Tein review... aka Does nothing ever go smoothly for sperry?
 

So, I purchased those Tein Super Racing coilovers a few weeks back. I was originally planning on waiting for my hub conversion to be completed before going to new suspension, but since I my rear Koni's were blown and the car was unsafe to drive on the track, I decided to grab the '04 version of the struts now, and purchase the '05 front uprights when the time came to do the conversion.

I figured, since Tein is such a big name, I'd have no problem ordering new bits for the suspension. I figured wrong. Check this out:

So yeah... anyone racing w/ TEIN bits better not break anything, because it looks like your only option is to completely replace everything as Tein won't sell you any parts. :roll:

Hopefully this situation is just some sales guy being lazy and deciding to blow me off. If I could find some more emails for Tein, I'd have just gone over the sales staff head and straight to some customer service rep of some sort, but they don't give squat for contact emails. We'll see what sort of reply I get. I may have to start making phone calls until I find someone that actually cares about getting their product used competatively.

Lame.

They do rebuilds, so I would assume they could do this too. I wonder if its just a company decision to not support these modifications for liability reasons.

Scott, my major hookup on everything JDM just evaporated, but let me see if I can call in some favors if necessary. All you need is the lower, correct?

I wondered how you were going to pull that off. I had assumed you already had the swap dialed in before purchase... Bummer man.

I like your reply, Scott. Very well done. :)

Dude! WTF!? That doesn't make any sense... Tein says that you can buy kits for rebuilt, or send your equipment in to them for rebuild, so it makes NO sense to me at all that you cannot get replacement parts. That's GOT to be a case of some lazy ass that decided to just blow you off...

If you can find me some '05 front lowers, that's all I need to do the conversion. I'm willing to guess that the uprights are the same across the entire Tein lineup, so I could probably just swap out the uprights from some friggen '05 Tein BASICs.

In fact, if anyone's planning on buying some Tein coilovers soon for their '02+ WRX or '04 STI, order a set for an '05 STI and I'll trade you my uprights (the only part that's different) and give you $100 for your trouble!

Aren't the Super Racings Monotubes, and the lower end models Dual tubes? If so, I would think the lower section would be significantly different.

I think the threaded lower sleeve is designed to be universal. So, yes, the strut inside the threading it different but the uprights all have the same threading.

At least, that's my guess after seeing the Flex and Super Race coilovers in person.

As long as they are the same diameter. That is my concern.

I found some front lowers for you from a set of '05 Flex's. Call DBtuned tomorrow ;)

Who loves ya, bitch?

Aaron, you are awesome! Will do.

Tein replied:

What the fuck is that about? They'll sell you replacement parts, but not if you tell 'em it's for a different model strut?

Here's my reply:

We'll see what BS that generates.

Bunch of bullshit. Let me know if you want me to try an alternative approach.

That sounds like a sales manager's (or engineering's) decision to not sell/support any parts for use in anything other than their original designed application. It's strictly to reduce headaches for the staff and cover your ass. I can understand the thinking behind it, we did some of the same thing at MM, but on the other hand we also would usually work with the guys using our stuff and actually racing their cars. If Aaron's hookup doesn't work out, try calling Tein and going up the chain of support monkeys until you get someone who can actually make decisions, they might be more friendly.

I'm pretty damn sure the Tein Flex bit *won't* work. I forgot the SuperRace does some weird stuff w/ a non-standard camber bolt, while the Flex's use the stock bolts.

I think I need someone to contact them on my behalf and see if they can't tell Tein they rounded out or otherwise jacked up their lowers and order some new ones. I get the feeling Tein's not going to support me.

As far as understanding their point of view. I get it, you don't want to have people just randomly ordering the wrong bits and breaking more stuff then trying to get it covered. But in my situation, I'm using the suspension for racing, so they won't warranty any busted stuff to begin with, plus the *only* difference between the '04 and '05 struts is the lower bracket, so it's not like I'm really mixing and matching parts, I'm just converting my kit to the '05 spec. If the sales guy would take 5 seconds to lookup the parts list he should see that.

I'll email, Scott. Looking at them what's the most conceivable damage you could come up with for them?

I beleive the most common damage to lower housings is bent/bropken flanges or dented/distorted body due to impact.

Tell them you have done it before, and want spares for each side. Especially on inverted struts, the shafts, and actual damper monotube can remain unscathed. In my coilover research, I saw pictures of some mangled DMSes that were fine except the lower housing was thrashed. They actually design their flanges to fail hopefully before doing damage to the damper.

I think Dean's got the right idea. I guess you can tell 'em you want a spare set for your race car or something. They'll probably just blow you off though.

The other option would be to tell 'em that you had the car aligned at Big-O or something and they attempted to set the camber by rounding out the holes in the lower brackets so the washers could rotate in 'em, but that's a stretch. Maybe just claim you screwed up the install and scratched the hell out of your show car's suspension...

Let me know what you think you can pull off. And, thanks for trying to help me out!

That's a lot of bull. They aren't going to have many return or loyal customers with policies like that.

I bought them used and the lowers are massively corroded and I can't clean them up enough to let the lowers adjust easily. Need a new set as I don't want to try and bring these back and force stuff on a track car.

The only problem w/ that, is that the Tein SuperRace coilovers have only been out for like 2 months IIRC. There won't be too many "massively corroded" units out there.

