Piston Rod Polishing

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Paul P.

One major component for a damper is a piston rod that has to be low friction, but also robust enough to handle stress loads and high temperatures. Typically material-wise, it has to be a high-strength alloy.

In our case, we use cold-drawn chrome-moly steel rods. The cold-drawing method helps to produce a near-finished surface that only needs to be polished (done by centerless grinding). In doing so, the piston rod, which is in contact with several components like our dust seal, some o-rings, and our piston rod guide, which is PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) coated.

This shows are centerless grinding of piston rods during production.

Over time, especially from high mileage use, this polished piston rod surface can start to see some wear. Debris being kicked up from the road will contact the piston rod surface, scratching and, in more extreme cases, pitting the surface. This can create proud bumps on the piston rod. When portions that are subjected to this scratching/pitting contact other parts of the damper, like the dust seal, it can damage it, allowing dirt and debris to enter the damper.

Even such light scratches as shown below can cause problems like noise during operation.

During periodic inspections of your suspension (you are inspecting them, right?), it is a good idea to inspect the piston rod surface, especially portions under the dust boot and at the top of the damper body (where the dust seal is). You may notice that this portion of the piston rod may have a much more finely polished surface compared to other parts of the rod that do not actually enter the damper. At this “working” section, you should inspect for any light scratches or pitting.

In many cases, these scratches/pits can be corrected by polishing using an abrasive compound (we’ve actually used Mother’s Wheel Polish) and a cloth to rub the compound back and forth over the piston rod surface. You’d be surprised how good a finish you can put back onto the piston rod just by polishing by hand.

This used damper has some small scratches on the piston rod causing noise during operation.

TEIN Endura Pro Plus Shock Absorbers

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Paul P.

This is probably the single most anticipated product from TEIN, for me at least. Why? Probably because I’m reaching a point in my life where I want a simple suspension setup that will work well, and I can do away with a bunch of features I will not really use often. In other words, I’m getting old and lazy.

The TEIN group has been discussing this new line, which is a premium shock absorber, for probably the past five years (to my knowledge). We’ve wanted to get into the replacement shock absorber line for some time now, but we wanted something that had an appreciable difference to the well-known aftermarket shock absorbers already on the market.

So, after all these years and years of discussion and product development, we now have our Endura Pro and Endura Pro Plus shock absorber line.

These shock absorbers are completely compatible with OEM vehicles. As stated, it is a replacement shock absorber. HOWEVER, it is far from a simple replacement. We’ve gone an extra step in making them a high performance shock absorber. In saying that, this product is not the same type of suspension as our existing line of coilovers, which in many cases offer a firmer ride and drastically reduced vehicle body motion (sway, squat, dive). The Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus line does offer a very comfortable ride quality, but internally it is much different than a standard twin-tube shock absorber you’ll find as an OEM shock.

For starters, we actually have increased the internal capacity of the shock absorbers. In most cases, our Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers are the same length as an OEM shock (a few applications use a slightly shorter damper body), but we also use larger diameter damper bodies, thus the internal volume is greater. In doing so, we’ve increased damper oil capacity over a standard shock absorber for the same vehicle application. That translates to better endurance (long-term driving) and increased longevity. It also allows us to use a larger than OEM piston valve which provides a greater damping force range.

For strut type applications, we use thicker piston rods (22mm dia.) able to withstand greater lateral loading that struts are subjected to.

OEM Strut Piston Rod

Endura Pro Strut Piston Rod

Since we use the same high-strength steel as used in our coilover kits, it allows us to reinforce areas of the damper, like the lower brackets on strut type suspensions, or the spring seat or sway bar bracket, without a large penalty in weight. In fact, for some applications the Endura Pro shock absorber is actually lighter than OEM!

Depending on the vehicle application, we will include necessary hardware to make the installation easier, such as collars, bump stoppers/washers, dust boot, bump stop, etc.

OEM shock (bottom) has a crimped collar, making removal of the dust boot, bump stop, and washer impossible. Endura Pro will include new hardware if necessary.

