Garret. He had a built V8 s14 and my spotter Dan Popowich said this was going to be the hardest battle of the day. We left the line hard and fast as the car squatted down the line. We entered into the first turn with Garret right on our door. It wasn’t until the power alley where we hammered down the throttle and created a big gap. Upon finishing the sweeper, we dropped a tire the slightest bit in the dirt. I knew it was a small mistake that could end our top 8 battle fast. During our follow run, we kept on his door down the runway and entered with Garrett. We scrub some speed on the first clipping point, since we knew the power alley was our strong point. We caught up through the power alley and entered into the sweeper with decent proximity. Garrett didn’t take a real deep line in the sweeper, so we applied pressure on his door and finished the run. I was nervous because of the dirt drop, but we got the win!

Our next battle was against another local Texan John (A.K.A. “J-FLO”). He drove a Nissan 350 Z with some power adders. On our lead run we gapped John hard on the runway and put down a solid run. On our follow run, it got tricky. We gave John some space and going into the first clip he ran it over, shooting the clip 10 ft in the air and into my bumper/hood/ windshield. I tried the best that I could to drive through it and tried to correct and dodge the clip and still drive through the course. However, I ended up going off track at the worst stop and broke my power steering rack and cracked my header. I thought this was it. We didn’t make it to the final around, but little did I know, when John hit that clip he spun out. We both double zeroed but with my lead run, we had the advantage and got the win.

Going over the car, our header was cracked and sounded like crap, our power steering was sketchy and barely there, but we still had to finish this final battle. We went up against the top guy in the Lone Star drift series, Tim “Big Stick” Koenning. The guy is literally two feet taller than me!! Since we had a weird power steering issue we were a little worried going into this battle but we did the best that we could with no power steering. We left the line hard and entered in 4th gear. With the high speeds, the steering wasn’t as bad as i thought. We rode inner clip 1, but hit inner clip two, riding the rear clipping zone and transferring into the sweeper with tons of speed and tire smoke. We finished the run and Tim wasn’t far behind. On our follow run we left no mercy for Tim. We entered with him and scrubbed a little too much speed and he gaped us a bit, but then got right on his door during the power alley. In the rear sweeper I applied pressure as I was trying to put my front wheel in his rear quarter panel.

We finished our runs and congratulated each other on our respective runs. We were happy that we had a clean run and that the car held up to the abuse. We felt pretty good and wanted to hear the call if we won or not. However, being with Formula Drift, they wanted to keep it suspenseful for the fans and said that they would announce it later on at 7:30 at the FD podium.

We went back to the pits and talked with other drivers and with fans. Some FD drivers came up to us and said how good we were doing and some judges also came up and said some of our runs were top 16 qualifying runs. We were pumped! For us to have people in FD see how well we did and come give us high 5’s and kind words was a win right there. We watched top 32 til it was time to get the results.

At the podium it was announced that we finished first! We hopped up on the number 1 spot, smiled for the camera, enjoyed the rush, and hung out with fans!

All in all it was a great experience for the whole GS drifting crew. We have an idea of what it will be like us for next season and though we had a successful season, it is time to step it up and head into Formula Drift for the 2014 season!!”

We’re absolutely thrilled for Geoff and the GS Drifting team for achieving some great accomplishments this season. Furthermore, putting his talents on the same track as the big boys in the Formula Drift Championship series proved to be a success. We have no doubt that “Geoff Stoneback” will be a name to hear for years to come in the drifting world.

From all of us at TEIN, congratulations Geoff!

Japanese Classic Car Show 2013

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Omar A.

What’s up guys!? As you all may know, you can catch me working at all the events that TEIN attends. If you follow my previous blogs, most of them are for events TEIN is planning to attend and updates on events we have attended.

This year we will be attending the 2013 Japanese Classic Car Show . This event will take place on Saturday, September 28th in the city of Long Beach, CA by the Queen Mary. Last year we attended this event and were surprised with the outcome. If you prefer the classics over late models, don’t pass on this show. You will find Datsun’s/Nissan’s, Toyota’s, Honda’s, etc. Visit the link provided below to get further information on this event and to view photos of the previous years.

http://www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com/index.htm

Please check back with is after the event to for our event update.

Fontana Nissan 5th Annual Meet Update

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Omar A.

As detailed in a previous blog post, this year we attended Fontana Nissan’s 5th annual meet. I must say, it was hot like a ___ out there.

As expected there were tuned Nissans left and right. 350Z, 370Z, S13, S14, g35, g37 and so on and so fourth. None of these cars are even near as good as my Altima coupe (just kidding!!!), but there were some pretty spiffy rides out there. Take a look at the photos we took below.

Shouts out to Joe and his 300zx . He has been a loyal Tein customer for years.

Dampachi sure knows how to make friends.!!

Geoff Stoneback Takes Home the 2013 US Drift Championship!

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Paul P.

Geoff had a pretty busy August, to say the least. He had to prepare for two events this month, both on one weekend, giving him very little room for any error. Fortunately, Geoff was prepared.

On the 15th, Geoff and his crew loaded up their S14 at their tuner, R/T Tuning in Lansdale, PA, which they had recently installed a new G-Force GSR 4-speed transmission to replace their T56 gearbox which had been experiencing a few issues in past events.

Leaving later than expected, they stopped over in Columbus, OH to the Kenda Tire warehouse to get stocked up for the events, then made their way to Detroit, MI for Midwest Drift Union on the streets of Detroit.

