Tein Flex Review (with Swift comparison)

I've had the Tein Flexes on for about a month now, and just completed on my first autocross on them. Since tires are a big part of the suspension, I think I'll start off stating exactly what tires I was using at different points in this comparison. For street, on both the Swift Springs and the Tein Flex coilovers I was using 225/45/17 Falken Zeix 512 (reinforced). For autocross, with the Swift Springs I had 225/45/17 Bridgestone Potenza RE070 and with the Tein Flex, I had 245/45/17 Falken Azenis RT-615. I had the springs on my car for about 10 months on stock shocks and put about 10k miles on them. I wanted to try springs first because I was trying to avoid the harsh ride of coilovers. As it turns out, I think I was completely wrong.

 

First the street review and comparison. On the street I started off cranking the dampeners to full stiff. The first thing I noticed was a much firmer ride, maybe bordering on too harsh. After driving in familiar places, I think the Flexes actually offered a slightly nicer side. It was firmer for sure, but the bumps felt smaller to the butt-shock-dyno. To compare with the swift springs (which I felt were slightly underdamped for my stock shocks) similar bumps in the road were more pronounced from in the car, especially as time wore on and my dampeners were reaching the end of their life.

 

For a test, I cranked the coilovers to full soft for a drive up to Tahoe to visit my sister (about an hour). Driving on full soft, I felt the coilovers were maybe slightly underdamped. Not nearly as bad as the springs, but everything was a little more bouncy than I liked. On the drive back, I adjusted the coilovers smack dab in the middle and they felt great. Not too stiff, not too bouncy. To be honest, I haven't ridden in a Legacy with completely stock suspension in quite a while so I can't directly compare, but I feel like the ride was close to stock. It was definitely nicer than the springs and the flexs on full soft or full hard. And I've also gotten comments from others (both fellow autocrossers and my non-car friends) that the ride feels much better to them as well.

 

Next, the Autocross review and comparison. Really, there is no comparison. Stiffer springs with the dampening to match. The car was much flatter through the corners and I could easily carry more speed through the entire course. Of course I can't give specifics on how much my time has improved, but I would say that with all other factors aside, the coilovers took off at least a second on a 60 second course. And I think as the season progresses and I will get more used to the suspension setup even more time will come off.

 

I've got one funny story about this last weekend. It was our first event of the season, and scheduling an event in early April in Reno is always a gamble. Sometimes spring is starting and you get 60F degree weather. But not this weekend. The saturday morning session was about 40F degrees ambient air temperature with a decent breeze. Sunday was even colder at 36F and an even stronger breeze. Saturday was a Test & Tune and not a points event, so I figured 'what the hell, I'll crank it to full stiff and see what happens.' Of course, first run, cold tires, cold air, full stiff all around, I made it to the second element, a slalom, and completely spun by the third cone. I think it's the first time I've actually spun on an autocross course (or ever) but I was happy to know the car could finally oversteer. I went six clicks down from full stiff (out of 24) and reduced my tire air pressures to 34psi from 40psi and had no other incidents. All in all, despite the temperatures I think it was a good day. I can't wait for it to start warming up.

 

Conclusion/Cliffnotes: Don't underestimate the value of matched dampeners and springs. In my opinion, the Tein Flex coilovers are better in almost every way compared to the Swift Springs and stock dampeners. Comfort, handling, adjustability, ride height, etc. both on the street and at autocross.

Nice review, I like the Tein Flex's too and had similar thoughts to all of those that you pointed out --a bit too bouncy on full soft, and not bad on full stiff. I have mine at full soft though as I'm trying to take it easy on the dampers, saving them for road race / auto-x

What spring rates on your Teins?

I didn't change out the springs, they are the rates that they come with, 8kg/mm (450lb/in) front and 9kg/mm (500lb/in) rear.

I have to agree. I have these too and the ride is quite nice considering I sit VERY low...

 

Just keep an eye on your top hat bolts... I sheared one off..... and no it wasnt because of over tightening. 14lbs max!

I have to agree. I have these too and the ride is quite nice considering I sit VERY low...

 

Just keep an eye on your top hat bolts... I sheared one off..... and no it wasnt because of over tightening. 14lbs max!

 

Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to keep an eye on them.

 

I had to raise my car up to what almost feels like stock height. On stock tires I have about 2 fingers of front gap and 3 in the rear. I had to do this for the autocross tires I was running. 245/45/17 are a good inch taller than stock and pushed out to the fenders. But I also started out slammed pretty low too. I think I actually like the ride at the height its at now more, but I agree the slammed height doesn't ride all that bad.