One new feature recently only applied to the TEIN FLEX A coilover kit has now made its way into every Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorber- our Hydraulic Bump Stop. With the aforementioned FLEX A line, the only other TEIN product to incorporate a Hydraulic Bump Stop is our Gr.N rally coilovers. The off-road crowd probably knows a fair deal about how a hydraulic bump stop works- it creates higher damping force on compression to prevent the suspension from bottoming out completely, then allows the suspension to settle in a very controlled manner on rebound. What you end up with is a reduction in suspension oscillation (excessive up and down movement, or “porpoising”). Never before has a replacement shock absorber ever had such a feature.

The Endura Pro Plus line, specifically, has 16-way damping adjustment, similar to our other damping force adjustable coilover kits like STREET ADVANCE Z, FLEX Z, MONO SPORT, etc. This gives the end user the ability to set their suspension to their preferences depending on their driving conditions. As an added bonus to having this damping adjustment, this technically makes the Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers EDFC series compatible! With EDFC, now you can control the shock absorber damping settings directly from the driver’s seat. Opt for the EDFC ACTIVE or EDFC ACTIVE PRO series, and you’ll get adaptive damping force control based on speed or g-force loading! EDFC is a universal application for our 16-way adjustable TEIN dampers, so any car can use this setup (some vehicles may require modifications or adapters to make the EDFC Motors fit properly)!

Click knob for damping adjustment on strut type Endura Pro Plus

Click knob for damping adjustment on Endura Pro Plus

Lastly, the Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus line adopts our new fully sealed structure in helping keep manufacturing costs (and MSRP) down. These shock absorbers will be available for sale individually, but we’ll also be offering them as a complete set with TEIN S.TECH lowering springs!

So again, this new Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus line is far from a simple replacement shock absorber, and now I can say I know that personally.

After constant nagging to my boss, I wanted to see if we would be making some for the GD3 Honda Fit (2007-2008). Since I’ve taken ownership of my dad’s Fit, I’ve grown to love driving it. It’s by no means a fast car (quite the opposite, actually. I’ll just call it “brisk”), but it is small, lightweight for its size, and kind of fun to drive in a spirited manner. And it’s a practical car for me now that I have a small family of my own. The Fit also saves me from wasting gas in my truck driving solo to and from work, so it’s now my daily driver.

Now, with 80,000 miles, which is relatively low for this year vehicle, I can feel the suspension is not as it was when it was newer. Of course that can be from a number of things, but the shock absorbers are a pretty high wear and tear item in the suspension, so that felt like the cause. After removal of the shocks and compressing them by hand, there was still at least some nitrogen charge in all the shocks, but maybe not enough to really provide good rebound force.

Anyway, to get to the point, I finally got a set of Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers for the Fit!

DISCLOSURE– The Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers I’m using are designed for the Japanese market GD3 Honda Fit, which is not a direct fitment for the front.

This required some modification to the knuckle brackets by boring out the bolt holes to 14mm. Still, this isn’t a direct fitment even after this modification. The struts are the same length as the US Honda Fit OEM strut, however the spring seat and sway bar bracket are 20mm higher than the OEM strut (fortunately this poses no clearance issues). So, this actually does translate into a slightly higher front ride height. For my Fit, it was approximately 12mm higher than stock ride height in the front.

*Endura Pro Plus Strut (bottom) had bolt holes in lower bracket bored to fit USDM GD3 Honda Fit.

The rear dampers are a direct fit, so no problems there.

Clearance at the bottom is very close to the axle beam, due to the larger diameter body of Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorber. Fortunately no contact with the beam, even at full droop.

With the shock absorbers set at 8 clicks (middle) front and rear, the ride quality felt very much as I remembered the car feeling like when new. That was ten years ago though, so I really only have a memory to go off of. One of my co-workers said that the shocks set to 16 clicks (softest) was actually an improvement over the worn OEM dampers. At 0 clicks (stiffest) it is actually a noticeably firm ride quality, but far from being jarring (the Fit uses soft springs). I found that a 12 click front and 10 click rear was more to my preference. So I drove on that for about a week, until one of the guys here (Gonzo, aka Cpt. Slammo, aka Monster Tuck) kept telling me “it needs to be lower”…. ughhh.

