23109VC

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

There isn't much of a work-around, unfortunately. To access the top of the shock the seat needs to move out. This is why many people dial in their firmness settings with the seat off, then bolt it in place once they have it set where they want. Believe it or not, getting the seat moved is really pretty easy. Only takes a couple minutes.

The EDFC is the best option for having fast, easy adjustment to the coilovers from the driver's seat. They even offer many memory settings. There is a cost to the kit but we can make a deal for you on Heeltoe.

Other brands like BC Racing offer extensions that you can use on their kits to snake the adjuster knob into the cabin. Tein has extensions but they are designed to be used with EDFC motors, not hand clickers.

23109VC

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

BC is a great kit, and we gladly sell those also. Last few sets of TL kits we sold actually came with those extensions in the box. I would say that BC Racinf kits, for being a Taiwan brand, I've really come a long way and have earned a great reputation with many enthusiasts.

I think you'd be pretty happy with the performance of those ovwrall although reports on the ride quality vary from person to person. Some people think they ride great and others think they're firm feeling. It's all sort of a matter of opinion. With the Tein sets, you pretty much universally are gettinga setups that's great for street sport and it avoids high performance drawbacks. Tein figured out a while ago that almost nobody with Street Advance Z or Flex Z kits actually go to the track.

Getting getting a street Advance Z with an EDFC is probably going push on the cost of a BC Racing kit. and by going that route what you'll be missing an extra lowering and performance you'll be gaining in the convenience of being able to just push a button and it just the ride firmness however you want it whenever you want to.

I can definitely build you a package of teiT product with the EDFC bundled together and we can compare that to a BC Racing kit pricing

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

BC is the better setup. you can customize everything with BC. valve rates, spring rates, etc. you custom order your personal specs.

with tien; you get what you get...which may not be optimized for your specific needs...ie; not neutral handling.

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

Better is only better if all that stuff really means something to you. The Tein setups are designed to work great for a big fat part of the market and they work really well. If you want to customize your set up then BC does give you more options. But as I and many other people have seen customizing sometimes just allows people to make bad decisions because they don't quite know what they're doing.

For a lot of people it's better to have something that works really well and they don't have to think about it and they spend a lot less money.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

i've had both the tein flex with edfc and now i have the bc coilovers.

if you drive sporty or push your car, get BC without a doubt.
if you want only comfort and don't drive aggressive, get TEIN.

the tein were way more comfortable overall but i hated it when i pushed the car. the EDFC is amazing. i had one of the first active setups for a TL and wrote a big DIY and review on it here on acurazine. but the BC performance to me was worth losing EDFC.

my next project is to install the extensions so i don't have to adjust BC by removing the seat (even though i can now do it in less than 10 minutes)

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

Just curious... Did you run the Tein Flex with any extra preload? My TSX has the Street Flex in it and it was really rather soft when I first installed which was great for comfort but was terrible for cornering. I added a little preload in the rear and now it handles great! I even track it once or twice a year.

I think that many of the people that criticize Tein systems aren't setting them up 100%.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that feedback! We definitely like to tell people these days that of lowering and/or performance are the primary goals that the BC Racing is serving that need well. I hope our service was good for you. Heeltoe does support both brands.

I find it ironic that Tein has progressively made their systems more compliant over the years to give people a better ride because the original FLEX (not street flex or flex z) was too hard edged and here were are wishing they had something to fill that gap again.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

BROlando

Not to get too far off topic. While adding preload doesn't change spring rate, it will make the suspension softer overall. Not harder.

You're adding shock stroke and increasing space between shock body and bumpstop.

It works on the simple fact that springs by themselves are softer than spring+bumpstop.

MrHeeltoe

iTrader: (1)

Nobody claimed it did increase the rate, but it does increase the initial force needed to compress the spring. I am not clear what the bump stop has to do with it tough (other than preloading the spring raises the car a little and increases travel range, is that what you meant?)

BROlando

Well...I mentioned rate because raising spring rate is the only way to increase force required for compression. So if you're not doing that...how can you make the spring harder to compress?

Initial force only matters in a sitiatuon where the wheels leave the ground for a fairly significant time (enough to fully extend the shock).

Once the wheels touch the ground and the spring compresses even 0.0000001mm, it starts acting like a non-preloaded spring again.

Preload adds compression stroke and reduces rebound stroke. So as long as you're not going CRAZY with the preload, the shock/spring should be able to extend quite a bit without allowing the wheels to come off the ground over dips and holes.

​So if you're not going off jumps...the correct amount of preload won't add harshness or stiffness.

Think about the stock springs on like...ANY car. Lots of preload with relatively soft springs.

And correct....increasing preload increases the space between shock body and bumpstop. Of course that makes the ride softer if you were to do that.

You can hit a larger bump without activating the very stiff bumpstop.. Thats the idea behind preloading a spring. Add travel. Add compliance.

An off-the-shelf Tein Flex setup for a TL has about 0.5" of shock travel up front before you activate the bumpstop.

The bumpstop rate is incredibly high. Its like activating a 16 or 20Kg/mm+ spring.

So if you add preload, you increase travel before hitting the bumpstop. It makes the ride SOFTER by doing this.

With a full body coilover like the Flex, you can then independently lower the car without affecting preload.

The issue I saw with my Flex (on 2 different cars) was that the damper didn't react fast enough to control the very high spring rate. Plus, the total travel is quite limited. I know why Tein does it - to make a safe/simple off the shelf design. But I think they end up just not being a very good system overall, in terms of ride quality.

23109VC

does the BC coilover kit come with the extensions in the box to put on the rear shocks so they can be adjusted from inside the car? or is that something extra you have to order???

I have the H&R springs right now on stock shocks... my shocks are super worn out - so I'm considering doing coils like TEIN or BC
OR
I thought about just getting a set of Koni sports and then reusing my H&R springs on the Konis. it would be cheaper to buy Koni sports vs buying a set of BC coilovers…. even if I re-sold my H&R springs, I'd be out of pocket more to get BC coilovers…. but i'm wondering how much of a different in ride quality or performance would there be on either setup?

one upside of BC - is that if I had extensions in the car - I could adjust the car all the way around from hard to soft? correct??? my wife will sometimes drive the car and if it's on super stiff she will HATE it... i'm assuming that with BC + extensions, I could make the car stiff when I want it... but for the times when my wife will borrow the car, it would be relatively easy to quickly adjust it to a softer setting so that it has a more OEM type ride?

when on full soft - HOW soft would BC be? still stiff and firm or would it be more like a stock setup? aka - happy wife??? or will she hate it either way it's adjusted...

thanks!