Tein Nightmare

Okay so i have the Tein flex coil overs with the edfc.

Last year i noticed one of my rears was leaking, so i quickly sent it out for a rebuild. They found a small chip in the piston, so obviously it had to be replaced. I had to wait a few weeks for the piston to be imported from japan. No big deal, i got the coil over back and it was as good as new.

 

A few weeks later i noticed a clicking coming from the rear, i looked into it and noticed that the top hat on the other coil over was shot. I drove with the click for a few months until i could park the car for a while.

 

Last week the top hat came back from being repaired. I also bought new bump rubbers for the front coil overs because i noticed they had split. Upon installing the new bump rubbers i uncovered even more problems.....

 

-The front top hats are severely bent

-The body developed a crack from the outward pressure of the bolts

-Dustboots are practically gone

-Coil over is seized to the lower bracket

 

I called tein and explained what had happen, they initially suspected improper installation because they had never seen this happen. I install suspension components all day long at work, from coil overs to weld on long arm kits. I sent them measurements, and they told me they were correctly installed. They said that the only thing that would cause the mount to bend would be constant bottoming out of the coilover.... I know what it feels like to ride on the bump stop and i certainly was not.

I didnt expect a free set or anything because they are out of warrantee, but i did expect a discount on the replacement parts. They said no... In my opinion that mount should be able to handle just about anything, aside from jumping the car. And if a properly adjusted coil over was bottoming out the spring obviously isnt right for the car.

 

Basically the reason i created this thread was to see if anyone else has noticed this problem before. It's not something you can see without trying to remove the coil over. I had to beat it out with a dead blow, the bolts no longer line with the holes. I feel like if a few people brought it to their attention they might realized the flaw in their design.

 

I dont know where to go from here, im in so deep with this set up especially with the recent repairs. But i refuse to spend the money on another set of mounts when it will just happen again. What do i do? Give up and buy a set of kws possibly? Or should i push the issue harder with tein?

the LGT front top mounts are quite a bit bigger than those on a WRX. looks like they didn't make the plate any thicker to compensate.

had flex's for over 3 years, severely lowered(to the point the tire would contact the fender liner, even with the spring preloaded), and hard core autoxed for that whole time and never had this issue with them.

 

FWIW i have repaired a bent(from an accident) flex top hat plate for someone. i used a 20ton press and some strategic hammer hits and it was back in shape. as for that crack in the strut tower, ive never seen that before. you can reinforce that area with a strut tower bar that uses circular mounting brackets(most do).

straightening out a bent aluminum top hat is about the last thing you want to do. Makes it much more likely to fail completely.

I definetly dont think pressing them back to shape is the best idea. Id consider buying new plates but they wont help me out even a little bit on the cost. Im disgusted, they admit they were properly installed but there is nothing they can do for me. Im done giving tein money.

 

Can anyone suggest a different coilover setup? Bc seems to have a great replacement plan. What about ics? I havent heard much about them.

Those are both essentially a cheap knock off of the teins. Pretty much the only good coilovers for these are the RCE T1s (or the KWs they're based on), Bilstein PSS, or something custom made like m sprank's ASTs. None of them come with top mounts, but you can use the stock ones.

^i got my current AST4100's with vorshlag plates.

Where do you get the asts? Are they a coil over or a strut/spring?

And would it be possible to run the vorshlag with the teins??? If so i think thats my solution for now.

Yes, you can use different camber plates with the teins. Vorshlag themselves would be able to make sure you get the right top nut and adapter hardware for them to work.

 

ASTs are coilovers, although I don't think they have a set specifically for the BL/BP legacy. The couple of people that have them are using modified impreza shocks. the biggest difference between them is the rear lower mounting point. The come in a couple different variants. 1way, 2-way, and with inverted fronts and external reservoirs up to 3-way, if you want to spend 5-6k.

Okay i sent them an email. Their mounts are baaad ass.

RCE sells the ASTs. same people who make the Tarmac 1's

And we are an RCE dealer so let us know if we can help.

 

-mike

 

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And we are an RCE dealer so let us know if we can help.

 

-mike

 

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11+ Years Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Subaru Enthusiasts.

Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.

AIM: AZP Installs | E-mail: paisan@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) | T-1 Certified Amsoil Direct Jobber

"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

 

I see you guys have a lot of posts in the suspension threads - I live in northern NJ and I have a stock 09 LGT 5EAT. I've been looking into doing some work on my suspension (once it starts to warm up) and you guys seem really knowledgeable from a lot of the posts I've seen.

 

I've been looking into a bunch of different coilover setups and also some strut/spring combos - I'm just looking to get more performance without sacrificing that much ride quality and more importantly without too low of a drop. I drive in some crappy areas around here and I'd like to stay as close to stock ride height as possible. The biggest reason I was looking into coilover setups is the ability to dial in the height after install in-case I'm not happy with the amount of drop (and spring tension). I've seen a lot of your posts where you've recommended going with a street oriented spring & stut combo like bilsteins/konis & pinks/epics over coilovers for anything other than AutoX. What do you suggest?? Definitely looking for a good shop to work with in the area once I start getting into some of my bigger installs like this.

I see you guys have a lot of posts in the suspension threads - I live in northern NJ and I have a stock 09 LGT 5EAT. I've been looking into doing some work on my suspension (once it starts to warm up) and you guys seem really knowledgeable from a lot of the posts I've seen.

 

I've been looking into a bunch of different coilover setups and also some strut/spring combos - I'm just looking to get more performance without sacrificing that much ride quality and more importantly without too low of a drop. I drive in some crappy areas around here and I'd like to stay as close to stock ride height as possible. The biggest reason I was looking into coilover setups is the ability to dial in the height after install in-case I'm not happy with the amount of drop (and spring tension). I've seen a lot of your posts where you've recommended going with a street oriented spring & stut combo like bilsteins/konis & pinks/epics over coilovers for anything other than AutoX. What do you suggest?? Definitely looking for a good shop to work with in the area once I start getting into some of my bigger installs like this.

 

Thanks for asking! We love subies and love modding them, but we don't over-sell folks on stuff they don't need. More of a minalist/means to an end approach.

 

In the NY/NJ area, you are not going to be happy with coilovers if you daily drive the car at all. I ran stock springs w/Konis for about 8 months which included some track days and it was a great setup. I then went to STi Pinks and they were slightly harsher but not issues even taking my Mother In Law in the car. The drop wasn't so bad for the potholes etc around here.

 

We are always willing to chat so as the time gets closer, give a ring or stop down on a saturday and we can chat and maybe even one of our customers will be there with a setup you can try out. Often on Saturdays we have lots of different leggys with different suspensions you can definitely check out.

 

-mike

 

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11+ Years Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Subaru Enthusiasts.

Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.

AIM: AZP Installs | E-mail: paisan@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) | T-1 Certified Amsoil Direct Jobber

"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"