FD: Tein H-tech update
 

I got the Tein H-tech springs and Tokico Illuminas installed on the FD last weekend. I ended up replacing the spring seats as well as the upper shock mounts as well.

Impression:

I haven't yet noticed a huge difference in the ride of the car. It does seem less rough, but I think that is mostly attributable to the new shock mounts. In general, I didn't notice a big difference in ride stiffness, but then I've not yet autocrossed with it. I've only got about 200 miles on the new springs and shocks.

I played some with the Tokico adjustments and found that a little adjustment did improve the comfort on the freeway. I had to drive to a meeting over the weekend and I took a break, adjusted the shocks to a stiffer setting, and found a nice mountain road to ride on. The stiffer setting seemed to work well.

Unfortunately, I had a brain fart and failed to measure my ride height before I had the car on stands and the wheels off. So I don't know exactly what my ride height was beforehand. I figure it was pretty close to stock, whatever that is. Here is what my ride heights are now in inches, ground to fender and center hub to fender. The diameter of my wheel tire combination is almost identical to stock.
Left Front: 25 3/4, 13 5/8
Right Front: 25 7/8, 13 7/8
Left Rear: 25 7/8, 13 7/8
Right Rear: 26, 14

I'm not sure what stock is supposed to be, I'll do some more searching. It does not seem to be a lot lower. Tein claims a .8" drop on all four corners. I'm thinking this is about what I got.

The installation itself wasn't too bad. If I can do it, I think anybody can. The only real problem I had was not being able to remove the ABS sensor from the front hubs. As near as I can tell, they will only come out if I destroy them in the process.