SEMA 2015

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.

EVS GTR

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.

A look back at TEIN’s SEMA past.

sema 07 b

sema 07

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!!!

 

Lexus GS-F Testing

SEMA is fast approaching. That means it’s crunch time for a lot of manufacturers and car builders as they get their projects completed. HOWEVER, some people are just starting on their projects. Yep, better late than never, I suppose.

We were contacted by one of our good friends who has a track record for building some really nice Lexus, Toyota, and Scion projects. Not just for show, either. Still, many of them find their way to Las Vegas for the SEMA show. Or just to party in Vegas. I dunno.

We had the opportunity to get our hands on the upcoming Lexus GS-F, well in advance of its official release to the public. Obviously, we want to test this car since we plan to make some suspension kits for this platform (at least see how close to the current GS line as possible).

Fortunately we have found something that works! Although technically not an off-the-shelf kit (we had to change out a few components), that simplifies it for us since we can now get to work on producing some kits for the GS-F.

If you’d really like to know what we used, it is a STREET ADVANCE coilover kit for the 2014+ Lexus IS250 and IS350 (part# GSQ74-21AS2). As mentioned, we had to modify some components, such as the eye ring bushings for the lower damper mount to control arm. We also increased the front spring rate to account for the extra weight up front from the mighty five liter v8 of the GS-F. So,,, if you get a GS-F and can’t wait for the application specific part number, we can essentially do the same for you. We’d advise you to wait for the correct kit and not spend the extra money to modify an IS coilover kit.

Here are a few pics of the lowered GS-F:

Lexus GS-F (Oct. 14, 2015) 013 resize

Lexus GS-F (Oct. 14, 2015) 009 resize

Lexus GS-F (Oct. 14, 2015) 012 resize

Lexus GS-F (Oct. 14, 2015) 010 resize

 

Anyway, keep in touch with this project on Instagram (@lexustuned)!!!

Formula Drift Rd. 7 (Irwindale Speedway)

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!

Irwindale-Speedway-closes-its-doors

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!!!

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.

Reginald CZ4A blog 6

Rd. 7 for Formula Drift is on October 9-10, 2015! Get your tickets at the Formula Drift Webpage

 

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!

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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

Bump Stop Trimming

Without a doubt lowering springs is easily one of our biggest sellers. It’s a simple upgrade for someone wanting to lower their vehicle but not wanting to really sacrifice much in the way of ride quality, and it’s also much more affordable than a coilover kit. This is an especially common upgrade for people with newer vehicles, or cars still under warranty (or maybe they don’t have much to spend since they just got a new car).

As many of you may know, we make our lowering springs compatible with factory (OEM) dampers. Not necessarily in just fitment, but also in spring rate. Our lowering springs are not very aggressive. If you take a look at our lowering springs’ specifications for your vehicle, you may see that the ride height drop is not too aggressive (maybe better than some other manufacturers). Some other applications of our lowering springs may seem to be very aggressive. It’s all a matter of how much room we have to play with when designing our lowering springs.

Most important for customers is reducing the tire to fender gap. As of the past few years, the request is for a “flush” fitment, where the tire just closes up the gap with the top of the fender opening. As much as possible, we want to create that type of fitment for the customers, even making a staggered ride height drop for front and rear to achieve a nice and even wheel gap. But, where we reach limitations is the factory damper stroke length.

Some factory suspensions have very limited stroke length, and this makes it increasingly difficult to design a spring that will aggressively lower a vehicle. That isn’t the only limitation. We look at clearance with the fender, within the wheel well, as well as how it may affect steering/suspension geometry. We always design our lowering springs to give you the most ride height drop in as safe a level as possible.

So, in regards to trimming bump stops- why is this important? If we find that aspects, other than damper stroke length, seem to be very generous, we know that we can make a lowering spring that will work with a shortened bump stop. So we include a chart by vehicle application that shows how much you will need to trim for front and rear when installing our lowering springs.

Some cases may require a different type of trimming style for the bump stop. Typically it is just trimming the bottom portion of bump stop and retaining the top piece (A Type). Sometimes it’s the reverse (B Type). In other cases, you may need to trim a middle section and retain the top and bottom piece (C or D Type). See below the different style cuts we recommend, depending on the vehicle:

 

bump stop trim style

We know several customers skip the bump stop trimming step. This can cause several issues. We’ve added this measure so that you can retain a bit more stroke length at the newly lowered ride height. This also helps improve ride quality. Because the bump stop is made of a high durometer polyurethane material, it is like a secondary spring, but a really stiff secondary spring. Since the dampers are not valved to handle such a stiff secondary spring, it can make rebound feel really harsh. Some may say bouncy. Constantly hitting the bump stop can cause the damper to prematurely wear or potentially blow out, too.

