Tein vs Ohlins for street use

[LiquidSilverNC]

Howdy,

My next mod to my NC is going to be suspension, I want to upgrade the sways and coilovers. My car is a 2013 GT with factory suspension upgrade (bilstein yellows and LSD) and has some bracing that is my DD and will never be tracked.

Does anyone have experience with the Tein Street Flex? If they are high quality and great for the street (which they seem to be) I can get those plus sways for cheaper than the group buy price of the Ohlins. The only problem I can see with the Teins is they are lowering coilovers meaning you can't get the stock ride height out of them. That isn't a deal breaker it would just be nice.

Opinions, thoughts?

[Brian]

I do think the TEIN are really good value, particularly now that they come complete with the top mounts (even the Ohlins require re-use of factory rear top mounts). Thus, install is even easier with the Teins, they come assembled and ready to go. I have autocrossed on these TEINS in friends' MX5s, expect most will want upgrade FRONT sway and just stock rear sway, since the rates on the TEINS are pretty close front to back.

[mauser]

Hi LiquidSilverNC,

Currently running on factory default Bilsteins with Mazdaspeed lowering springs and Rx8 read/yellow sways. It is definitely an upgrade and to my biggest surprise the road comfort is not compromised at all just way less body roll. I think it is perfect if you do not want to track your car. Yet I'll move to Tein because the Mazdaspeed springs simply too soft (about 2.5/2 kg/mm) for trackdays and autoX and it is inconvenient during the race to feel that the spring rate change three times (soft spring -> hard sways -> bumpstop).

As I also use my car to commute, had to try Flex first. Fortunately, a local club member offered his NA for a short test drive. His car is equipped with Flex (for NA the springs a little bit stiffer: 7/6 kg/mm f/r, Flex for NC comes with springs 6/5 kg/mm f/r) and it was fairly good. It was interesting as I suspected that my spine will have some severe damage but no. The ride was definitely very firm, tire noise (when tyre hit something on the road -> pothole, asphalt joins, dilatation joins, etc.) increased and I could feel that the car hit the ground much harder but somehow it did not reach my spine. However, it is not the suspension I'd choose when the roads are bad in your area. In bad roads (also tried here: https://www.google.hu/maps/@47.454746,19.188673,3a,75y,105.33h,55.75t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s3Qus4EawhJGNvtq-Bv5xfA!2e0) it is simply not enough comfortable for commuting.

I also tried EDFC and it seems it makes no sense on the public roads as the springs are very stiff for normal (or even spirited) road driving and the difference between the hardest and softest settings could be felt only during hard cornering.

@Brian: As far as I see Flex for NC has very short rear shock travel. How much preload you suggest to set? As far as I know normally 0 preload is suggested but it also applied to the Teins too? (And of course thanks for the info you share with us, very-very useful!)

[Brian]

You can have no preload on spring, but you might get a bit of spring clang. That noise won't hurt anything but we usually put just a bit of preload so the springs don't move around much when the car fully unloads....because folks hear noise and think something must be wrong, even when nothing is wrong.

[mauser]

I'm thinking of some more serious preload, like one inch or somthing like that. Just to stay away from riding on the bumpstop on bad roads what we have here. (I know preload can be fine tuned later but the car would be corner balanced too and I have only limited access to our corner balancing device so I'd like to do it right for the first time. ) Do you think I shall add such one inch preload to the rear or riding on the bumpstops is not an issue even with these short shocks? Thanks!