Upon their arrival, Geoff’s good friend, and fellow drift competitor, Mike Skudlarek, offered his house as accommodation for the crew, taking the team around the greater Detroit area along many of the scenic routes of the Motor City, giving Geoff and the team time to relax before a hectic race weekend.

With Geoff’s recently repainted S14, they had no vinyl for this event. So at midnight, at a parking lot of a grocery store (which provided them with enough lighting), they went right to work putting their sponsor decals on. Afterwards, it was a short night’s rest before the event.

As mentioned earlier, the event took place on public roads around Detroit, and some portions were recently repaved and transitioned into older surfaces, giving the drivers a mix of grip and slip to deal with. The next morning, Geoff took the car out and gave it a 50% run around the course. After getting a feel for the layout during practice, Geoff was informed that his driving line would make it difficult for slower cars to follow him. So Geoff had to discuss and redo his driving line.

During qualifying, Geoff had a spin on the older section of pavement, where there wasn’t much available grip. After another qualifying run, Geoff was placed at a disappointing 15th grid spot. So it was on to battle.

The first run was against the LS2 powered Pontiac GTO Shane Whalley. During Shane’s lead run, the judges deducted points for braking through the sweeper, giving Geoff the win.

Through the Top 8, Geoff faced Dan Summers, which eventually went into OMT (One More Time), but on Dan’s lead run he crashed, destroying a wheel and some suspension components. Repairs were made in the allotted time for Dan to make another run with Geoff. However, Geoff was quick to strike, making a deep, smooth line giving him the nod once again.

Top 4 was about to get a bit tougher. Geoff faced the lighter, more powerful S13 of Andrew Lewis. Not deterred from the this fact, Geoff kept right up to Andrew’s door. Fortunately for Geoff, Andrew’s car suffered from a broken axle. Unable to repair the car in time, Geoff once again got the win.

For the final battle, Geoff was up against Mike Skudlarek. Both runs weren’t exactly working in either driver’s favor. However, a few mistakes by Mike ( hard braking in the sweeper; not initiating drift on the follow run) went unnoticed by the judges, giving Mike the win.

So, a tough and somewhat disappointing 2nd place finish for Geoff.

Next was a trip to West Virginia for the US Drift Rd. 4 event.

Already late in the day in Detroit, Geoff and crew hit the road just after 11pm, making as few stops as possible to make it to the driver’s meeting at 8:30am the next day.

Knowing that their 2nd place standing in the US Drift championship was a really close one (14 points behind James Evans), Geoff had to really step it up for this event. Making it to the drivers meeting with just a few minutes to spare, Geoff soon made his way out to practice.

The course was super fast, with entry speeds anywhere between 75-90 mph. Also, it was raining. To make practice difficult, Geoff had to bring the car in, make some suspension setup and tire pressure changes, giving him little time during practice to get a feel for the revised setup.

Qualifying went relatively smooth for Geoff, and he placed a 3rd grid spot for himself. US Drift points leader James Evans qualified 7th, so Geoff’s earned points in qualifying were starting to get him towards the top.

With only 12 qualified drivers for this event, things were starting to look up towards Geoff’s championship. The first battle against the 2jz powered S14 of Charlie Tyson was actually easy enough for Geoff to get the nod, even with Charlie running extremely consistent and fast the whole day.

Good news came Geoff’s way when James Evan was knocked out during Top 16, while 3rd place points holder Troy Manners, was put away in the Top 8. This mean an automatic 2013 US Drift championship for Geoff!

Not one to call it a day, Geoff went into the Top 4 against Dave Bellemo in his 1JZ powered S14. Slightly preoccupied with the thought of the US Drift championship on his mind, Geoff had a a somewhat difficult time getting focused. Fortunately the run went into OMT, and Geoff was able to get the nod once again.

For the final run, Geoff faced ex-teammate Dan Savage. Dan, a good friend of Geoff, taught him tandem drifting, so Geoff knew that this run would be good fun. On the first run, with Geoff in tow, Dan spun on the last inner clip, just inches away from Geoff potentially crashing. On the second run with Geoff leading, Dan kept it close up until the second inner clip where Geoff put out a lot of angle, losing Dan who eventually spun off! Geoff took home first place for the event!

So there you have it, a second place finish in Detroit, a first place finish in West Virginia and a 2013 US Drift championship all in one weekend!

We’re certainly proud of Geoff and team and their accomplishment for this season. But it is far from over- the final round of Midwest Drift Union, Clubloose Freedom Moves, Holley LS Fest in KY, and Formula D Pro-Am in TX are a few of the upcoming events that Geoff has lined up for him. We look forward to his updates!

Congratulations, Geoff, on your 2013 US Drift championship!

https://www.facebook.com/GeoffStoneback484drift

http://www.usdrift.com/

http://mdudrift.com/

2014 IS350 Testing

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Sergio M.

We are happy to inform everyone that we are currently in the works of testing both TEIN coilovers and lowering springs. Along with the restyled body the new IS350’s suspension has also taken on a different design making the previous model IS suspension not interchangeable. With these changes, most of the kits used are currently prototypes, which are matched to what has the best ride quality. Once confirmed, the best overall component and spring coiling design the kits are then placed under mass production.

Products expected to be release for this application are the the S.Tech and High Tech lowering springs, Street Advance and Street Flex coilovers. Product release date has been scheduled for early to mid-November for both the S.Tech and High Tech lowering springs, early to mid-November for the Street Advance, and early to mid-January for the Street Flex. For release updates please check on our website as info regarding new product releases or product information is updated every month.

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Monthly Archives: September 2013