I actually wanted to lower the car a little anyway. Go figure. I mean that’s really what TEIN suspension is known for doing, so it’s only natural to want to use the products I help sell. So, I bought a set of our S.TECH lowering springs for the Fit (part # SKB36-AUB00). Knowing that the front struts are now a bit higher than the OEM strut, I thought the car would look a little funny with a slightly raised front end. But, to my surprise the ride height actually has a relatively even drop front and rear (referring to tire-fender gap)! The front actually dropped a little over 2″ front and 1.2″ rear (we spec S.TECH’s for the GD3 fit at -1.8″ front and -1.2″ rear). So even with the Endura Pro Plus front struts having higher spring seat position than OEM, it’s nearly about the same ride height as our test data. That difference can be due to the strut mounts (being mostly rubber) starting to sag.

As for ride quality, now it feels more in line with how one of our coilover kits feel, like a STREET ADVANCE Z for example. Not incredibly stiff, but nice and sporty with good compliance for my daily commute. The extra flexibility in having damping adjustability is a worthwhile upgrade, especially if you’re considering using lowering springs with new shock absorbers.

All in all, I’d say this is probably the happiest I’ve been with driving the Fit. The lowering springs really helped reduce the body motions (the Fit has a pretty tall roof line). The reduction in body sway is a dramatic improvement! I’ve found a damping setting on the Endura Pro Plus’s that works really well with the S.TECH’s.

In general, as a replacement shock absorber, the Endura Pro line is a great improvement over the factory suspension. Adding the adjustability I get with the Endura Pro Plus shocks gives me a chance to find a ride quality I prefer!

More information on the Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorber line can be found on our website

Front Street Media’s Article on Suspension

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Paul P.

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.

2016 Continental Tire Show Car Shootout

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Paul P.

Typically following the SEMA Show in Las Vegas is a few race events that we look forward to. One of them is Global Time Attack’s Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. The second one, one which we weren’t too familiar with, was the Continental Tires Show Car Shootout, which was run by Super Street Magazine. All we did know was that our friends at Sportcar Motion were bringing their K24 powered Honda S2000 to the event.

This S2000 is one of Loi Song’s, owner of Sportcar Motion, personal vehicles. When he picked up a set of our MONO SPORT coilovers for this car, we thought it was basically just one of his street cars, something to drive to and from work. Eventually, this ended up becoming yet another track car to the many in his stable, with a built K24 motor replacing the F22 usually sitting in the engine bay. Other than that change, the car looks like many tuned S2000’s you’ll find on the street or at the occassional track day.

Super Street finally published the results of this event, which included a dyno session then a track day at Streets of Willow at Willowsprings Raceway. End result- last in power on the dyno (235hp/193lb-ft), third (among 10 competitors) around the track with a 1:24.619 lap. Hmmmm. Interesting result considering field this car was competing against. The fastest car of the day was a BMW 135i with a v8 swap (unspecified engine, unspecified power). That car did a 1:23.327. Second place was an Acura NSX which was also near the bottom in power (321hp/238lb-ft) and stopping the timer at 1:23.786. Other cars in the field included an R32 Skyline, another AP2 S2000, 370Z, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, GRF Sti, and a pair of CZ4A Evo’s. Not a bad field.

Goes to show that power isn’t the only part of the race car equation to consider. It’s a balance of well-tuned suspension (which I might add is an out-of-the-box setup), mild aero front and rear, good tires (Continental UHP ExtremeContact Sport tires were used on all cars for this event) and brakes. This all has to work together well. So, for a “show car”, nice job, Sportcar Motion!!!!

Read more about the Super Street hosted event here.

Basic Suspension Maintenance Time!

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Paul P.

Have you been inspecting your suspension periodically? No?? Why not???

Just like most other aspects of your vehicle, an inspection of your suspension should be done. We typically like to inspect all suspension components, not just coilovers, during every oil change (every 5,000 miles). Suspension, and not just the shock absorbers, have quite a bit of components that will wear out over time. In the case of our adjustable suspension, there’s also the factor of more movable components that need to be inspected and tightened to specification.

It’s not uncommon for us to get calls about noise that customers are getting from their suspension, only to find that the noise isn’t related to our coilover, but something like a worn control arm bushing, worn sway bar end link, worn ball joint, or even factory upper mounts with worn rubber components (which, I’m sorry but, we do not sell OEM components).

When it comes to inspecting our coilovers, it is a good idea to inspect items like the spring seats and seat locks. Make sure these are still torqued to specification, following our owner’s manual included with your coilover kit.

