Ok, the time has come... and I have it narrowed down to 3 sets of coil overs...

Tein SSP's w/EDFC

KW Variant 2 Coilovers

RaceLand ............. {j/k} I wouldn't put that ricer ____ on my car if it was free


So there it is.. The Teins and the KW's are going to run me about the same.. and I am just debating the "Baller" factor with the EDFC or the more race bred build of the KW's.....

Sound off... I am about a month or so from picking these up....

 

If it was free I'd put them on my car. Would I track them? Hell no.

 

If they were free.. I would still rather put my stock springs back on...


Remember... its your life that's being played with.... and you get what you pay for...

 

EDFC is nice.....if you think you will use it go tein, otherwise I would go KW if you are planning on tracking. Honestly my Tein's feel softer after a year.

 

Wow..... have you tracked the Teins at all??

 

depends what youre gonna do with the car.
the biggest complaints i hear about Tein SSP is the soft spring rate and it wont go super low. i've had SSP since 2006. these days I want to swap them out for function forms, which are better for street cruising and maximum lowering. if you're more concerned with performance driving, then I'd get the KWs. the EDFC is a waste of money. it takes me less than 5 minutes to adjust the dampening on my SSPs (which I adjust about once a year). I'd rather save $300 and adjust them by hand.

 

hey if you want ill trade you my ksport setup for your ssps

 

i have had both tein and kw's. i love the tein ssp w/edfc more, i use em over the kw then again, it depends on where u live and what the roads are like. but i love my teins.

 

Hmm...I dont know about others but I change my settings quiet often. When I feel spirited, I set the settings to aggressive and when I feel like cruising, I do the opposite. EDFC makes things a lot easier and im not exagerating. SSPs with the softest settings feels as smooth as butter on nice roads. Personally the SSPs have one of the stiffest spring rates. If you honestly believe KWs are better for perfomance with no evidence besides some random individual's opinion, then you might as well get them since you probably would not have been able to tell the difference in the first place.

 

Street = Tein

Track = KW


(I suppose I should elaborate slightly. I track my car. Not drag strips or straight lines...I autox pretty frequently and I take my car to a full road course as well. I did my research before I bought my KWs and the reason I stayed away from the Teins is the anecdotal information I received from fellow racers. While it was anecdotal and I make no attempt to change that you have to understand that the fellow racers also showed me their own personal shock dyno graphs of their Tein units being almost ridiculously out of spec from each other from the factory or after just a few trips to the track, and showed pictures of Teins with blown valves/seals and the resulting spray of hydraulic fluid bursting out of them while at race speeds.

If you're worried about spring rates you're completely worried about the wrong thing. Springs are the simplest part of a coilover system to change, replace, modify, etc. Most respectable suspension companies will even send you custom rate springs if you're willing to fork over. Shock valving and consistency is the most important part and should be the main reason you make a choice when considering A vs. B.

Considering the original poster is asking for opinions on A vs. B, I will offer mine. Tein is for the company name and it's perfect for street driving and perhaps very mild track use, KW is for people who race. Whichever coilover you pick will need to fit your habits which only the original poster can tell us.)

 

Wow.... Thank you One-Nut... thats arguably the best response I have gotten yet. I am planning on Autox this season and EVERYONE I have talked to in person has said KW without fail. I hit SL just to see what the nation wide comments would be..

Anyone else that has comments or opinion please keep posting up..


So far its One-Nut for the win

 

Admittedly I'm biased to the KWs and my response obviously shows that. There are; however, plenty of people that AutoX their cars with the Teins (including people who I actually consider to be knowledgable in the suspension area) that have had no problems with them.

Honestly, I'd consider Autox to fall quite rightly into the "street" category unless you're trying to compete at the SCCA Nationals level (which I doubt you'll accomplish with our cars). So if you're only planning on some AutoX, the Teins are more than fine.

In my personal opinion if cost is the same I'd go with the KWs.

 

i know its not in your options but i have heard nothing but good about the progress coilovers, or the B&G's...

but if its between the 2.. tein FTW

 

b&g's defiantly arent for racing really, they are for the super slamming.

just from reading I really like the KWs, but I dont think you could go wrong with the TEINs either so I am really no help

 

SL

First of all, I wish to lay some basic facts.

1. The highest version KW makes for the tC is Variant 2.
2. Variant 2 is a mild setup that is primarily meant for street use. Now if KW made Variant 3 for the tC...then I can understand where your notions of KW being the perfect choice over SSPs but they simply don't make Variant 3 for the tC.
3. KW Variant 2 uses twin tube design, not the mono-tube design that is more directed towards racing. This is comparable to Tein which also utilizes the twin tube design.
4. SSPs come with pillowball mounts, KW does not.
5. Tein has amazing warranty, they will rebuild your coilovers if something goes wrong and Tein is probably one of the few if not only company that offers rebuilds.
6. Tein has the EDFC.
7. Both companies have a history of accomplishments and reliability.

Just food for thought. Both coilovers are good.

 

good facts sir

 

Sharp points. I've responded in red inside the quote and spaced it out to make it easier to read. Hopefully my responses don't come off wrong, I'm just not good at expressing a neutral tone when I type...not trying to be combatitive at all.

It boils down to quotes directly from each manufacturer.

Tein: "Great for daily driving and occasion track use"
KW: "The system intended for the experienced driver who does not only wish to determine the individual lowering of his vehicle, but also wishes to carry out setup adjustments"

Again, like I mentioned before it's opinion based on anecdotal evidence and the testing done by myself and my peer racers. Frankly, I think the two are pretty much on par with each other (as I've mentioned in other threads, but not here) I'm personally of the opinion that Tein is street and KW is track.

 

Have you considered H&R? Again I have SS-Ps...not knocking them but again they feel soft after driving for a year on them, I now drive on setting 10 just to get a decent street feel. Not sure if the KW's would be any better but again just my 2 cents...I have not done any autox w/ these as i am on 19's w/ too thin of tire for that, but I do a decent amout of spirited driving.

 

Hey Domo..er...infinitevision.

 

Eric....Erik...whichever....You should drive mine and see how much the Teins differ. I'd be curious to see how much of a difference you'd see between the two.