TIEN RA's

[KGP]

I would like some feedback from some of the owners who have put on the TIEN RA coil-overs. I have heard from a few that the car is a bit tail happy? I also read from...

Originally posted by 2slow2speed:
For what is worth, I had the TEIN RA's with the standard spring rates 10kg/12kg on my 97-T, the car tended to oversteer and it was a real pain for the track.

Ended up going with softer spring rates on the rears per Andrie and Chris recommendations, 10kg that seemed to do the trick the car is about as close to neutral now.

Ken

Any others with similar experiences?
-Gene

 

[tmeekins]

I don't push my car as hard as everyone else does at the track, but the car feels very solid. So I'm not going to say how good or bad they are, as I need more experience to make that judgement, though I did feel really confident with them and my first two events with them I dropped my lap times a lot (but I also had just installed a BBSC.. so I had multiple factors.)

I did finally get to my first auto-cross 2 weeks ago since installing the Teins and it was the best balanced feel I've ever had in my car. I've done a lot of autocrossing the last 5 years. Both stock and with my Bilstein/Eibach's I was always chasing oversteer problems. With the Tein's the car felt great and I didn't need to make a single adjustment. If the SCCA will ever update their website, I'll tell you how I did.

Just remember to go back to soft setting when you're on the street. Several times I went over a speed bump very slow, but it still popped the car up in the air and I came back down hard. Not a problem on the soft setting.

 

[chudson1549]

Just had them installed yesterday

Ditto as above. Will have to let you know as I get use to car again. My settings are 8 clicks in from hard or in the middle. Dali sways street/race hard (1st) hole at the front and middle hole in the rear.
oops, forgot tires 215 (17)front ; 285 (18) rear

 

[maomaonsx]

I would recommend against using over-sized aftermarket sway bars if you already have TEIN, or maybe only up size the front bar. With big aftermarket sway bar in the rear, it will definately oversteer.

 

[Animate]

tmeekins, which swaybars are you using? Also, how difficult is it to change the damper settings?

 

[KGP]

I would recommend against using over-sized aftermarket sway bars if you already have TEIN, or maybe only up size the front bar. With big aftermarket sway bar in the rear, it will definately oversteer.

Interesting. Any comment from MJ or Chris on this?

 

[tmeekins]

I'm using the old Dali street sway bars on the softest setting. Anything harder used to induce a lot of oversteer. On Bilsteins I always oversteered and I almost went back to the stock bars on the rear, then I switched to the Teins and now everything seems nicely balanced. The first time I used them at the track, the thing I noticed the most was that I didn't notice anything. In other words, I got to fully concentrate on my driving and not on any wierd sensations from the car. With my previous suspension, I would always get uncomfortable feelings from the car, which made me aprehensive pushing too far. I think it was the progressive nature of the Bilsteins that felt wierd.

 

[tmeekins]

Just to follow-up. My sway-bars only have rear adjustments and I have to use them on the softest setting. I wish I could tighten the front, but in a bind, I can go to stock on the rear.

Question for the experts: Can I use the stiffness settings on the Tein's to emulate what I can do with the swaybar? So if I'm oversteering, can I soften the rear / tighten the front?

 

[chudson1549]

I would recommend against using over-sized aftermarket sway bars if you already have TEIN, or maybe only up size the front bar. With big aftermarket sway bar in the rear, it will definately oversteer.

Good point. The ones I have are the size up from stock.

 

[Animate]

tmeekins: thanks for the update. I'm also considering the Tiens and am encouraged by your experience with them. I've have some track swaybars on order. Judging by the other comments I'm in for a bit of oversteer...

 

[KGP]

I'm also considering the Tiens and am encouraged by your experience with them. I've have some track swaybars on order. Judging by the other comments I'm in for a bit of oversteer...

I too was ready to order some new sway bars (before the Tien purchase). So, the question is; How should I proceed from my current stock suspension setup?

A. Install the Tien's first with stock springs and no sway bars.
B. Install the Tien's first, substituting the rear springs with the 10KG springs and no sway bars.
C. Tiens with 10KG rear springs and front only sway bar. If so, which one.
D. Tiens with front and rear sway, with front being track and rear being street.
E. Same as above but with 10KG rear springs.
F. Other (list your recommendation).
G. Drop back 15 and punt.

 

[STLNSX]

I too was ready to order some new sway bars (before the Tien purchase). So, the question is; How should I proceed from my current stock suspension setup?

A. Install the Tien's first with stock springs and no sway bars.
B. Install the Tien's first, substituting the rear springs with the 10KG springs and no sway bars.
C. Tiens with 10KG rear springs and front only sway bar. If so, which one.
D. Tiens with front and rear sway, with front being track and rear being street.
E. Same as above but with 10KG rear springs.
F. Other (list your recommendation).
G. Drop back 15 and punt.

all excellent questions. Anyone out there have it all figured out already? And to make it even more difficult how about all the above questions w/ tein re's instead of ra's.

