I'm ready to upgrade the suspension on my '99 and I'm looking at the TEIN setup with the electronic damping adjustment controls. I have two questions for anyone in the know:

1. Will I need a camber correction kit for running the car at a reasonably low level? (Reasonable is, of course, subjective, but I think it means "lower than stock, looking good and even, doesn't require rolling the fender edges")

2. Should I install it myself or try to find a performance shop in the Twin Cities, MN Metro area? The electronic gizmo installation seems like it could be tricky to make look sanitary. Is glove box mounting the norm or somewhere else?

Thanks for any advice you can give me. I just bought a house and have been saving my dough and not upgrading my car...

Dirk

 

I'm going to make this short

1. Will I need a camber correction kit for running the car at a reasonably low level? (Reasonable is, of course, subjective, but I think it means "lower than stock, looking good and even, doesn't require rolling the fender edges")

A) If you go with a descent enough height (look at My car ) you will be fine, in other words, no camber issues, just rotate your tires every oil change or so.

You will not nn to roll your fenders if you have the right offset. I have 19" and 235 rubber and no rubbing at all, even with a full car over bumps, high speed corners, etc. I'm running a +51 offset, you could get away with +49 with no issues. I just played it real safe.

I love my Teins SS. I keep my damper set at 6 clicks up front and 8 in the back. This is from hard = 0 to soft = 16/32 16 it's whats recomended, but you can go all the way to 32 (softest setting), howver the risk of shock/spring failure (bottom out) is more likely.

2. Should I install it myself or try to find a performance shop in the Twin Cities, MN Metro area? The electronic gizmo installation seems like it could be tricky to make look sanitary. Is glove box mounting the norm or somewhere else?

A) If you lack experience in this area, and don't have the proper tools. Please get it professionaly installed. Find a reputable shop and get it done right, you don't want to risk safety in order to save some dollars.

When you talk about "electronic gizmo" I'm assuming you are talking about the EDFC, yes, you can install this one in the glove compartment. I don't have it yet, I'm thinking about installing it in the center console, with a custom cabinet. We will see. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

Thanks for the info. Your car looks great, even though it took me a second to realize that it's the body kit that makes it look "slammed", since there seems to be plenty of clearance from the tires to the fender edges.

I installed a full coilover system on my Talon, which wasn't hard, except for the rusty bolts which required some cutting and replacing of fasteners, etc. I haven't looked at the TL's suspension yet to determine if there are any tricky bits to it, but my guess is that it's pretty standard.

Yes, I'm talking about the EDFC, which seems like it would require the skilled fingers of a stereo installer to rip off interior panels, etc. to mount it cleanly. Typically, I get pretty excited about new toys that I'd probably leave it in "ghetto mode" with all the wires dangling and the box flying around on the floor of the passenger compartment. Maybe if I take my meds on time, I can keep that under control....

My biggest complaint with the stock suspension, after driving it for about 9 months, is that it's decent for a passenger car but too soft for real sporty driving. I'm looking for a firmer ride with more damping capability. The adjustability means that I can crank it up for sporty drives and still dial it down so my wife doesn't divorce me after a drive to the grocery store. Am I barking up the wrong tree with this setup? Any other suggestions?

Dirk

 

El/Pana.. Does your rear end drop alot when you have 4 people in the car? Do you have a 1 inch b/n the fender and wheel?

I have an inch gap and when I have 2 people in the rear my car tends to drop alot. Thinking about getting stiffer springs from tein. I have tein ss coilovers.

 

You should love the setup....Put it this way, I have my TEINs all the way down with dampers set to 8 front, 8 back. My mom was riding in my car the other day and she made a comment about how smooth it rode (she drives a 04 Caddy CTS). At the same time if you "tighten" the TEINs you get a pretty sporty ride.

You could always install the Coilovers yourself (not too diffucult if you know what your doing), then take the EDFC to a shop and have them deal with the install.

This is cool, another Twin Cities resident with a modded TL

 

No, with four in the car, it looks great while driving on the highway, only over humps at speed, it will tuck right under, I want to take some vids, will post soon.

 

How could I adjust it to get the softer/stock quality ride? Turn counter clockwise or clockwise?

 

Well, I finally got the TEIN SS w/Pillowball mounts installed and they're quite amazing. I thought the stock struts were pretty well set up, although a little soft, but these things just blow them entirely out of the water! The adjustability is a huge plus and, although they're not completely installed, the EDFC controls are going to make this a totally convenient setup. On full stiffness, the wife was none too impressed over rough sections. Over the smoother sections, though, she thought it rode very well. Now that I've softened them up a bit, she likes the ride even better than when stock. At full soft, the car rolls a little more than stock, but the ride quality is still smooth.

A very impressive design and setup...

Dirk

P.S. Clockwise tightens the ride and counter-CW will soften it up...