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Prior to continuing, we must note that we highly recommend that a technician/mechanic perform such maintenance work. Should you choose to do any installation or maintenance work yourself, please do so at your own discretion. The following is simply information regarding our coilovers and for reference only.

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Seat locks that adjust the spring height/preload should be torqued to 42lbs-ft (+/- 2lbs-ft).

Seat locks for MacPherson strut types (that lock the lower bracket to the shock body) should be torqued to 101lbs-ft (+/- 3lbs-ft).

Seat locks for multi-link setups (that lock the lower bracket to the shock body) should be torqued to 51lbs-ft (+/- 2lbs-ft).

Seat locks for H.A.S. designs (height adjust systems, where the spring is separate from the shock) should be torqued to 42lbs-ft (+/- 2lbs-ft).

Other components to inspect on our coilovers are items like the dust boot, bump stop, and (if applicable) rubber spring seats. Some older models of TEIN suspension use a rubber spring seat between the seat lock and spring. This can start to crack over time. If so, get a replacement, or upgrade to the newer spring seat design that does without this rubber spring seat.

If you have our pillowball mount or upper mount included with your coilovers, also check to make sure all components are tightened down properly.

Some upper mounts included with our kit have a few components that need to be inspected, especially MacPherson strut type designs that have camber adjustability. The cap screws that allow you to slide the pillowball mount for camber must be tightened down to 14 lbs-ft. The flange nuts that secure the upper mount to the strut tower vary by manufacturer, but those never really require anything more than 20 lbs-ft.

Also, coilovers that include our own upper mount may include our own pillow nut. It’s essentially a collared nut that keeps the piston shaft centered in the pillowball. The collared portion will go into the pillowball itself as you tighten. For front strut type designs, this should be torqued to 45lbs-ft, while rears that are not strut type design (like a multilink setup) require 20lbs-ft.

As to torque values for securing our coilover to the lower control arms, you should reference the factory values of the vehicle manufacturer. These can be sourced online through a quick search, or through automotive forums for your specific vehicle (which should be easy to find).

For front strut type coilover applications that reuse the OEM upper mount assembly, it would also be wise to make sure the strut assembly can rotate freely from left to right. Since the car needs to steer, the OEM upper mount has a bearing that allows the strut assembly to rotate with the knuckle assembly whenever you do steer. In some cases, the bearing can be worn and cause a grinding type sound.

Let’s say you’ve done all this basic maintenance, buttoned everything up, and now going for a drive. Maybe you noticed some squeaking noises. Have you checked your control arm and sway bar bushings?

In many cases, bushings are difficult to inspect. Sometimes their placement makes it very hard to see. You may even need to drop an arm just to be able to get a good look at the bushing. Fortunately, most rubber bushings last pretty long and typically only need to be inspected every 3ok miles or so.

When rubber bushings do go bad, they start to crack and as they pivot, they will squeak. Rubber bushings aren’t like many of the polyurethane, or even Delrin type bushings (highly inadvisable for street use), that are free pivoting. Most rubber bushings have a steel outer shell and a steel inner shell or tube, which are bonded because of the rubber. So that means that as the control arm pivots around its axis, the rubber has to stretch and compress. Eventually, as a rubber bushing dries out, it will start to tear itself apart, and that is what creates noises.

Replacing an old, worn rubber trailing arm bushing with a free pivoting polyurethane bushing. As you can see here, the trunnion wasn’t even attached to the bushing anymore. The rubber completely broke off. Fortunately, the trunnion’s placement prevented the arm from completely being loose and dropping out of position. Still, that can cause major damage to the underside of your car, and even cause erratic handling.

Freshly inserted trailing arm bushing with the trunnion cleaned of old rubber and reinserted into the new bushing. Because the trunnion is now able to pivot freely, it must be inspected frequently and lubricated to prevent the bushing from drying out. Otherwise, it will start to crack and create creaking or squeaking noises while driving.

Some notes about polyurethane bushings:

Polyurethane bushings, which are very common in aftermarket performance, have some distinctions that make them a likely upgrade for most consumers. Poly bushings, even though offered in various durometers (hardness), have better NVH characteristics than rubber bushings. And, because many of them are much harder than rubber, they don’t deflect as much under load, contributing to better maintained wheel alignment. When they do deflect, they tend to have better memory and can return to shape much more consistently.

