sincityIS

I know that Tein claims that they offer 16 way damping force adjustment, but mine have like 29 or 30 clicks on them, is that weird. They came set to the setting that was 3 clicks from full clockwise adjustment.

My questions are:

1. I imagine turning the dial clockwise makes it stiffer and counterclockwise make it softer?
2. What setting are you guys running to achieve a nice balanced ride and also maintain a plush ride?

Yes they did come with instructions, but they are all in Japanese and Babelfish doesn't do too well for me, lol.

tt061880

I have mines all the way to the right now, and yes WTH isup with with instruction?

Belmont

I am at "6", but then again I chose to get the EDFC to change damping on the fly.

0 is most firm, 16 is softest.

sincityIS

So basically, all the way clockwise is FIRMEST and all the way counterclockwise is SOFTEST.

tt061880

OFF TOPIC: can someone please tell me if the damping has anything to do with rubbing? I know height is the main cause but wouldn't soft damping make it worse? Thanks for answering my question.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No, this is not correct. Fully clockwise is stiffest. 16 clicks off fully clockwise is softest. It is possible to go more than 16 clicks, but the instructions say doing this could damage the shock internally, so you should never go more than 16 clicks off of fully tightened.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

They have nothing to do with each other. Rubbing is a function of the rim's offset and the width of the tire. Changing either or both of these will fix rubbing. Changing ride height and damping will do nothing but mask the problem until you hit a big enough bump at a high enough speed to overcome the spring and damping settings. The tire should never contact anything in the wheel well regardless of springs and shock settings.

tt061880

thanks lobuxracer, once again you have amazed me with your knowledge . You're a jewel to the CL community.

tt061880

so if I have it at the softest setting, my headlight won't bounce like an S2k huh. I want that flicker effect like an S2k headlight and smooth ride at the same time, I guess that's too much to ask for lol.

sincityIS

Oh great. I have been running them set at 8 clicks from fully counterclockwise. I have put about 500 miles on the car too. I just turned them all the way up and then backed out 16 clicks a couple hours ago to rectify where they were set. The car actually seems to be better. It rides a smidge firmer, but they car handles way better and is more controlled.
How can I tell if I have done internal damage by running them too soft? I sure hope I haven't. I don't think I have because they seem to be working fine. I know I had KWs on my S4 and I went through 3 sets in 3 months because they kept blowing seals, but I was running them at the factory preferred setting. They were too much of a pain to adjust because you had to remove them, so I just left them be. I sure hope the Teins are more reliable because I don't have the time or the money to worry about my car being unreliable.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Don't feel bad, I ran mine on my Supra at 20 clicks for a long time. I really don't know if there was internal damage or not, but I do know the threads on the rods got hosed after awhile, and I sent them to Tein for a rebuild and new rods. When I got them back I didn't make the same mistake again. Just don't send them to Tein expecting expeditious turnaround. I'd whine about how long it took, but just expect to be down for at least a month from when you ship them.

sincityIS

What are Rods? Now that I think about it I ran them like that since Saturday night. Since then I think I put approx. 300-350 miles on it. do you think it is possible I may have done something adverse to them? God I hope not it is a major pain and expense to get them installed. Not to mention I am not a big fan of having my car taken apart a lot. It seems the more it gets worked on, the looser they get.
In reality they were only run for this amount of time 6 clicks under their recommended minimum. I don't see how running them too soft could do damage, I know if you run a shock too stiff though you run the risk of blowing seals. Plus don't these have built in bump stops to prevent them from over travel?

sincityIS

Also a little off topic, but I hear a rattle coming from the rear on both sides when I run over the lane dividers. I thought the rattle was coming from the front, but in my neighborhood we have individual blue road bump things that I ran over to see if I could tell where the noise is coming from and it is the rear, on both sides. What can this be? It just started doing it after the Teins were installed. you can't here the noise with the windows up, only from the exterior of the car after running over the road dots. No other type of roughness or bumps in the road make the noise happen except for the road dots. Not a huge deal to me, unless it is the sign of something wrong.
Also kind of weird to me that it is happening on both sides.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

The rods are the part you put the nut on at the hat.

sincityIS

Oh well my rods are definately fine then. I always inspect work after it has been done on my cars. One of the things I look for is at the nuts and threads of the items being installed. This is a good sign something has been over torqued if it is stripped or scarred.