Oh hey, look what reading the manual gets you, the part numbers for the uprights:

'04 Lower Brackets:
Front:
SPS15-H4080-R
SPS15-H4080-L

Rear:
SPS15-H0482-R
SPS15-H0482-L

'05 Lower Brackets:
Front:
SPS15-J3953-R
SPS15-J3953-L

Rear:
SPS15-J3956-R
SPS15-J3956-L

What's stupid is that they gave the '05 rears new p/n's even though they should be identicle parts, since the knuckle they attach too is unchanged on the car. :?:

I wonder if I can just get one of the bigger resellers (Gruppe-S, MPJ, someone) to order me just those parts by number. I don't think C&C will have much luck 'cause C&C is pissed at Tein due to pricing issues.

Okay, I talked to 'em over the phone and finally got someone (the GM apparently) to understand my situation and they will send me some bits, but I gotta FAX 'em a PO by 5pm.

More to come!

Excellent :D (that's why I posted up what I was thinking, so you could pick out logical flaws, lol)


Now, any news on the wheels?

They were outta the flat black, but they had the "hyper black" in stock... so I'm gonna end up with some semi-ricey blinging FN01RC's. But fuck it, since they're 17x9's and like $800. :cool:

'Course, I need to return those RPF1's and I'm gonna get hit w/ a 10% restocking fee. :( I can't blame GoodWinRacing though, since it was totally my fault for not verifying the spoke clearance.

Scott, if you have any further issues with this please call me I will get you the parts you need. We move a lot of TEIN parts and I know for a fact we can get what you need.

Mike

PS: What's the crack with that test day you were going to setup... I have my gambling funds at the ready and need a break from the CO here.

As far as the deal w/ Tein, here's the short version since I need to run home and grab my reciept for the coilovers to fax them, as well as haul some stuff for Tyson and Lisa in the truck before hitting up a movie.

Tein's stance on the situation is that they can't knowingly sell "replacement" parts to customers that are doing crazy things like swaps and the like simply due to liability reasons. Basically, if you start mixing and matching bits, you quickly get outside of the configurations the engineers signed off on. The example they gave me was the guys w/ 240SX's that are tossing 350Z parts on the car and the like. This I totally understand.

My case is a bit special however. The only significant difference between the '04 and '05 Super Race coilovers is the lower bracket. So, by putting the '05 lower bracket on a set of '04 struts, you have the exact same thing as an '05 strut. Pointing this out, and having them agree w/ me on it wasn't enough however.

The only reason I was able to get them to change their mind, is because my car is a trailered racecar used exclusively on the track. Basically, if I break anything, it's on course and not covered for liability reasons anyway, so even if I'm mixing and matching, they're not liable for the coilovers anyway. They took my case to the General Manager over there and explained the situation to him, and he was able to make an exception for my situation. They made it very clear that they *would not* do this for someone else in the future... I think the fact that my coilovers are about 2 weeks old played into their decision.

I still need to fax off my purchase reciept for the coilovers, and they asked me to send them photos of the car, which was easy since I've got pictures from just before Lovelock of the car on the trailer ready to leave.

Cool man, when I talked to Tein, they told me they wouldn't sell the parts to any of their resellers either... next time I'll keep you in mind. 'Course, I think it helped when I told the guy on the phone that the car is a Gruppe-S/StopTech sponsored Time Trials racecar. And I reminded them that Gruppe-S is one of their resellers. :lol: In fact, if my timeframe would have allowed it, I would have just ordered 'em through you guys, but with the blown Koni's I had a safety issue w/ tracking the car and *had* to get something locally.

Also, that track day is all set. I'm registered and paid for two days 8/26 & 8/27), and I cleared having a passenger in the car w/ me. Let me know how you'd like to meet up! I think it's going to be a cool event.

sorry for bumping an old thread but what a bunch of crap that was. I still haven't decided on a new setup for my car. But KW V3s just moved up a notch.

Gruppe-s has been advertising them for $1900 lately.

Is Gruppe-S a legit KW distributor or are the gray marketing them? I know I'd rather be calling Myles for support after the sale than those guys...

Give Paul at DB Tuned a call. He's in your neck of the woods. He will be straight up with you and not jerk you around. See photo for his phone number. D-

Um... R4ND0M_AX3 pretty much works at that shop already, doesn't he?

I don't have a clue who R4NDOM_AX3 is. Guess he can ignore my post if he works with Paul. What's up with this ski rack with a lift?

The cool thing about a ski rack that high up is that you can fit boards upside down without taking off the bindings. Then you can fit 4 boards in the rack.

:) Paul didn't like me hanging around standing over his shoulder while he put my new block in.

I've already kinda discused this with paul. He's a Tein dealer and a little biased. <--- I totally understand. He wasn't sure what the rebuild/warranty service times would be on the KWs vs. Tein.

Actually my wife brought the KW's to Paul and I had to almost backhand her. LOL.

I'm just a customer of his. I work nearby so I get to bug him often.

Now about the Ski rack, damn I know it's like 10 miles in the air. It's the Subaru rack from europe. And yes, my bindings do clear when the board is inverted. I have high back step-ins (don't hate) and there is almost enough room to leave them in the "up" position when mounted....almost.