TEIN Polyurethane Control Arm Bushings for GRB Subaru. These require a special type of lubricant (included with the kit) to prevent them from drying out.

However, polyurethane can also dry out. And there’s a special grease that’s needed for periodic maintenance, which most aftermarket bushing manufacturers either provide or sell their proprietary grease.

So, periodically inspect your bushings since they are just as critical for a properly operating suspension.

Having a great handling car is obviously very fun, but it still requires upkeep to maintain that great performance you expect out of it.

Global Time Attack’s Super Lap Battle 2016

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Paul P.

This week is the Super Lap Battle Time Attack event at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, hosted by Global Time Attack.

Damn, that’s a mouthful to say…

Anyhow, we’ve continued to attend the event for the past 6 consecutive years now. Our main purpose is to check out how the event goes, see how it has grown, and also to assist any teams/drivers that are using TEIN suspension.

For the most part, most teams/drivers are pretty experienced with their setup. So it’s not like we’re trying to rearrange everything they’ve setup and working for them. We just want to see how we can extract a bit more performance with a little bit of tuning. We bring one of our in-house engineers to speak with the driver and get feedback on how the car feels. From that, we are able to make an assessment on whether any changes to the suspension should be made, or if some other aspect should be altered. Funny enough, tire pressures tend to be overlooked.

The past few years has really just left us looking like spectators, however. Again, most of the teams have their race cars sorted out. So there isn’t much for us to do except check out the progress of each session.

For this year, we really only know of two teams on TEIN-equipped cars competing. Evasive Motorsports is bringing their R35 GT-R to run in the Unlimited AWD class, and Sport Car Motion (SCM) has their DC2 Type R Integra in the Limited FWD class. Both teams using our Super Racing damper kits.

The SCM Type R has proven to be plenty fast, mainly because they know how to extract the most out of their Rotrex-charged K24 engine setup. [Not] oddly enough, their Super Racing dampers are completely off-the-shelf. No changes in valving, and spring rates are per our recommendation. We did a refresh on the dampers last year, but unfortunately the car couldn’t make the event. Considering this specific Super Racing kit was on the team’s previous EG Civic race car, and that it has just over 6 years of use, the dampers were due for a rebuild anyway. We look forward to seeing the Type R run again this week!

Evasive Motorsports has only taken their GT-R, in its current iteration, to a couple of track days. Back when the car had the very basics (our Super Racing dampers, racing brake pads, upgraded wheels & tires), they were using our recommended setup. Now, with a slightly wider body and more aero additions, we’ve uprated their springs. Other than that, the Super Racing dampers have our 3-way units installed, but valving has been kept as out-of-the-box. Wheels are a bit larger now, and they’re using a much more sticky tire. On its maiden voyage in this setup at Buttonwillow, the car did something in the neighborhood of a 1:47.00 lap time. No time spent trying to fine tune anything, and that’s what they run……… Damn. We weren’t expecting something that quick for what is essentially a still very street-bound car with full interior, full amenities. While we would love to attribute this shockingly fast time to our dampers, the fact is that Evasive Motorsports aren’t any slouches when it comes to building a proper car for the track. We’ll see what else the team does to knock down a couple more seconds from the timer.

Other than those two cars, which would keep our engineer busy enough, we’ve yet to hear of anyone else that may need our assistance. But, as I mentioned, they probably don’t need our help……

……….. You know what,,,,, this is just starting to sound like an excuse for us to just go and watch some racing! Don’t tell my boss…

STREET BASIS Z for Nissan 350Z and Infiniti G35 Now Available!

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Paul P.

As of today, September 1, 2016 we have released our new STREET BASIS Z for:

2003-2008 Nissan 350Z (Coupe & Convertible)
2003-2006 Infiniti G35 Sedan
2003-2007 Infiniti G35 Coupe

Part number: GSP26-8UAS2
MSRP: $550

The new STREET BASIS Z retains the features and tuning that the previous STREET BASIS line offered, but with a greater adjustability range for ride height. Also utilizes our fully sealed dampers bringing overall costs down and translates to a very low price for the consumer!

Contact your authorized TEIN dealer for ordering!!!

