B14 TEIN OWNERS: Opinion wanted on your Tein coilovers!

CHRIS/SR/SE · Jun 24th, 2005, 10:18 AM

I am getting ready to order some Tein SS's and want to hear from anyone with the basic or SS setup... I have done quite a bit of searching and everyone talks about ordering them but nothing about how well they work. Also did any of you get the pillow ball mounts? and if so for the front or front and back? Good and the bad. So lets hear it.

skets · Jun 25th, 2005, 01:46 AM

I've driven a n15 nissan pulsar (same as the b14) that was fitted with tein basics and it was downright scary to drive .. it bounced almost but not quite as badly as my megan racing/ tokico hp setup.

One thing to note though was that the roads we have in jamaica are far from perfect and on perfectly smooth roads the tein basics felt great but for that matter on perfectly smooth roads my setup felt great and i will be the first to tell you that my setup was sh*t. However, as bad as my setup was my cousin and myself were able to place 2nd and 4th in a local autocross agains pretty stiff competition ..i.e. rally prepared cars etc and we raced a set of bikes over very uneven terrain and were more than able to keep up and in some cases outcorner the bikes and there was no way i would have felt that confident with the tein basics...

the ss's feel waaay better (i've been driven in a pulsar with that setup as well) and i would sugest that if you have the money get the ss's.

xbrandonx · Jun 25th, 2005, 10:59 AM

I have the basics.

Ride is fairly smooth and I have 19"s. Nothing I can't handle. If you've ever driven a vehicle with 50kmiles on the stock suspension then your getting a worse ride then you will get with the Tein. handling is a complete dream. The car doesn't float at all. I'm gonna get the LTB soon to help out a bit more as well, however it really isn't needed.

OmegaManEX · Jun 25th, 2005, 02:12 PM

i have the basics on my B14, ride is good and handling is great. The car is alot easier to control and can be pushed significantly harder into turns. Depending on road condition , it can feel like stock at times.

btw i only got the basics, not the pillowball mounts, so im using the stock upper mounts

15k miles later the only bad thing is that my stock rubber mount isolater things have worn and the suspension squeaks during turns

skets · Jun 25th, 2005, 05:38 PM

i have to ask, what is the quality of teh roads like where you live?

reason being that here in jamaica where our roads are more potholes than road the basics are at best a pain and worse scary to drive over anything but the smoothest of roads.

i will agree with you that over smooth roads the basics are great but if you dont have the smoothest roads where you live the ride is certainly not cool.

ReVerm · Jun 25th, 2005, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHRIS/SR/SE

I am getting ready to order some Tein SS's and want to hear from anyone with the basic or SS setup... I have done quite a bit of searching and everyone talks about ordering them but nothing about how well they work. Also did any of you get the pillow ball mounts? and if so for the front or front and back? Good and the bad. So lets hear it.

If you're thinking about getting BASICs or SS coilovers, make sure the suspension bushings are still ok and that you have at least a front strut tower bar. The springs and dampers will be much stiffer than the stock stuff, so any handling issues caused by weaknesses in the chassis will be exacerbated. I had worn control arm bushings when I first installed my BASICs, and it caused some awful torque steer.

Both the BASICs and SS are really rough over crappy roads. My passengers are used to cars with terrible stock suspension systems so they think it's ok, but I wouldn't want to sit in the passenger seat of my machine. Transitions, grooved pavement, and every other imperfection on the road will be transmitted to the seat of your pants. The BASICs without pillowballs makes potholes and tall speed bumps especially unpleasant (pillowball mounts eliminate the rubber strut bushing so it actually makes the ride quality a little better). SS's can be a bit easier on your rear cause you can crank down the damping rate, but you'll still feel large bumps and potholes because of the stiff springs.

If I were to get Tein SS's for a B14 that would only be driven on the street, I would most likely order them with 285 lb(f)/in (5kg(f)/mm) front springs and 252 lb(f)/in (4.5kg/mm) rear springs. I think it's an extra $100, but it would be worth it to be able to drive over speed bumps and shallow potholes without launching my passengers into the ceiling.

CHRIS/SR/SE · Jun 27th, 2005, 08:12 AM

Thanks for the input everyone, nothing to sway my decision yet!

wickedsr20 · Jun 29th, 2005, 01:00 AM

My turbo 200 has the Tein SS's on it with the front and rear upper mounts and I love the way mine are. If you want a cushy ride, keep your OEM set-up. If you want a controlled ride, go with the SS's. Even without aftermarket sway bars, body roll is much improved and it rides pretty decent on the street. Mine aren't bouncy at all to me or anyone who'se ridden with me, and I've had quite a few suspension set-ups over the years on my B14's.

It surprises me how some people want to put race-quality parts on their car and expect Cadillac ride quality. Putting a suspension like this in your car will make you feel that much more connected to the road. And at the same time your steering response and feel are taken up a few notches.

I recommend them and I would buy them again if I had to buy another set-up.

Dynamitega · Jul 1st, 2005, 10:34 PM

If I had to do it all over again, I'd go with the SSs to get a nicer and smoother ride. The Basics I have are very nice for handling, but a little bumpy on the roads here. I lowered mine pretty good and I've only bottomed out once or twice on some weird driveways, it does a good job of keeping the car off the ground.

primerblack200sx · Jul 2nd, 2005, 12:20 PM

i have the tein basics...its a nice ride...better than most setups....but my recommendation is to save a lil bit more money and go for the ss w/ pillowball mounts

Greg200SE-R · Jul 18th, 2005, 05:30 PM

Tein is known for having a nice ride on their street coilovers. I have a B14 200Sx with Tein SS (upgraded rear springs to 6Kg/336lb) and all pillowballs. The ride is a little rough but really, you will wonder how 336lb springs could ride so smooth... The dampers go from 0 to 16 with 0 being stiffest. If I want a real smooth ride I keep the dampers at half way - 8. turning them "up" to 2 or 3 makes for a VERY sure-footed car that still doesn't ride as rough as my previous AGX/Progress combo. For reference, the Basics are set around 6, which would work well for my driving habits 95% of the time. Adjsutability is nice to have tho.

There is nothing like a matched spring/damper combo. They allow great handling and a good ride at the same time. And Teins are hard to beat for the price. Very highly recommended.

One more thing - camber adjustments via the pillowballs are the most solid you can have on B14s... its the only method of camber compensation I've used that has held up to aggressive driving... Pillowballs also regain some additional damper travel and remove the OEM rubber insulation. Slightly roughens up the ride but worth the additional "feel" and feedback you gain.