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Bump Stops come in all sorts of goofy shapes. Mind you, these were engineered with a specific design.

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The bump stop itself is a really lightweight piece, but it is of a high durometer and takes a lot of force to compress. At least it is easy to cut into.

Fortunately, you can cut easily into the bump stop using a box cutter/safety blade. It slices pretty easily.

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Here’s a picture of a 2015 Camry bump stop. This is a more typical design that we see- top is a larger outside diameter and tapers, with billows that make it easier to determine which section we recommend trimming.

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Using a safety blade, we’re able to cut a bottom portion of the Camry’s bump stop. We’ll be retaining the larger piece on the left and reinstalling onto the front strut.

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This bump stop uses some plastic ring, likely to control the bump stop’s compression. In our case, we need to trim a middle section.

bump stop trim 007

We cut this into three pieces, and the middle piece will be removed. The remaining top (left) and bottom piece (right) will be reassembled on to the damper.

So, while you will have your suspension taken a part for a little while when installing our springs, take the time to see if your bump stops will need to be trimmed. Check the included instructions with our lowering springs to find out that info.

Specialized Lowering Springs?

We rant on and on about our ability to make custom damper kits for vehicles, especially vehicles that no longer have any aftermarket support. This program is the easiest way to get a custom set of suspension made for an otherwise obsolete vehicle.

What we fail to really mention is that we have the ability to do custom springs. Actually, we take that back- we have mentioned that, because some kits don’t allow the use of a ride height adjustable setup. For vehicles that utilize a spring separate of the damper, we custom wind springs specifically for that application. So, there you go! We can make custom springs for you!

We recently did a set for Toyota. While we cannot cough up the details just yet (I’m sure you can figure it out if you search hard enough within this post 😉 ), we’ll just say it is for a platform we don’t already have product available for. And actually, they weren’t looking to do much to this car. The request was a set of lowering springs that would give the car a 1″ drop front and rear.

And here they are:

SPD (Toyota Highlander Lowering Spring) 003 resize

If you’re thinking “What the hell is an Eibach spring doing in a TEIN blog post?”, well then that’s a burn. This red color was at their request. That’s fine by us. We can basically do custom colors anyway. So if they want red springs, red springs it is!!!
We must mention that custom springs are not cheap. A set of four coil springs go for $700 retail. Ay yi yi!!! However, if this is something that may lead to a person wanting to do a private line of springs through us, the cost (which includes a development fee) will basically be covered on the first spring order. Not uncommon, as we’ve done that before, especially with our coilover kits.

We can also do remanufactured springs (springs of an older/discontinued line). Those start at $560 retail for a set of four.

The only types of springs we do not manufacture are torsion beams/bars or leaf springs.

So, if you have a need for custom coil springs, give us a ring. We can definitely help you out!!!

 

 

The Importance of Damper Maintenance

Well, by now you know that we are able to service our suspension, whether it is a damper rebuild, or in the case of the new STREET BASIS Z, STREET ADVANCE Z, & FLEX Z- replacement single dampers can be purchased.

So then, why is it still important to maintain your suspension?

Quite simply- cost. Just because we can service our suspension, it doesn’t make it a wise idea to run them dirty or to not periodically inspect the dampers and all its components for any wear, or to make sure they’re torqued properly (spring seats/seat locks, nuts, etc.). We don’t feel it to be necessary to spend a lot on overhaul. I mean, we appreciate the business and all, but we don’t appreciate your screaming when you get shocked by a rebuild quote. Lol.

We say this because it isn’t uncommon for an overhaul customer to complain about our overhaul prices. Yes, we do have a base overhaul fee. This fee covers the replacement of seals and o-rings, refreshing damper oil with new damper oil, recharging with nitrogen, and of course the labor to do this work. But, components such as the piston shaft, ring nut, piston guide, piston valve, these are all extra components that get added above the base overhaul fee’s cost if we find it necessary to replace. Lately, we’ve been seeing 5-10 year old coilover sets hovering around the $200 (each damper) range for a rebuild. That amounts to about $800 a set. Nearly the cost of a new coilover kit, depending on the model.

DL-TEIN-EDIT-3

One of my favorite pics from Jonathan Wong at Driving Line when he came to check out our overhaul service. Damper oil should never look like this. That is way too dirty and shows that the damper was drawing in dirt as it cycled (probably through a blown seal). This can wreak havoc on the dampers’ internals, and bring overhaul costs to some exorbitant amount.

Don’t get me wrong. If I personally saw a rebuild quote near that amount, I’d probably bust a vein on my forehead. I’m no different than a lot of consumers. Money is tight, yo! I can’t be spending on unnecessary things.

