I guess they are Tein Flex Z, right? What are your initial handling impressions?

 

yeah they're flex zs. a lot more comfortable than the tein springs on kybs. speed bumps aren't bone rattling but that could be due to the initial higher height. The coilovers are definitely absorbing uneven road surfaces better. Oddly I have a sharper turn in with the old setup tho.

 

Thanks for sharing your impressions. So, are you feeling that your cornering is worse now with the Tein Flex Z?

 

It will take severals xxxx miles to get the definitive height from the coilovers.

It depend a lot from the road. The more the coilovers work harder, quicker it will set the definitive height. It will take more time on flat roads.

I have the Ceika 3 ways coilovers 5/7kg that was taken ~3k miles to get the definitive height. City driving mostly and legal speed with a lot of speed bumps. About ground clearance from jacking points, the front dropper from 12cm to 10,5cm, the rear from 13cm to 11cm. To be even more precise, the left rear was 2mm lower than the right rear (10,8cm and 11cm).

You definitively have to drive a lot before doing alignement.

 

Quality springs should not "settle" according to Eibach, Swift, and Hypercoil. However, new dampers may have some friction in seals and the damper pistons that may change over time. We noticed that with new KYB struts that took a few hundred miles to "break in" and stabilize. Another issues can be suspension bushings taking a "set". Toyota recommends torquing bushings with the car loaded at normal height, or as they put it "stabilizing the suspension". This should leave the bushings unstressed at normal height. Change the height, and a small amount of twist is added back into the bushings, which may change over time. People who have torqued suspension arms extended with OEM bushings and then loosened and re-torqued with the car loaded have found a difference.

As an aside, Tein S springs on KYBs is a pretty unpleasant combination as the KYB are designed for stock springs and have too much compression damping and too little rebound for the stiffer springs. With restricted travel from lowering, they can be pretty harsh on rough roads, especially with stock front bunp stops as the much lower static height is very close to hitting the bump stops.

 

Quality springs should not "settle" according to Eibach, Swift, and Hypercoil. However, new dampers may have some friction in seals and the damper pistons that may change over time. We noticed that with new KYB struts that took a few hundred miles to "break in" and stabilize. Another issues can be suspension bushings taking a "set". Toyota recommends torquing bushings with the car loaded at normal height, or as they put it "stabilizing the suspension". This should leave the bushings unstressed at normal height. Change the height, and a small amount of twist is added back into the bushings, which may change over time. People who have torqued suspension arms extended with OEM bushings and then loosened and re-torqued with the car loaded have found a difference.

As an aside, Tein S springs on KYBs is a pretty unpleasant combination as the KYB are designed for stock springs and have too much compression damping and too little rebound for the stiffer springs. With restricted travel from lowering, they can be pretty harsh on rough roads, especially with stock front bunp stops as the much lower static height is very close to hitting the bump stops.

all bushings were changed out to super pros years ago so it's definitely not that. I'm just wondering why the rear seems higher now when they're advertised as having the same drop rate.

 

Give it some time, these coil-overs do settle at which point you will need another alignment because the toe will be off.
You will also need to reset your camber plates and readjust the toe. Once that is done, then the car will perform as it should with those coil overs.
The sharp turn in that you like will be due to the alignment not the coil overs. Aim for 0 toe for the front.

 

Any idea on the effect of tire wear mainly on the rear tires from not doing an alignment til it settles? Mainly asking because its a pain to get an appointment at the place I go to. I have trust issues with random people touching the car. The car currently tracks about the same as when it was on the S-Techs/Kybs. Steering wheel position is the same. The front tires I could honestly care less about. They're still S-Drives from 2018. I can't get them to wear and have been trying to find a way to kill them.

 

It depends. The car might be in the same ballpark as far as lowering with the other setup, but unfortunately, it doesn’t guarantee the same alignment because it can be significantly off.
There’s one simple concept you must be aware of. When lowering the Spyder, it produces negative camber, which is fine, but unfortunately, when camber is changed, the toe also changes because they’re linked. This can have an adverse effect on the alignment and tire wear if the toe is out of specification. Additionally, when you change the struts, there’s a slight give when the bolts are tightened to the knuckle, which can also slightly change the alignment.

I’ve seen it where each side does its own thing as far as being out of specification when looking at the before alignment sheet until it’s properly corrected. The car will also drive a bit weird, especially when turning, and can be dangerous if the toe is grossly out of spec in the rear.

Where did you set your front camber plates? If its right in the middle it's probably wrong. When you get an alignment aim for -1.5 camber for the front using the camber plates and then have them adjust the toe to 0 and it will be lovely.

If you get an alignment now it will be in the ball park once it settles down but it up to you as you might need two alignments if you want to play it safe.

 

It depends. The car might be in the same ballpark as far as lowering with the other setup, but unfortunately, it doesn’t guarantee the same alignment because it can be significantly off.
There’s one simple concept you must be aware of. When lowering the Spyder, it produces negative camber, which is fine, but unfortunately, when camber is changed, the toe also changes because they’re linked. This can have an adverse effect on the alignment and tire wear if the toe is out of specification. Additionally, when you change the struts, there’s a slight give when the bolts are tightened to the knuckle, which can also slightly change the alignment.

I’ve seen it where each side does its own thing as far as being out of specification when looking at the before alignment sheet until it’s properly corrected. The car will also drive a bit weird, especially when turning, and can be dangerous if the toe is grossly out of spec in the rear.

Where did you set your front camber plates? If its right in the middle it's probably wrong. When you get an alignment aim for -1.5 camber for the front using the camber plates and then have them adjust the toe to 0 and it will be lovely.

If you get an alignment now it will be in the ball park once it settles down but it up to you as you might need two alignments if you want to play it safe.

I never touched the camber plates. I left it alone since I was intending to have it mimic how the oem strut top mounts were on the S-tech setup where it was naturally cambered.

 

Flex Z most certainly settle. Mine dropped a LOT in about 3 months with near daily driving. I think they have continued to settle over time it nothing like the first few months.

My suggestion. Buy the lifetime alignment service or do it yourself at install, 3 months and 12 months.

 

In my experience, a single 7,000 Mile road trip will do the trick.

 

Scheduled in a alignment for thursday. Lets see how far off it was from my last one 2 yrs ago.

 

Just make sure your alignment guy is familiar with the camber plates and how to move the strut. Aim for -1.5 camber and then have them adjust toe. The camber will change a little after toe is adjusted but it will be fine as toe precision is more important.

For the rear only toe is adjusted. Just make sure it is very slightly positive and not 0. What ever the outcome make sure they do not do a four wheel alignment based on the computer as it will be off by a mile even though it will track straight.

 

Yeah they're quite familiar with them. They do a lot of race prep on cars.

 

Also, does anyone make a taller strut dust cap for the rear and one for the front for coilovers? Tried reusing the oem cap for the rear but the adjustment knob is too tall. I don't want to drill a hole in it either.