So i have Tien S-Tech Springs and i love the look however im the best snow plow in Michigan ;)

so im looking at getting the tien basic coilovers, how do these compare and how easy is it to adjust the ride height...

basically they seem to appeal to me because i can have a low drop in the summer and raise it up in the winter...

everyone's opinion is valued...please no flaming, ive searched on this and i couldnt find answers i was looking for

 

they ride fine in the car I rode in,would not really of known there was coils in it had the owner not told me.Seemed no bouncier than my car is with Htechs.

 

I would recommend not going with the basics... I have them and I live in South Dakota. I thought the same thing, just raise them in the winter. Even after using antisieze on all the collars it is still very difficult to get them set. You usually have to pull them out anyway, which is much easier than adjusting them. I also have a shock that's leaking fluid and i'm not too excited to see what that's going to cost. My advice to you would be to get some junkyard oem struts complete with the upper mounts. It would be cheaper, much easier, and you would still get the look. Maybe raceland coilovers for the summer I think they are uber cheap.

 

how would that allow me to raise them in the winter/lower in the summer?

 

he means go stock in the winter and low in the summer.

 

The basics are the same as the ss-ps only without the top mounts (pillow ***** and camber plates). Tons of us run them (I have the ss-ps) and compete with them. They tend to be very reliable. They are absolutely night and day from the htechs and stechs. The spring rates are nearly twice as high, and they do ride much rougher. But the trade off is performance. While the htechs and stechs are pretty much the opposite of performance suspension parts, the coilovers hit the mark much more closely.

As you will see in all the serious handling threads on this forum and on ystc, people run screaming from htechs and stechs and buy ss-ps, trd springs, etc when they want to improve, rather than degrade their handling. So, keep in mind that they will not ride nearly as smooth as stock. That is just a trade off for the performance aspect of them.

And as far as them not being any bouncier than the htechs ... They arent even remotely bouncy. Htechs are bouncy partly because they are WAY too soft for their drop and most likely because the dampers you have with them are going.

 

Oh how I wish I had SS-P's

 

also does anyone on here run S-Techs in the winter...especially in states where you get a bunch of snow...like MI and if so how does it handle in the snow

now you were saying that TRD springs have a "good" feel to them, i have a set sitting in my living room...how do they look installed??

thanks everyone

 

They look like this:



That was mine when I had the TRDs on. They did a good job with balancing between handling performance and streetability on them.

 

Good coilovers are adjustable for the performance aspect...yes you get the look as well, but if you are worried about the winter I would save them from seeing the wet salty mix and change them out with stock struts. You will find it's much easier to change them out.

 

How was the handling in the winter?

 

Did just fine really. I drive my older car when it snows most times, but when I took the tC out it did fine.

 

im pretty sure the Basics are not like the SS-Ps just w/o the pillow mount because then they would be the SS. the basics are entry level coil overs with only height adjustibility. the Tein SS have dampening adjustments and the SS-P have height, dampening and camber adjustments. iirc the spring rates and shocks are very different on the basics and the SS/SS-P coil overs.

 

They have the same spring rates. However, I did neglect the fact that they are not damper adjustable.

So basically (no pun intended):

Basic - 392/559 spring rates, height adjustability only
SS - 392/559 spring rates, height and damper adjustments
SS-P - 392/559 spring rates, height, damper and camber adjustments.

 

hmm i thought the spring rates were different, whoops

 

i've ridden in cars with s-techs, and if the basics are anything like my old ss-ps, they're totally different. They're not bouncy, but they're stiff, so ride comfort's not great. The height adjustment, is just lower the 2 spring perches to wherever you want, so it's probably a 5 min job including the time to get the car on jacks.

 

The SSPs have more lubrication then the basics and its Tein, not tien

 

i have stechs and i love them!

 

Arrodalobster has either had extremely good luck with basics or has never tried to free the perches up after a good sloshy winter.

 

Gotta remember that Cali winters, especially socal winters, are like fall everywhere else. Norcal winters are not bad at all. Thank god