I recently bought a used set of Tein SS coilovers for my 2002 SSM Type-S and want to check the struts to make sure they are working properly before installing them (no bounce test) and getting an alignment done. A friend told me to press the strut down and make sure it returns up. I did this for all 4 shocks and they all came back up to the top position.
3 of them required a moderate use of force to push down and they returned fairly slowly, however 1 of them was easier to press down and came up about 2x as fast.

Does this sound like a bad strut? Should I send it to Tein for a rebuild?
Any thoughts/comments appreciated?

 

call Tein and explain this to them.

are all of the valves set to the same setting?

 

how many miles on em?

 

first thing to check is the adjustment valve operation and setting

Turn the adjuster on the top full right- clockwise until it stops--gently!!
It should go click click click-
thats max stiff- go down= left- from there, for normal street use start at 8
Max allowable down is 16-soft, more than that is hazard to the shock internals, when you turn the knob you rotate a slider plate-allowing more/less oil flow inside

to test shocks: do the same thing you did with all the shocks set the same- try it at different settings max mid low to see if the valving does change how stiff they are

and if still in doubt call tein- they are near L A

 

Previous owner said they have ~40k on them.

Ok this is really strange - adjusting the valve on the 1 questionable shock I can only get ~8 clicks freely and then I start to feel resistance. I can't tell if it's at it's end or start point. But within those 8 clicks (set at 1 and then at 8) the strut rebounds the same 2x speed as other 3 struts set in the middle 8.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll make a call to Tein tomorrow.

 

I'm wondering what is the estimate life of Tein coilovers. Can anyone chime in on this?

 

Last I checked it was like $250 per coilover to rebuild.