Coilover Claim That Are Mis-Installations

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Sergio M.

Many times we receive claims of defective dampers leaking oil which are then requested to be repaired or exchanged under warranty. For the most part the actual cause of the damper failure would be due to mis-installation. Now regardless if its you first time doing a coilover install or have many years of working in automotive repair, a mis-installation can occur at any time. For the most part the installation instructions included with our coilover systems are straight forward but are usually never read through properly, overlooking the important advisories placed throughout the instructions. Following these advisories will of course lead to a problem free installation.

A common disregarded advisory detailing to avoid clamping the piston shaft to tighten the damper top nut. Most consumers and “Mechanics” often are unable to tighten up the top nut claiming that holding the piston shaft body would be the only way to tighten the top nut which would lead up to the coilover to leak. For a better visual understanding what can happen to the piston rod if clamped down, please see the images below of a discarded damper.

Now to the point of this blog post. This is in no way a manufacturing defect of the coilover. The markings on the piston shaft are what can be referenced as “The Smoking Gun” as it is an obvious tall tale sign that something had been used on the shaft. Do not use anything to clamp down the piston shaft. Our kits would either offer special machined sections of the piston shaft that can be held with a wrench or incorporate the use of the upper spring seat in conjunction with the included adjusting wrenches to hold the piston shaft. If the top nut turns even when tightened but not torqued down, placing the vehicle load on that specific corner then torqueing the top nut will work.

When it comes to any product claims, we do our best in repairing those that respectively are a manufacturing defect. If the item is not covered under warranty an explanation is given and detailed for the consumer to further understand the reason for the warranty decline.

The End of The Scion Era

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Paul P.

It’s sad to hear that the Scion marque has reached its end. With just over 13 years of production, the brand made a huge impact on the sporty compact car market, and has helped manufacturers like ourselves by being able to offer suspension packages for very customizable platforms. After all, that was the appeal of the Scion line- customization. And affordability.

However, with our economy hitting another rut, it seems to not be in Scion’s favor. So, as of August this year, we will no longer see Scion badged vehicles. Toyota will be carrying over a few of their current and new platforms. Whether that affects the model names is not known yet. Regardless, it will be great to see the continuation of some of these Scion vehicles under the Toyota marque.

Let’s take a look back at some memorable Scion projects we had our hands on.

How about our very own Scion xB widebody, built by our previous Marketing Director Philip Chase

Philip had a completely custom, steel fendered widebody kit made for this xB. From what we last heard, this car is still roaming around at several car shows. This xB used a set of our [now discontinued] Hybrid Dampers, which was a ride height adjustable damper kit, but also had a hydraulic setup that allowed you to adjust ride height ~2 inches on the fly. Definitely useful considering this custom body kit gave the car very little ground clearance.

Then we also have our R&D Engineer’s personal Scion FR-S which first used a set of MONO FLEX dampers, then eventually used our SUPER RACING dampers. Shu was a regular attendee for local track days. Originally owning a Honda S2000 with our SUPER RACING dampers, he eventually wanted to get an FR-S and try to develop it into a great street and track car. It was actually his daily driver for a while. While he was using our SUPER RACING dampers, it eventually became a test bed for us in developing damping for this setup.

We also have the Rally xD, which was a Scion Racing program vehicle spearheaded by Gordon Ting

The Rally xD used dampers made through our SPECIALIZED DAMPER Program. Since rally type suspension wasn’t readily available for this car, this program was the best solution. In total we made two kits, one based around our HG type dampers and one loosely based on our Gr.N dampers.

Its final iteration was a take on some classic Toyota rally cars from the good ol’ days

We also have the Scion tC of Edgar Coria and his wife Tiffany. They use our STREET BASIS dampers for their widebody 2nd gen tC.

One of our good friends, Five Axis Designs, has been involved with Scion since their inception, and they were responsible for prototyping a lot of vehicles for the Toyota group. Being that we’ve had a great relationship with Five Axis, a lot of their projects had TEIN suspensions.

Troy, owner of Five Axis was one of the first to get our TYPE FLEX dampers for the then-new FR-S

Before the Scion iM reached the US shore, we helped Five Axis with suspension for this concept iM

Another FR-S built by Five Axis for CAPCOM. Yes, the producers of the Street Fighter series of video games! Also on one of our FLEX damper setups.