Back to damper maintenance- It’s actually really easy to do. And, if you can’t do it yourself, take it to any of our authorized dealers for service.

P1070072-use

Pretty crusty, mang. That’s way too much dirt on the threads. May not look like a big problem, and for the most part it should come off easily. But it some cases where this type of dirt gets lodged into the threads and seat locks/spring seats, it can cause them to seize. The only way to remove- cut them off.

Honestly, simply keeping your suspension clean is the easiest step. Suspensions sit inside the vehicle’s wheelwell. This exposes all its components to the elements. Road debris such as dirt, gravel, mud, road salts (in places where it snows heavily), and such, can all adhere to the damper body. This can get lodged into so many places that can cause damage- threads where the seat lock/spring seat assembly adjust for ride height, around the dust seal at the top of the damper (where the piston shaft slides in and out of), around the pillowball mount (if applicable for your coilover application). This dirt can get stuck in any of these places and cause seat locks/spring seats to seize or piston shafts to get scratched.

Why this is a problem is excessive wear. A seized seat lock/spring seat will be increasingly difficult to remove and adjust. In some cases customers send in their dampers just so we can cut them out and purchase replacement pieces. That’s an unnecessary cost to me. Those things should last about the whole life of your suspension.

Scratches on the piston shaft can cause the nitrogen charge to leak out, affecting damper rebound, and eventually affecting damper life as oil can eventually leak out. And when oil leaks out and owners continue to drive for several hundred or thousands of miles, it causes more internal components to wear out, only adding to overhaul costs.

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A piston shaft scratched, but not by dirt. Actually, the customer tried using pliers to hold the piston shaft in place while they tried to tighten down the nut to secure the upper mount to the coilover assembly. Still enough to cause problems to the damper and excessive damage to the dust seal.

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Worn threads due to cross-threaded nut installation. Again, not typical wear and definitely not something we’ll be able to repair. A new piston shaft needs to be ordered for this case. That’s an extra $40 on top of the base overhaul fee.

We realize this sounds like a lot of work. After all, you’d have to get the car off the ground, wheels out of the way, then go into each wheelwell and clean up the dampers. But, so it goes in the world of adjustable suspension. You pay good money for high performance handling, but it doesn’t mean your car is maintenance-free.

Seriously, take the time to clean your dampers. It can be twice a year (in areas where it doesn’t snow), or 4 times a year. Be adamant of making sure your suspension is in tip-top shape. Also, while you’re down there, inspect your dust boots and bump stops. Those should have good pliability and no tears. Dust boots are a good preventative measure in keeping dirt away from the piston shaft and dust seal.

We hope this helps all you performance suspension owners a little bit, for whatever it’s worth to you. In the end we want you to enjoy your suspension for as long as possible, without having to spend a bunch of money to make sure it runs properly.

“Yeah, I’ve got a set of TEIN Coils”

Whenever we hear that (blog title), we tend to understand that a customer has a set of our lowering springs. However, for some strange reason, people online or that call us are referring to our suspension kits as coils, whether it be a complete suspension kit like a STREET FLEX or STREET BASIS,  even a SUPER RACING setup.

We must ask- WHY ARE YOU REFERRING TO THEM AS “COILS”?!

We’re just as guilty, using different terminology than what some people may understand. For example, saying “coilover” implies simply that- a coil over a damper. This is how most people know of our product since our height adjustable setups are typically coilover, but is this a coilover?:

stfa z33

STREET FLEX for 2003-2009 Nissan 350Z

As pictured above, this “coilover” kit uses our Height Adjust System (H.A.S.) for the rear, as pictured on the left. So it is in fact not a “coilover” with exception of the fronts (pictured on the right). We’re wrong for ever referring to such kits as a coilover package. Instead, this is a suspension kit. But, for simplicity’s sake, and in acknowledging what are customers know us for, we continue to call them coilovers. It’s easy, and it won’t confuse our customers.

There are other things/terminology we may use that may be either incorrect to some, or just named differently. For example, the name “Shock Absorber”. It is in fact a “Damper”. Shock Absorber is incorrect because it isn’t absorbing shock. What it is doing is turning kinetic energy (the up and down motion of the vehicle and unsprung mass) and converting it into thermal (heat) energy. Nothing is really being absorbed. It is a transfer of energy from one form to another. However, most people understand them to be Shock Absorbers, so we just roll with it.

And yes, it is “Damper” and not “Dampener”. They may share some similarities in meaning, but they’re in fact used differently. Dampener is typically used to describe a wet or moist condition. But it can also be used to describe a deadening or depressing. Damper, on the other hand, is mainly used to describe a reduction in oscillation or amplitude of force.

