nateee

tein flex are great coils. Have them on my nsx

FD3S2005

iTrader: (11)

what are the spring rate of the apexi ones and the flex again?

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

Ive Tein Flex, but running 8k/6k along with tanabe front/rear sway bars. Its a much more compliant dual purpose setup, especially for those who drive on the street. I autox relatively regularly, and road course the car a couple of times a year. The setup probably isnt 100% optimal for 275 wide race rubber at autox like I run, but its certainly competent enough to handle it. Howard Coleman also seems to agree from reading his opinions on the spring rate and teins from a track perspective.

Running 12k/12k or 14k/14k is really only useful on a perfectly smooth race track AND running a big rear wing. (note the high rear rate is to counter the downforce from the rear wing so the car doesnt end up raked backwards at high speed like a truck hauling too much stuff in the bed)

With those super high rates on the road the handling will likely be reduced as your tires and car "bounce" over bumps instead of the suspension keeping the tire contact patch actually on the road. At such spring rates you are essentially running NO suspension. As a side note, you'll also notice after 10-20,000 miles of suspension like that on your car that the interior rattles like an old POS car. BTDT in my younger days. Cars interior sounded so bad I eventually sold the car even though there was nothing else wrong with it.

What happened to running realistic spring rates, realistic drop, and correct fitting wheels / tires? Is "aggressive fitment" code word for "incorrect fitment" (Yes I understand its the new trendy thing to do....I also understand low offsets gets your deeper lips on the wheels. I just cant get over how goofy the tire stretch looks thats required to pull off too low of offset wheels)

Pictures really dont tell you anything... but here is my car with Flex on it. Obviously, the ride height is adjustable. Its also likely higher than you are interested in going, though if you care the lower control arms are pretty much at 90* flat, which is really where the suspension is designed to work best on most double wishbone suspension designs. (allows correct camber gain. If you slam it and have to run crazy stiff spring rates to stay off the bump stops you also remove suspension travel meaning the camber gain doesnt exist. To compensate you can run high amounts of static camber and eat the insides of your tire... completely defeating the purpose of the beautifully designed FD suspension )

Its been a couple years since I messed with the height, but if I remember right the front is as high as it will go and the rear about midway. Car rides good enough to where me and my wife took it on vacation for a 11hr drive there and 11hr drive back.

Good luck in your choice.

thewird

iTrader: (8)

The Re-Amemiya spec DG-5 coilovers are actually 16k front and 18k rear. I know because I have them and love them. Honestly, isn't that harsh and is livable with. They work damn amazing on high speed tracks, I absolutely love the setup. However, on much lower speed corner tracks, sometimes it would be nice to have the rear a little more planted but you get used to driving the car with the characteristics the coilovers give the car. At the limit the FD should have a slight slide coming out of corners anyway.

edit: also, I DO drive my car A LOT on the street. To give you an idea, I put 30,000 km on the car in 2009. This included a trip to the DGRR --> Florida --> and back home though as well.

I've considered lowering the rear spring rate to 16k get more bite in the slower tracks but I'm worried the car won't be able to dive the high speed corners and power through the whole corner as well as it does now. I catch up to fully stripped and caged race cars and even Formula Spec racers (not sure if thats the right term but I found it funny being able to corner faster then them) in the corners the way it is now.

You can see the 16k and 18k on the springs...



thewird

tabuk1!

iTrader: (5)

BryanDowns...well said. You're FD looks nice. Would you mind sharing the wheel/tire sizes..? Are your fenders rolled?

gsxrjjordan

Lots of bad information in this thread. I bought my FD with the Tein's and was planning to ditch them since I've had less than stellar performance from them in other applications, but have decided to keep them.

First off - just because the spring rate is higher does not make the car undrivable on the street, or mean that it's going to handle like crap with street tires. Lots of racers here are using spring rates from the Tein's stock 10/8 to 14k/14k or even 20k/20k for autocross with slicks.

The Tein's are a very compliant setup that goes pretty damn low (I haven't had mine down to the collars yet) and I see why a lot of road coarser's enjoy them (Howard Coleman being the largest advocate I think) - they responsive, have a great stroke (almost 4" usable) and the valving adjustment is great. Compared to the Stances I've run in a couple other apps, there's a larger range of adjustment and a more progressive feel, although I've never run Stances on my FD.

In my opinion, the spring rate is too soft though. Even though I have almost no bump steer, the car gets very unsettled with bumps, and I've gotten down to the bump stops a couple times on stock 16x8 wheels with 225-series rubber - damping adjustment set one click softer than middle in the front and one stiffer than mid in rear.

My new super special setup I've decided to try is 12k/12k Swift springs and 4k assist springs in the back. I'll report back with my impressions, as I believe the valving in the Teins will work very well with the 12k Swifts (I'll stiffen it up to match the stiffer springs) ~ I'd love to do a back/back comparison with Stance's and/or a Koni or Zeal setup sometime!

thewird

iTrader: (8)

I agree, stiff springs don't make the car horrible to drive at all having run them. The only mod that made me somewhat dislike the street driving was the Banzai diff brace. I'm gonna try solid mounts this year and remove the diff brace to see if its better.

thewird

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

Front: 18x8 - Azenis 615 235/40/18 I think? (definitely 235 wide anyway)
Rear: 18x9 - Azenis 615 275/35/18 I think? (definitely 275 wide anyway)

It actually understeers a good bit on the street tires. (based on the tire differences... duh huh? )

I run 275 wide v710's at autox on all 4 corners on 17x9 wheels (forget the offset at the moment) on stock fenders.(no roll) Only place it rubs is near full lock, and even then thats only rubbing on the front part of the fender liner. (ie: the part that is at the bottom of the wheel well blocking access to reach behind the front bumper)

Thanks for the compliments

asesereker

Bryan
I know this is a ten-year-old thread, but if you're still out there, what wheels are these?