Street Basis for the Honda Element

We recently went forward with testing of the Street Basis coilover which will replace the Basic. The Basic kit had some consumer concerns when it came down to the kits valving and also spring rates. Many consumers sent in the dampers to have the rears revalved to both a more aggressive spring rate and valving to match the spring rates. This time around further testing had been made to find the optimal ride quality for this kit, and being that another TEIN Staff member (Andres) and I already had the vehicles with an excessive modification to the dampers and the other in its stock form, we had a chance to throw in our own 2 cents.

The initial valving of the Basic was softer than expected for the rear. We both felt that the spring rate and valving should be changed to be more aggressive possible matching our past experiences. The first new spec was not to most of our expectations, not just coming from me but other staff who had a change to test drive the vehicle. They changed it many more times even asking to use my vehicle for the testing as it differed in ride feel from the SC models. Finally they came to a damping spec which, to my surprise, was extremely smooth and balanced for the spring rates used. Let’s just put it this way, the rear would actually still be carrying the same spring rate as the Basic but the fronts were change.

The Street Basis is expected to be released around mid to late February and would be priced around $900.00 MSRP but not confirmed yet. For future updates on the kits release date and pricing, please check back with us on the TEIN websites “New Applications” tab or follow us on Facebook.

ONE SLAMMED ELEMENT!!

‘Sup Guys! As you can see, this Element does not look like your ordinary slammed Element. Then again why would it, since this one belongs to one of our staff that is known for slamming his cars!

You can see how much lower it is compared to another staff member’s stock Element here.

This slam didn’t come easy. Gonzo had to look over lots of design drawings and come up with the one that basically lowered the car to his liking! He decided to go with customized Basic dampers from a 2001-2005 Honda Civic re-valved to 10kg and 14 kg springs. After he completed lowering his Element he purchased a nice set of Enkei’s (first gen NT03+M  18″ by 8 1/2″  to make it look even lower (overall diameter of the wheel and tire is smaller than the factory setup).

**The 2001-2005 Civic Basic kit is is not a direct swap into the Element- steering arm location is not the same and requires custom steering tie rod ends to make it work. It should be noted that if anyone decides to do a similar modification to their vehicle, it is at their sole discretion.

Some of his upgrades are a S2000 steering wheel with functioning cruise control, a rear camber kit and a Carbing blue anodized shift knob.