Any bad experiences with Tein Basic/SS?

[Siberian]

Has anyone with a Tein Basic or SS kit had a damper fail?

Alternatively, has anyone used a Tein Basic or SS kit for at least a year without any problems?

Lastly, what's the ride like for the Basic kit? Are the Basic dampers equivilent to Tein adjustables set to 1, 8, 16?

I see that these kits don't have the pillowball gadget thingies, and have read that dampers can fail when used without them (when coupled with very stiff springs).

I also see that Tein does include them with their stiffer springs (Flex kits and up), so I'm hoping that years of R&D proved that you don't need pillowballs for 500# springs, but do for 559#

Yea, I've searched... and very few comments on the Basic kit. And for all the warnings about damper failures when pillowballs aren't used, I haven't read of an actual failure.

 

[jtmcinder]

Originally posted by Siberian
I also see that Tein does include them with their stiffer springs (Flex kits and up), so I'm hoping that years of R&D proved that you don't need pillowballs for 500# springs, but do for 559#

I toasted a front Koni running 500# springs with just a GC upper plate. I can't imagine that Teins are more hardy than Konis, but, then again, I don't have the best imagination. YMMV.

- Jtoby

ps. Tein has years of experience with struts; I'm not sure how long they've been making stuff for multi-link systems.

 

[62-1gsx]

but teins are rebuildable!!! so no matter what you throw at them, all you have to do is rebuild it. and yes they will take alot more abuse than some koni's. i have the flex's w/pillow mounts. they are probably the best investment on my car.

 

[my97mitsGSX]

damn, i was going to go with koni/ground control

should i get tein ss or flex instead?

 

[jtmcinder]

Originally posted by 62-1gsx
but teins are rebuildable!!!

The Teins that we're talking about are rebuildable in exactly the same sense that Koni Sports are rebuildable. You must release the pressure, work on them, and then have a way to get the gas back inside. Note that both Tein and Koni suggest that you send them back to them to be worked on; both include some sort of "don't do this at home" warning. In other words, neither are rebuildable in the normal sense of the word in the world of shocks, in that neither has a valve already installed, making degassing and regassing easy.

- Jtoby

 

[62-1gsx]

i didnt know that koni's were rebuildable, but your whole " neither are rebuildable in the normal sense of the word in the world of shocks" even if you sent a bad tein into tein to get fixed, its only $125-150 to rebuild one, against buying a new one for $250-450. not to mention you can disasembled the teins and change the specifications of the shock itself.

it dont matter, non of us are tein or koni techs. teins are one of the best to me, and ride and handle alot better than koni in my opinion

 

[62-1gsx]

Originally posted by my97mitsGSX
damn, i was going to go with koni/ground control

should i get tein ss or flex instead?

its all in waht your lookin to get out of your suspension, the ss are great to, they are almost the same as the flex's, but the flex's come with the pillow mounts, where as for the ss, the mounts are only availabe on certain cars for ss's. The flex's are also edfc compatable (electronic damper force controller) which means you can change the damper from inside the car instead of changing the damper by hand one wheel at a time form the outside.

 

[Ballin' GS]

Originally posted by Siberian
Has anyone with a Tein Basic or SS kit had a damper fail?

Ya, they killed my father and raped my mother

 

[62-1gsx]

im sorry, that must have been hard to get through.

 

[Siberian]

Originally posted by Ballin' GS
Ya, they killed my father and raped my mother

That must have been quite a shock

 

[onegee]

Originally posted by Siberian
That must have been quite a shock

....nice. :laugh: