Tag Archives: coils

TEIN ENDURAPRO/PLUS SPRING KIT

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High Performance Premium Shock Absorbers and Lowering Springs

Although we’re well-known mainly for producing coilover kits, the ENDURAPRO and ENDURAPRO PLUS shock absorber line is gaining more momentum stateside. While much more popular overseas, our premium replacement shock absorbers are starting to generate interest in a lot of consumers, especially if you’re on lowering springs and are looking for suitable performance shocks to pair with them, or you simply don’t want to invest in a complete coilover kit.

At the launch of the ENDURAPRO/PLUS line in the U.S., we also launched the ENDURAPRO Spring Kit and ENDURAPRO PLUS Spring Kit, which pairs our S.TECH lowering springs along with either of the shocks, depending on if you want fixed damping setting or 16-click adjustable damping.

Let’s take a look at what’s included with a ENDURAPRO Spring Kit (part # VSQ54-A1SS2) for the FR-S/86/BRZ.

Conveniently packaged, springs are placed over each shock absorber to minimize packing space and package dimensions. Quite honestly, there isn’t much to it. For certain vehicle applications, other components may be included, such as dust boots or bump stops. Although the ENDURAPRO/PLUS shock absorbers utilize our internal Hydraulic Bump Stoppers (H.B.S.), you will still need to retain either a OEM or TEIN bump stop, which is used as a precautionary measure.

Springs packaged over shocks to minimize packaging size.

Hard to tell from the photo, especially when it’s not lined up against an OEM or OEM replacement shock absorber, but our ENDURAPRO/PLUS shock absorbers are much larger in diameter to and OEM/OEM replacement. In fact, it really is just like one of our coilovers, just minus the threaded adjustment for ride height.

Valved to provide far better handling performance, our ENDURAPRO/PLUS shock absorbers are a perfect enhancement for an otherwise stock vehicle. However, paired with one of our lowering springs and you have a much more sporty ride that you can appreciate. We recommend this type of setup for customers who can do without ride height adjustability or pillowball upper mounts (although it may be compatible with some aftermarket pillowball mounts). That just means less maintenance (you are periodically inspecting your suspension, aren’t you!?!?!?!).

Currently our part numbers for ENDURAPRO Spring Kits and ENDURAPRO PLUS Spring kits are rather limited. However, we’re also still working on either developing performance replacement shocks or lowering springs for certain vehicle applications. If you have any questions about these products, please feel free to contact us at 562-861-9161, or reach out to any of our authorized dealers!

Counterfeit TEIN Springs (Round 2)

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Well, maybe it’s more like Round 5 in the continuing saga of Counterfeit TEIN springs being put to market.

Several years back we made a notice for our dealers and customers that our lowering springs are being knocked off overseas. Well, it seems that someone new is out to do the same thing. Honestly, these counterfeiters getting better and better at making their springs look like ours, and getting labeling and packaging to look like pretty decent copies (but still not a perfect match).

Here are a few ways to identify the latest batch of counterfeits on market compared to authentic TEIN springs/packaging.

fake_1

fake2

 

fake3

fake4

Why the concern?

One of the more obvious reasons is safety. We put a lot of time and effort into our research and development. Materials used are just as important, and we take the extra steps to produce our SAE9254V and SWOSC-kv spring materials to provide years of service, problem-free. If someone decides to knock off our springs using a lesser grade material, your safety is at risk. The potential for a cheap coil spring to break is very high, especially if the material is not of sufficient quality or is not produced to reduce the fatigue characteristics of a spring.

Take a look at a counterfeit spring being put up against a TEIN spring in testing:

Also, while a spring may not look like much to have to engineer, you’d be wrong. Each and every well-known spring manufacturer has their own unique designs and each of them are protected by the manufacturer. If you compare our springs to a company such as Eibach or H&R, you will see that for a given application, the springs are not the same. It’s not that difficult to copy a spring design, which makes it easier for us to identify whether or not it is being modeled after one of our own springs (even if they use a completely different paint, color, and labeling).

Maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered if you were getting some fake Louis Vuitton or a fake Rolex, unless they were made using harmful chemicals/materials (honestly, anything fake still bothers me). But, the thought of a spring that was never really developed and tested out on the road? That’s a huge concern for us. Anything that bears our name, authentic or not, can tarnish our brand and reputation. We stand by our genuine products. If our springs were to fail, even outside of our 1 year spring sag & manufacturer’s defect warranty, it will still be corrected by us. That’s how important this matter is to us.

So, while there may be a great savings in terms of product cost, counterfeit springs may cost you more in the long run, up to and including your life. Don’t take the risk of a potential car accident that these untested products may cause.

If you are aware of counterfeit TEIN springs, please notify us immediately so we can get them off the market. Know what you’re purchasing and be sure to purchase from an authorized TEIN dealer.