Five Axis has also built some pretty crazy concepts around the tC, xA, and xB platforms, such as these cars

We’ll be sad to see the Scion name disappear. However, for many of us, we were able to witness something pretty great for our generation of automotive enthusiasts. We got to see the era of customization grow into something never really seen before for the sport compact car market. It pushed the envelope in both show and race, with builders thinking way outside the box (like the guys at Five Axis!). Kudos to the Scion marketing team on getting their name spread all throughout North America and beyond. For us, Scion will be in some of our fondest of memories.

TEIN 4X4 Dampers

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Paul P.

Not necessarily new for us. We’ve actually made 4×4 Dampers in the past, but it was limited to one model and very limited vehicle applications.

Now we’re bringing them back, along with four different models, and hoping to offer them for a wider variety of 4×4 vehicles!

First up is our 4×4 SPORT dampers. These are loosely based on our Type GRAVEL dampers, which are a rebound damping only adjustable (16-way) with ADVANCE NEEDLE technology and ride height adjustable setup. However, this new 4×4 Sports damper setup will incorporate our new Hydraulic Bump Stop (H.B.S.) system, which to date is only applied to our FLEX A line of suspensions. Our proprietary ZT coatings are applied to threaded bodies to provide all-weather ease of adjustment for ride height. Of course, these will be EDFC systems compatible (EDFC II, EDFC ACTIVE, or EDFC ACTIVE PRO). So far, we are making applications for the Toyota Landcruiser and FJ Cruiser.

Second is our 4×4 GRAVEL dampers. These are based on our HG setup, which is twin-tube structure with external reservoir, giving you separate compression and rebound damping adjustment (both 16-way) with ADVANCE NEEDLE technology and ride height adjustability. Because these have external reservoirs, we are able to invert the rear dampers for applications such as the Toyota FJ Cruiser, since the nitrogen charge is separated by a floating piston in the external reservoir. Ride height adjustment is smooth using our ZT coatings. Also EDFC systems compatible! Applications are Toyota Tundra, FJ Cruiser, and Landcruiser, as well as the Ford F150.

Our third offering is our 4×4 PREMIUM model. This may be a bit more limited in vehicle applications. So far, this has been offered to the Middle East market for the Nissan Patrol/Safari and Mercedes G63 AMG. These are monotube structures with external reservoirs giving independent compression and rebound adjustment. As the name implies, it is a premium line with much more flashy finishing. The damper bodies are also coated with our proprietary ZT coating for superior all-weather performance. However, these also include anodized dust covers all the way to the external reservoir. Quite flashy!

Internally, the monotube structure benefits from our Temperature Control Valve (T.C.V.) technology, which regulates oil flow as temperature and viscosity changes, as well as our Hydraulic Bump Stop system. And yes, EDFC systems compatible for both compression and rebound adjustments.

Lastly is our 4×4 RALLY model. Technically, these are a made-to-order setup. We’ve applied the rally models to race only vehicle applications. Developed directly from our experience in China Rally Raid (similar to Paris-Dakar rally, if that rings a bell), and taking the most out of our Group N rally program. Features include monotube construction, Temperature Control Valve, Hydraulic Bump Stop, Micro Speed Valve (M.S.V.) technology, High & Low Speed compression adjustment (3-way), and TEIN proprietary coatings. Built to endure some of the toughest racing conditions for 4×4’s. And of course, EDFC systems compatible!!!

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV rally SUV you see in our cover picture of this post is on an example of our 4X4 RALLY suspension, as a matter of fact!

Starting at around $20,000.00 (depending on application/use).

So why the re-introduction to 4×4 suspension? Quite honestly there is a huge demand for truck and SUV suspension. While it seemed that sales of such vehicles dwindled off in the mid 2000’s, consumers are saying otherwise nowadays, and that leaves plenty to be desired from the aftermarket. We want to be a part of that trend, and this also helps us to grow our brand. Plus, we have the technology and our heritage in rally racing. We know we can offer a truly unique product for the 4×4 market!

Look forward to updates on our 4×4 suspension program for 2016 within the next few months!!!

Here’s a video of that TEIN sponsored Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV that we found on YouTube:

Quite interesting seeing a hybrid SUV being used for racing!!!

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