Randy

 

[j14nsx]

For KGP,

Do one thing at a time. The conventional thinking is that sway bars are best used to balance a car, understeer/oversteer characteristics. The thicker the sway bar, the more grip you will lose. They transfer weight from the inside wheel to the outside, making the outside do more work. Do the suspension first, then if you need to tweak do it after.

I got the TEINs first. Then found some 16/17 OEM wheels. I don't need to do any more than that.

 

[Kinan]

I have Tein Ra's on the softest setting with rear Dali street sways set to the third hole in. I noticed nothing but improved handling when I added the Teins. I already had the sways on and didn't touch them. Changing from 15/16 to stock 16/17's with this setup shaved 9 seconds from my lap times at Pahrump. I don't know how much of this was from the suspension change but I suspect a lot more improvement than just from changed tires alone.

 

[NSXGOD]

I too was ready to order some new sway bars (before the Tien purchase). So, the question is; How should I proceed from my current stock suspension setup?

A. Install the Tien's first with stock springs and no sway bars.
B. Install the Tien's first, substituting the rear springs with the 10KG springs and no sway bars.
C. Tiens with 10KG rear springs and front only sway bar. If so, which one.
D. Tiens with front and rear sway, with front being track and rear being street.
E. Same as above but with 10KG rear springs.
F. Other (list your recommendation).
G. Drop back 15 and punt.

First things first:

A: You can NOT use the stock springs with TEINS, and if you could they would be too soft for how the TEINS are valved.

B: You could try that, and remember that TEIN didn't pick their shipping spring rates and shock valving out of their ass, they tried lots of combinations on the car first. The NSX weighs more in the back than the front, so it needs a higher spring rate in the back. JMO - your O might be different.

C: Which one you pick will determine how the car feels to you. It might feel different to another person.

D: See C:

E: See D:

F: I've tried several NSX's with TEIN's set up out of the box as they come, with "track" sways and with "street/race" sways and they both felt neutral to me, on the track we were on, with the tires we were running.

Which brings me to "G"

G: Each persons personal definition of over and understeer tends to be different, and you cannot compare different cars with different weights, different tires, wheels, drivers etc etc and come to any sweeping generalizations that are universal for all people at all tracks and under all conditions. Do professional race teams sit around and drink coffee and read Auto Week all day? no, they spend as many hours as possible fiddling with everything to find the best balance for the car on any given day.

If you can find someone in your area that did it already - see how that car feels to you; then you will know.

JMO..........

 

[kenjiMR]

I run 10kg/10kg TEIN RA on my 94. I have Dali medium anti-sway bars with front set on full stiff and rear set on full soft. I think the front sway needs to be reduced by one notch and the car will be a little more neutral. From all the people I've heard that used 10/12 setup, It seems to oversteer. I would start with 10kg/10kg and play around with your sway bar and damper settings.

Update:

I didn't see MJ's post, but he is correct. Everyone's definition is different, so first get the 10/10 TEIN-RA and go to the track and compare your laptimes each time you make an adjustment or mod.

The Teins feel much different than OE setup, so be carefull when you drive it very hard the first time around. Also be sure to have good tires to maximize the potential of the suspension. Originally, I went from OE to Eibach/Koni... which was a horrible mistake, as I think the Eibach springs are the worst out there. The TEINs gave me a lot more confidence driving the car fast.

 

[sjs]

Sorry to say that I haven’t had the car with Tien REs and stock bars to the track but you are welcome to drive it on some back roads to see what you think of them for street purposes. The car with Koni/HR and Dali’s street/track bars can be adjusted a bit either side of neutral with the bars.

I’d agree with most of MJs comments, but I suspect that when KGP says “stock” he means “standard” rather than OEM. As others have said, there are many variables, but that does not preclude generalities or at least relative references. From what I can tell, all else being equal, the Tiens are probably balanced more toward oversteer than most of the common spring/damper combinations. But IMO that is as it should be. As we all know, most people are comfortable with more understeer than would be ideal for optimum lap times in the hands of a professional driver. I would say that the same is true of most people who track their cars regularly, and even most amateur wheel to wheel racers. Since the Tiens are theoretically geared more towards serious track performance I expect them to come balanced differently than Eibach or HR. Are they too much? Perhaps, but that’s when you start tuning the rest of the car to match them.

BTW, tmeekins comments about how great they are for autocross also suggests a bias towards oversteer since that tends to work best in a super tight course. If you get that into a high speed kink on the track you might find it a bit loose.