Tein Street Advance Z

[Max]

Hi Guys,

I've ever been happy with my BC racing BR coilovers on my Type S, either too harsh on bumps, bouncing all over the place or way too floaty, I have never been able to find a happy medium for daily driving. Had them fully setup by Rich at PAW once and admittedly that was the best it drove but I have since messed around with ride height, damping, preload etc trying to find that happy medium. Even went as far as measuring shock travel at ride height and adjusting height and preload to find the perfect ratio of bump and droop. Perhaps fully poly bushing the car with energy suspension bushes was not the best idea, some people say its harsher, others say it doesn't make a difference, all i know is I'm not happy with the way the car drives.

In case you're wondering I have replaced every single balljoint on the car too, all bloody 10 of them along with an inner rack joint on the driver side and an outer tie rod on the passenger side. All of this was done before Rich set it up, the only thing that has changed since is the install of a Megan Racing adjustable rear toe arm kit as the original toe arm ball joints started to knock.

So all of that was a lot of waffle to say im thinking to try out the Tein Street Advance Z coilovers especially as they are on offer at Tegiwa in the black friday deals for just under £400, reason for picking these is they are twin tube so retain more shock travel and are 'designed' specifically for street use at a very budget friendly price with damping adjustability.

I saw @Vtecmec has purchased a set recently albeit with the EDFC Pro although he hasn't commented on how they ride, so I was hoping someone on here is running a set and can comment on their experience?

Cheers
Max

[Vtecmec]

Hi, i ran them for a few hundred miles before i put the EDFC kit on. They were comfortable on the softest setting, but floaty when giving it beans, this is why i put the EDFC on afterwards, there seems to be no static happy medium.

I had the TEIN super streets before the advace z's, there did not seem much of a difference really.

The EDFC kit has done its job though, its nice and comfortable when i want and tightens up when necessary.

The new teins do use the oem upper spring/shock mounts, so that might add to the cost of the package if you dont have some decent ones.

The EDFC does not fit on the advance kit without serious modification to the upper mounts (they sit too high and interfere with the bonnet). I bought new accord mounts and modified them to fit the lude.

[Max]

I notice you don't mention them being uncomfortable, harsh or bouncy so that's positive.

I actually have a set of Advance Z on my DC5 and they were much more comfortable than anything else I've tried so that's another reason why I'm leaning towards these, although like you said they can be a bit floaty on softer settings. Also spent quite a bit of time looking at reviews of Tein twin tube shocks for Preludes eg Super Streets, Advance Z, Street Basis and Flex Z and they are all 95% positive as far as ride quality is concerned.

I still have a set of Type S top mounts with decent rubber isolators and bushes so I have that covered, the only issue is one of the strut bar studs is chewed up thanks to some previous genius who used a nut with the wrong thread pitch, but I can probably swap them with the optional studs from the BC top mounts I already have.

Adding the EDFC is out of my price range so I wouldn't be considering that even if modification is not required.

So at the moment I'm still tempted to go for these and I have until midnight on Tuesday to make up my mind and take advantage of the discount.

What would be most helpful is if someone could provide a direct review comparison of the BC vs the Tein but that's unlikely...

[RattyMcClelland]

First and foremost GET RID of those Megan rear tow arms.
I used them to replace the OEM rods and the rose joints are way too hard. Make the rear end dart all over the place. Go back to OEM, believe me.

My Type S is fully polybushed, every ball joint replaced, Tanabe rear roll bar OEM everything else. I did used to run the BC coilovers and they were great, nothing like you described, I had 10kg front and 7kg rear.
I now run Meister R GT1 coilovers 9kg front, 6kg rear) and they are absolutely superb, very comfy on soft setting and very sure footed.

Tyres and tyre size make a big difference.
Minimum I would run is 215/45/17. I run 235/40/17 ad08rs, a hard walled tyre but still very comfy.

[Scott560]

I have the flex z , along with yellow strongflex bushes and at one point 215/40/17 years.

I found them too hard. You could turn down the damping, but it was then under damped and made it feel less than ideal on country roads or anything that wasn't too smooth. If you turned up the damping, it was far too harsh for day to day driving.

https://uk.tein.com/srch/uk_search.php? ... 0&tuvchk=0

link shows that they have 10kgf/mm front springs and 6kgf/mm rear. Not sure what standard springs are, but somewhere between that and 10 is probably the right answer.

I since changed back to 215/45/17 tyres which made a big difference, buts its still not a comfortable drive. I can see having the EDFC would help in using GPS speed to set it slightly softer at low speed and slightly harder at high speeds - but its just a better compromise.

The harder suspension is great for a track day, but its such a compromise, i probably wouldn't make it again, or try to find something not as harsh (Getting old now).

[Max]

First and foremost GET RID of those Megan rear tow arms.
I used them to replace the OEM rods and the rose joints are way too hard. Make the rear end dart all over the place. Go back to OEM, believe me.

My Type S is fully polybushed, every ball joint replaced, Tanabe rear roll bar OEM everything else. I did used to run the BC coilovers and they were great, nothing like you described, I had 10kg front and 7kg rear.
I now run Meister R GT1 coilovers 9kg front, 6kg rear) and they are absolutely superb, very comfy on soft setting and very sure footed.

Tyres and tyre size make a big difference.
Minimum I would run is 215/45/17. I run 235/40/17 ad08rs, a hard walled tyre but still very comfy.

I tried to find good used replacements as the price of those toe arms is ridiculous, and i did reach out on here but i had no response. I did see some people on here had bought these and didnt come across any complaints so at half the price of the Honda arms it seemed like a no brainer. Honestly, after i fitted them i felt no difference in the ride so saw no reason to switch back to OEM.

It sounds like we have both had very different experiences of the same product, i am running the standard spring rates of 10kg front and 5kg rear, if they were great why did you change them?

After Rich set the car up i did get the tyres changed as it had old deteriorated Eagle F1s on it that subsequently failed the MOT soon after, the new tyres Uniroyal rainsport 3's made a big difference but it still didnt feel daily drivable on the rough roads around my area, not much i can do about that. The tyre sizes im running are 215/45/17 on the original Motegi wheels.

[RattyMcClelland]

Yes the hardrace/Megan rear toe arms destroyed the rear stability, very uncomfortable, bought OEM new ones, around £180. Night and day difference.

I changed from BC because I put Bilstein coilovers on my van. Spending £1k on van coilovers after a cheap set I used previously really showed how good decent coilovers are so I applied the same principle to the Prelude.
I went for the Meister R GT1 and they are excellent, perfectly damped. I love them.

Now, I then applied this logic to my s660. It had Tein Street Flex Z Coilovers from when I imported it and I found them too bouncy and very bouncy and unstable at high speed. So I spent £3k on Spoon coilovers as the Japanese say they are the best.
Oh dear, on the softest setting they are harder than the teins on soft setting around town however once speed increases they are much more stable and sure footed as I pick up speed.

[Max]

Undecided and missed the offer, might have another play or go back to stock...