chrisalpho

Does any one have experience with this suspension setup for the street ? it is for a MK4 supra , but will be installing it in a 1992 sc400, is 14kg springs good enough for street use , these are 16 way damping adjustable and compareable to monoflex that is available through tein

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

its not about the spring rate. its about the quality of the damper. you dont want the spring to do the "work" of the suspension.

a lot of JDM coilovers are way oversprung to cover up the really chitty damping characteristics...like tein

i wouldnt get tein unless i got them for like a couple of hundred bucks. and then i would resell them to make money

i dont have experience with tein on the SC but seeing from the 240's tein sux. you cant even compare my buddies two almost identical s13's. one on stance and one on tein.

chrisalpho

which tein does your buddy have ? i am actually looking for someone who has this setup on the sc400 ? i already have it so i am looking for someone who has some input
chris

1985zcar

iTrader: (1)

Really? I'm gonna disagree with 5sp jzz30's post.

I'll speak from personal experience on my S14 that I had.

My first coilovers were a used set of Tein HA coilovers (old school) and I liked them a lot, they rode nice and it handled well.

Problem with old used coilovers is they blow, esp. when driven on ****ty roads everyday, which is what my Tein's did, so I ended up getting rid of them and got a set of Stance's.

I hated my Stance coilovers. Sure, they went low and the car looked good, but they rode like complete ****, and I even had the softer springs installed.

The RA's are supposedly for like track use, but with the excess weight of the SC, I don't think they're going to ride super bad, cuz from what I've heard, the Stances are like 14k for the SC. It should be fine, maybe a little stiff though.

I'm currently running Powered By MAX coilovers on my SC, and I like them a lot. They ride nice and the car handles really well for how heavy it is.

chrisalpho

the spring rates are 16kg in the front and 10 kg in the rear , will this help anyone figure it out ? and also whay does it have helper springs ? what do they do i am not looking to track this car ,just daily driving , tein suggesteed that i get 14kg in the front and 8 kg in the rear , i am not sure , also thinking about swapping with the tein cs

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

wow you are only the second person that i have ever talked to that doesnt like stance. the other guy doesnt like his because he has the very early gen ones that were crappy.

how old were your stances?

the stances for the sc are either 16 or 18 front and 12 or 10 rear. make your pick. i got 16/12 and its really nice for street use. if you need stiffer or softer springs you can always go to a stance dealer and buy some. with the stock valving you can go about 2k each way from stock before needing the dampers revalved.

if you want a set of custom valved stance, is you actually track it, its 100 per corner more over regular price.

chrisalpho

so the teins have a 16 front and 10rear , will this be a very stiff ride over stock , the setup i have is for a mk4 and i am aware that this will also lower the car 1 inch automatically ? any thoughts on harshness

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

from my experience on the softest setting it drives like stock and on the stiffest its pretty harsh.

i keep mine a bit on the stiffer side. its more rough but responds better.

if you want stock feel adjust the dampers on the softer side or from middle damping setting down to softer one. play with it a bit and find your comfort zone. on softest setting it should satisfy just about anyone in terms of comfort.

S14eva1

iTrader: (6)

is gonna be one stiff *** ride with those spring rates


you should go with tein flex or CST models

or

go with the best bang for the buck bilstein/hyper coil setup

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

its not that stiff of spring if you go with 14 or even 16 in the front.

the SC is a double wishbone suspension vehicle front and rear unlike the 240. the 240 is a lot lighter too.

when you deal with a double wishbone suspension vehicle the spring rates you see are not what you will actually get at the wheel. you have to consider the suspension motion ratio, that is how much the control arm moves with respect to the suspension compression.

motion ratio is calculated by taking the total length of the LCA and dividing my the length from the inside mounting point to the shock mounting point.

with a motion ratio of 1 you have one inch of control arm motion for every inch of spring compression, that is if the spring sat directly over the wheel it would get compressed exactly one inch for every inch of LCA motion. if you have a motion ratio of 0.5 then the spring rate gets multiplied by that. if you have a spring rate of 14K and motion ratio of 0.5 then you actually see a working rate of 7K.

on a 240 with mcpherson strut suspension setup in the front the motion ration is big thus the spring rate is almost identical to the working rate.

on an SC the motion ratio if like 0.7ish. so if you have a spring rate of 16 then comparatively on a 240 you would have about 11K. considering the SC is quite a bit heavier then a 240 that spring rate is very acceptable.

im at school right now and i dont have the numbers off hand but when i did the calculations the tein spring rate of 14K is about a working rate of 9K. stock feels somewhere in the 6-7k range. the teins will not be that much stiffer then stock.

if you get the tein CS the rate on the front is about a 12-14K range anyways and people love it for daily driving.

zeal and kei office are crazy track stiff at about 18 and 22K respectively.

spring rates arent everything. most japanese coilover systems are way over sprung to cover up for crappy damping characteristics. robi spec has a KW setup available for the supra now and it is being tested. he runs very soft spring rates.

after talking with a few very knowledgeable suspension people the general consensus that i got at was that you should run soft springs and let the shocks do the work for you.

if you are going to use it mostly on the street just about any coilover will do. track is a totally different story and you will need to spend anywhere from 1500-2500 for a really nice setup.

the bilstein/hypercoil is a really nice choice but if you are going to spend the money on that might as well get the really nice setup with helper springs and all. after playing around with different spring rates and possibly having the shocks revalved you are looking at 2000 bucks anyways.

chrisalpho

i just installed it on my sc and i have the damper on the softest setting and a drop about 1.8 inch , when i go over a bump i feel the car beiing a little bouncy , is this normal or should i just raise the car and this problem goes away ?

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

play with the damping a bit. if that does not help then the shock may have limited travel due to the amount of drop.

the coilovers i assume have only one way of lowering the car right? by lowering the spring.

you dont have an adjustible lower shock mount right?

on my stances the lower shock mount is adjustable so you can retail fun shock travel on the suspension, slam it, and yet retain good driving characteristics.

you have only one adjustment collar right under the spring right? if thats the case then the shock might be limited in its travel and cause worse ride.

play with the damping and if that doesnt help raise the car a bit.

good luck and let us know what you think. it might take a little bit of time to get it just right

chrisalpho

the only way to raise the car is by tightening the spring seat up , it only has a spring seat to adjust ( to lower it or not ) , i gues my question is when i tighten the springs ,especially the helper springs by adjusting the spring seat would it not preload the springs and therefore much harsher ride when the car is raised up ? or does it mean that the shock travel is more so therefore the damping is more effective ? soory for all the questions this is my first time with coilovers
thanks for all your help