Tein flex coilovers too soft???

[spanuel]

Hi everyone i need some help.

I have just purchased and fitted a set of Tein flex Z coilovers with 7kg front spring rate and 5kg rear spring rate. The problem is they still seem far too soft and just bottom out on normal uk roads. It is the spring that bottoms out not the tyre hitting the arch. The ride height is still 1 1/2 fingers between the tyre and arch.

Is anyone else having this issue????

Looking at other makes they all use much stiffer springs.

PLEASE HELP.

[Clive]

The old adage is the springs just hold the car up, its the dampers that do the work ,

You will find they are not too soft if you just wind up the dampers to hard, then you will find they are too stiff for the road and you can then start making them softer to suit the road.

You would only set them on really hard for the track

[spanuel]

Sadly they are already on their stiffest setting and still bottom out.

[PeteH]

It sounds like they are set up wrong. The springs are more than stiff enough. My race car isn't much stiffer, and it never bottoms out on the track.

You can adjust the spring perch and the ride height independently, and that changes the point at which the bump stop acts. You should probably get someone who really understands suspension setup to have a look at your installation.

[spanuel]

They were all set to the standard settings as Tein suggested. Not sure how many bumps there are on a race track, but thanks for your helpful input Pete

[Jimwil]

I have the flex z's on my car and don't have this problem at all on the stiff settings. It will hit the bump stops quite a bit on the softest settings (only on the rear) but I set them to about half way front and rear for the road and the only time I have to take it easy is when I have passengers in the back which is rare.

[spanuel]

Thank you jimwil.
I think mine must have a fault. The car is empty other than me.

[PeteH]

I put way more load through my track car suspension than I ever have in a road car.....

5 and 7kg/mm is much stiffer than stock. Going stiffer than that is possible, but you'll really feel it in the ride getting harsh. If you do want to go stiffer then there are lots of options, including different Teins. But it really shouldn't be necessary.

But I'd still check your set up, unless you are 100% sure. It's so easy to get something wrong in the setup.

[spanuel]

What do you think I should be checking?
The bottom collar is ride height, it isn't too low.
Then the twin locking collars underneath the spring is preload, it has a little preload applied.
Damper adjust on top, softest is softer than stock, stiffest still allows the spring to bind.

[PeteH]

Ride height is controlled by both the bottom adjustment, and the spring preload. The thing that worries me is that you say the spring binds. That should never happen. The bump stop should always act first, and protect the spring from ever binding. If your spring does bind it will fail at some point. It seems to me that you need to adjust the relationship between the damper length and the spring preload, so that the bump stop engages earlier. But it's hard to be specific without actually seeing the unit.

[spanuel]

A pic of the spring with the car resting you can see the marks on the spring.



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[spanuel]

A screenshot of the video of me bouncing the back of the car by hand. The spring is bottomed out.


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[PeteH]

That all looks really odd. In the "compressed" picture your suspension is very compressed indeed (as you can see from the angles of the arb and sensor arm). It's very hard to say from those pictures.... The rear spring does look very small for a rear spring, but I suppose this could be correct for the Flex Z, but you definitely should not be going coilbound, so that definitely means the bump stop isn't being engaged correctly.

It might be sensible to get an experienced person to look at it. I think you might be quite close to LC Rotary and MRP (Clive, who posted below)? They will spot any issues quickly.

[ChrisHolmes]

I am amazed that you can bounce the car by hand and get the spring to bottom out, you cannot even do that on a standard car!
Have you contacted your supplier about this, Tein themselves?
Those springs do look unbelievably short.

[spanuel]

Exactly, they are softer than standard I think, or have a lot less travel because of the short spring.
I wonder if they have been sent out with the wrong springs on.
I spoke to Tein and they asked me to take lots of measurements, which I did, and they were all acceptable. They just keep saying that they sell lots of these and no one else has a problem. But something about these coilovers isn't correct.


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[DARRENL]

Tein are certainly not telling you story's,we have been Tein since they came into the UK 15 years and have literally sold hundreds of Mazda kits and never had a return or complaint / ever, only receiving compliments. (we sold quite a few Flex Z kits just last month)

Sorry got to ask but can you still feel the clicks when you turn the knurled nut on the top clockwise ?

[spanuel]

That's what I don't understand.
The one that you turn by hand to adjust the damper? Yes it clicks when you turn it clockwise or anti and stops on what must be its stiffest.


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[Harrizone]

Not teaching you to suck eggs, but the way you turn the adjuster is counter intuative, are you sure you are turning it to it's stiffest and not the softest? Just a thought.

[PeteH]

And where did you buy them?

[Rich_D]

I have Tein Super Street coilovers on my S1 which are set for a compliant ride and no issues with it bottoming out, on either road or track?

[warpc0il]

Are they front springs on the rear shocks?

[RenesisRaceBuggy]

That definately looks like either way too much preload or you have the wrong springs on (or swapped front/rear as suggested by warpcoil) - that's nothing to do with the damper settings/stiffness so I don't know why people are suggesting that.

[Harrizone]

That definately looks like either way too much preload or you have the wrong springs on (or swapped front/rear as suggested by warpcoil) - that's nothing to do with the damper settings/stiffness so I don't know why people are suggesting that.

I didn't like to say the obvious but the pictures seem to indicate something like that is amiss.

[13Black]

I've had far too little coffee today so apologies if I'm talking out if my exhaust port.

But the stiffer 7kg/mm front springs on the rear would make it less likely to bottom out on the rear, no?

Just my coffee deprived musings.

[spanuel]

The front springs are on the front and the rear springs are on the rear. Yes the front springs are heavier so that would help not make it worse.
The dampers are working, I think it's the spring that either isn't 5 kg or not enough travel. The springs are almost coil bound just on resting car weight, the car is empty with very little preload.


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