RochNY91TSI Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Preface: The only other modification done to the car thus far is a 1st Gen Perrin RSB set on it's "softest" setting. My plans for the car are occasional tracking (I'm taking it to Watkins Glen next week for a two day event) and some auto-x. The car handles so well with the new setup, I'm seriously considering selling my 91 Talon and just driving the Legacy for the weekend racing. So this past weekend, I finally got some free time and installed the Tein Flex Coilovers that had been sitting in my livingroom for weeks. The install itself took about 3 1/2 hours which includes time bs'ing to a friend that stopped by. The fronts were exceptionally easy; I had a spring compressor on to start and soon realized that I didn't even need to compress the stock springs, all that was necessary was to unbolt the strut and drop them out. Rears were only slightly more challenging --I needed to pull out the plastic snap plugs in the trunk to get the carpet pulled back for access to the top of the strut, then I needed to put a small breaker bar on the half inch socket wrench to break the bottom bolt of the strut loose. I set the height of each corner to be as close as possible to the stock height without sacrificing strength of the threaded shock bodies. Each corner ended up visually being slightly lower, though I haven't measured the exact difference. At any rate, my visual alignment rack (my eyes) tells me that there's minimal negative rear camber and slightly wacky front camber (front camber is adjusted by an eccentric bolt stock and via the tophat in the Teins, so while the teins are zero'd out, I have no idea where the bolts put the actual camber --I've yet to get an alignment). I set the stiffness front and back to 13, which is midway in between the minimum and maximum amount that you can turn the adjustment (there are 26 total 'clicks'). Ride is only slightly firmer than stock. The car feels much more like a sports car now. I was expecting a very harsh ride as the spring rates were much higher than my 91 Eagle Talon with Eibach springs and AGX shocks (now that car is firm)... however I was pleasantly surprised at the ride quality. Just goes to show that springs with well matched dampers can make for a decent riding and handling car. The only time you'd know that there is an aftermarket suspension in it is going over railroad tracks or /really/ broken road; flat road or mild to moderate bumps are very tolerable. Handling on the other hand is 100% better. The car has much less body roll now and sticks to the road as well as the stock tires allow it to. I was able to take corners at a much higher speed, and still feel in control, than with the stock suspension. The whole time I was driving the car, I kept thinking that this is what the factory should have installed as OEM. All in all, the Tein's are an excellent product especially when taking into consideration the price. If you're looking to firm up the handling and ride of the LGT and do the occasional auto-x and / track event, I would recommend the Tein Flex coilovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggert Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 good to hear the positive review, got a set going on my car in two weeks. only difference is i'm going to try running tein's recommended ride height first. are you running the us spring rates? i think they're 9/9 but don't remember off-hand.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochNY91TSI Posted May 1, 2006 Author Share Posted May 1, 2006 Yep, US spring rates. I installed everything just as it came (hardware wise) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggert Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 oh, and one more question. i noticed that the rears are not symmetrical - the center of the strut seems offset from the upper bolts. which way did you install them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 I guess you didnt add any preload? I thought Teins only go up to 16 clicks. I dont recall 26 clicks. Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boostjunkie Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 I guess you didnt add any preload? I thought Teins only go up to 16 clicks. I dont recall 26 clicks. Oddly enough, while the Tein are only supposed to have 16 clicks, mine also had something like 26 clicks. The USDM spring rates are 8F/9R. My impressions on the Tein Flex's were pretty similar initially too. They ride great around town at low speeds where the limited travel is not tested, but once you take them on the freeway at higher speeds and hit some larger rises/bumps and edge drops, you'll find that the ride is quite a bit more jarring than stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochNY91TSI Posted May 1, 2006 Author Share Posted May 1, 2006 Nope, I added no preload. I may do that before races depending on how they handle, but for around town I like the extra travel. froggert, I didn't notice any offset on mine. I'll have to take a look again as I didn't make any adjustments for the rears other than the top dial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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