Horrible ride with Tein Flex

My car came with Tein Flex coils installed and the ride is terrible. I have read enough to know these coilovers are not great. I also believe the car is too low because the weight transfer just feels "weird" to me when I corner aggressively. Maybe I'm wrong there? The handling sucks compared to my stock BRZ.

The ride height seems to be set right at the point where there is no wheel gap.

Should I bother screwing with this or look into a new coilover? I have read a lot of great reviews about the BC racing + swift spring combo, but I think I'd like to check out fortune auto + swift springs since fortune auto is located in my state and they seem to be well-regarded on other vehicles. About the same price as the BC setup.

Bad ride? You must not have ridden on BC coils either. No Oem tophats equals shockwaves through the chassis. I only wish I held back and saved for Kw. Mine will be for sale soon, dirt cheap.

Flex are not too bad and shouldn't be riding/handling like you say it is. Make sure the shocks are not blown and the dampening is adjusted correctly. It could most definitely be too low also.

If you add some swaybars, that would also help with handling and feel.

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One more thing, tires have a lot to do with it also. Something else to consider.

I have had 500 dollar tokiko shocks and lowering springs that have handled better on my preludes with cheap ass wheels and tires then my nsx BC coils and also was far more comfortable too. Never ridden on teins. But the BC suspension should be listed as smooth road suspension ONLY. It sucks.

Raise the ride height. That definitely sounds like a "show but no go" setting of the suspension.

I believe the Tein Flex is a setup where you can adjust spring pre tension and ride height separately. This often gets screwed up because people are too stupid to read instructions. The spring pre tension is crucial for the ride comfort. Try do get the instructions for your Tein and redo the base adjustments.

Bernhard

Thanks for the input. I'll try raising the ride height. I don't really know of they added any spring preload or not. They are very bouncy if the shocks are not set to the hardest setting.

roybotnik said:

Thanks for the input. I'll try raising the ride height. I don't really know of they added any spring preload or not. They are very bouncy if the shocks are not set to the hardest setting.

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Also, that bounce you feel comes from the stiffer, cheaper, racing coilovers. The BC coils do this as well. I wish they had rebound dampening.

[MENTION=31260]Jinks[/MENTION], where do you typically have your BC dampers set? What springs do you have?

jwmelvin said:

@Jinks, where do you typically have your BC dampers set? What springs do you have?

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I have the standard BC springs. The 10/10 spring rates. I usually keep them on 18 clicks from full soft. Anything more than that, the fronts bottom out and I am at full BC ride height up front. Whether full soft or full hard, the transfer of energy through the suspension from the pillow ball mount is something I do not desire. On a totally smooth road, they rock. On the slightest of unevenness, they are pure garbage. Stiff yes, compliant no. They rebound like slingshots. I also have ct sway bars, nsx r chassis bars, but I am running 18/19 set up wheels. 275/30/19 rear and 215/35/18 front. The front fenders are already slightly cracked due to the extremely shortened shock length of the BC coilovers versus Oem shocks. I have tried adjusting and adjusting with no solution. Any ideas would certainly help otherwise, these Taiwanese dump truck coilovers go bye bye.

Jinks said:

I have the standard BC springs. The 10/10 spring rates. I usually keep them on 18 clicks from full soft. Anything more than that, the fronts bottom out and I am at full BC ride height up front.

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That seems odd to me. I have Swift springs with 10/8 rates but run 8-10 clicks from soft on the street. And our streets are terrible around DC. It takes an unusually large compression to get my tire to rub the fender liner and they never bottom out. My front is a 215/40-17 on an 8" wheel with +33 offset. I am not at the top of the ride height.

I think that 18 clicks from soft gets into the rather-uncomfortable range. I've driven home from autocross like that (maybe at 25 clicks from soft) and it's no good. At all.

I wish I had more to offer but it surprises me that your results are so bad. I agree that there are better dampers for sure but your experience doesn't jive with mine and I wonder if yours are really adjusted correctly. What is your wheel offset?

It may be because I am running 3mm spacers up front with I think 35 mm offset. The edge of the wheel has just enough to hit the tabs on the liner and peel it like an orange. Even if I wasn't bottoming out, it is still a harsh ride. Worth 900$ yeah maybe. Next on my list of things is k-dubs from Deutschland.

Check the pre-load. There shouldn't be any pre-load. I also have the flex and they are harsh but only because of the spring rates (10k F, 12k R). The handling is great though. I plan to install 10k swift springs all around to help with the harshness.