TEIN USA

tel: 562-861-9161

email: tus_sales@tein.com

Bump Stop Trimming

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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.

bump stop trim 001

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

bump stop trim 003

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.

bump stop trim 004

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.

bump stop trim 005

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.

bump stop trim 006

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.

“Yeah, I’ve got a set of TEIN Coils”

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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!

New for 2015- TEIN FLEX A and FLEX Z Coilovers!!!

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We’re constantly thinking of ways to improve our products. More importantly, we’ve been working towards making our coilover kits more affordable to match a customer’s budget, but also bring new innovations that we’ve pioneered through our involvement in motorsports.

Available in Spring of 2015, we’re reintroducing our STREET FLEX line into two new lines- the FLEX A and FLEX Z.

Starting with the FLEX Z line, we will bring a new affordably priced version of our STREET FLEX coilovers. How affordable? MSRP will start from $800!!!

FLEX Z HONDA GP5

Features-wise, not much is different from the current STREET FLEX. It will still include full-length ride height adjustment for separate spring preload and height settings, upper mounts (camber adjustable for most MacPherson struts), 16-way damping force adjustment using our ADVANCE NEEDLE technology which provides a much wider range of damping force adjustment per click (~ 200% increase in damping force adjustment range over our previous needle design), EDFC series compatibility, and our proprietary coatings (ZT coated damper bodies, and our 2-layer/1-bake powdercoating for lower brackets and upper mounts). We were able to bring cost down on the new FLEX Z dampers by making them fully sealed units (non-rebuildable).

The biggest benefit to a fully sealed non-rebuildable damper, other than the extremely affordable price, is that the customer will have a maintenance free damper (we still recommend to periodically inspect external components such as seat locks and spring seats, dust boots, and bump stops). Instead of rebuilding their damper, or if they have a blown damper several years down the line, they can purchase a replacement single damper. This translates into less downtime for our customer, who most likely needs to get their car back on the road.

That’s not to say that we’re not proud of our overhaul/revalve service. In fact, we will continue to provide that for older coilover models and for some upcoming, such as the FLEX A.

FLEX A HONDA RC1

The FLEX A coilovers will carry the same features as FLEX Z but will be rebuildable, much like the current line of STREET FLEX. We will also include a newly developed feature, our Hydraulic Bump Stop (H.B.S.). Technically it is not a new feature. Instead it is a much more affordable and effective version of the Hydraulic Bump Stop we use on our GROUP N dampers used in rally racing.

How does our HYDRAULIC BUMP STOP work?

As the damper reaches/nears full compression, there is a spring that the piston makes contact with. This helps to build up pressure closer to the base valve. As pressure continues to build around the base valve, a secondary spring will compress, which allows a cup shaped washer to seal most of the orifices around the base valve.  This effectively restricts damper fluid flow, increasing this pressure and slowing down the piston’s speed. Finally, as the damper approaches full compression, a third spring will compress allowing a needle washer to open and allow damper fluid to pass through this single orifice.  In all, the way our HYDRAULIC BUMP STOP works is by gradually increasing pressure during compression. While mainly based on piston speed (high-speed compression), the unit will work even as the damper nears full compression.

With HBS vehicle image resized

This means that the damper will not fully bottom out. The effect on ride quality is that it will not be as harsh during rebound, much like would be the case with a longer polyurethane bump stop. Why is that? A polyurethane bump stop is compressible. However, it acts as a much stiffer spring, which the damper isn’t necessarily valved properly to control. This means that rebound force is much greater, and that can also translate into uncomfortable oscillation (where the vehicle feels very floaty). With our H.B.S. the rebound rate is not affected, and the vehicle can return to it’s 1g (vehicle weight on the ground) ride height in a smoother fashion.

Without HYDRAULIC BUMP STOP

Without HYDRAULIC BUMP STOP

If you’ve ever watched videos of off-road race prepared trucks with very long stroke suspension, which use another form of hydraulic bump stop (typically mounted externally from the damper), watch what happens after a huge jump. The vehicle lands back down, suspension squatted nearly all the way down. However, when the suspension rebounds and the vehicle returns to it’s 1g ride height, it just settles. No crazy up and down movement. In other words, there is no wasted vehicle body movement. The driver can continue driving full throttle after a jump. Pretty impressive!

That may be a bit of an exaggeration  of what our H.B.S. does for a street car (unless you compare it to our aforementioned Group N dampers, which go on production vehicles), however it is the same effect, just in a smaller package and for a shorter damper stroke.

Our HYDRAULIC BUMP STOP works extremely well on suspensions with longer stroke, such as luxury sedans or mini vans. While still effective and beneficial in applications with shorter damper stroke, it isn’t as noticeable in feel.

The new FLEX A coilovers will start at $1350 for a complete set!

Look out for these new products by mid April 2015!!!