We also hear people ask for “Pillar Ball Mounts”, which is easily understood to be (how we know it) Pillowball Mounts. Not a big deal.

Another one that we hear is when people refer to our Seat Locks and Spring Seats (where you can adjust a spring’s setting and vehicle ride height) simply as “rings”. Sometimes we hear them being called “collars”. We use collars, but they are usually much smaller and are used as a spacer in our upper mount assemblies.

That’s another one- upper mounts being referred to as “top hats”. Not really a big deal, and some upper mounts kind of look like top hats. So, [top] hats off to you for using that description!

Willy-Wonka

Willy Wonka wears a Top Hat. He can also be condescending sometimes.

There are some less obvious things that we cannot fault a person for. For example, our inverted dampers for strut type monotube setups, like our older MONO FLEX and our SUPER RACING. People will refer to the shiny part of the damper assembly as the piston or piston shaft. Again, although that is incorrect, we cannot fault the customer for that. Since the damper is inverted, the whole assembly is upside down. The piston shaft is now on the bottom side and inside of the threaded shell case.

mflp gdb

MONO FLEX for 2002-2007 Subaru WRX

In the above picture, the shiny rod coming out of the threaded shell case (black) is in fact the damper body and not the piston shaft. The piston shaft is itself inside the threaded shell case and completely out of view.

There’s also the use of the name “Serration Bolts” which we use for the studs in our upper mounts (that secure the upper mount assembly into the strut or shock tower). We realize that confuses a lot of people when they need replacements of these components. Sorry!

The use of “Strut” may also be confusing for some. The above picture of the MONO FLEX for Subaru WRX shows struts, which this chassis of Subaru uses for front and rear. When we say strut, we’re referring to the MacPherson Strut design, which other than being a damper, also serves as a structural member of the suspension by supporting the knuckle assembly. The knuckle assembly comprises of the wheel and brake components. Struts have to be a bit larger in size and be able to handle large side forces/loads.

In comparison, a “SA” type of damper (short for “Shock Absorber”), which is used in Double Wishbone or Multi-link type suspensions, doesn’t have to support such side loads. They are used strictly to control vehicle motion. This is also why we don’t make camber adjustable upper mounts for our SA dampers. It’s position or angle will have no affect on wheel camber.

img01img02   Can you see the difference between these two suspension designs?

 

 

 

 

 

For sure there are other things we hear from customers, but this covers a majority of terminology we hear.

Hopefully that helps break down some of our terminology for suspension components!

JCCS THIS WEEKEND (Sept. 19, 2015)!!!

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!

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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!!!!!

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First Set of Evasive-Spec SRC w/ 3-Way

Our friends at Evasive Motorsports have a date at the race track later this year. And while their S2000 is still in pieces, starting to be reassembled, they had sent in their very own Evasive-Spec Super Racing (SRC) coilovers for a rebuild.

But wait, there’s more!!!

They got wind of our new 3-Way units designed specifically for our Super Racing coilovers. They figured since they’re going all out on this S2000 this year, they wanted to upgrade their SRC’s to get the most out of it. Of course, we still needed to test it. Just having received the units a few months ago, we have now been able to start work on them.

We just recently posted about the 3-way units and their benefits. This car is going to Buttonwillow for the end of the year event- Global Time Attack’s Super Lap Battle. This is a great venue, and the course has plenty of challenges. It’s also less than perfect, with plenty of rough surface transitions, bumps, curbs, etc. This is an grueling test for both driver and machine, and this easily this makes Evasive’s S2000 a great candidate for the 3-way modification.

SRC 3-Way OH 001

To make a long story short, we said “OK” then they said “Cool”, and we were like “Awesome”.  After several rounds of back and forth acknowledgement, we got to work.

While we do not have details on the cost of the units and revalve service just yet, Evasive shelled out some [MAJOR] ducats and got them installed while we refreshed their dampers.

A simple glance at the coilovers wouldn’t reveal a whole lot. The 3-way unit itself is adapted directly to the External Reservoir, but it looks different (noticeably larger) than the Base Valve adapter it replaces.

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A Front and Rear SRC side by side.

 

Also, the SRC dampers still maintain EDFC series compatibility. It is just that it only works for Rebound and Low-Speed Compression. High-Speed Compression will be left as a manually adjusted setup.

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Front damper with EDFC Motor on Compression (External Reservoir) and Rebound (Top of piston shaft).

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Rear damper with EDFC Motor installed on compression and rebound.

We’ll try to get you guys some updates on this as Evasive’s project car nears completion. They have a test day planned, which I’m sure they’ll document. We’re looking forward to getting these units fully evaluated by them!