Review Tein SS-P Coilovers
08-31-2010, 10:03 PM
#1
Tein SS-P Coilovers
I installed a set of Tein SS-P coilovers and there doesn't seem to be any good feedback or reviews on them, so here it goes. I have had quite a few people ask about these.
First, a little background.... I have an 09 G37 sedan (6MT sport) that has about 12000 miles on it. I went with Eibach springs about 15 months ago, soon after getting the car. At the time I was not blown away by anything on the market, so I decide to go with the Eibachs to get by for a while. I had the Eibachs on for about 10,000 miles, and never much cared for them. I thought they caused the handling to be pretty rough, and caused too much body roll with stock shocks. They were really rough over choppy roads. Overall, I was not very impressed and was really looking forward to getting rid of them. I got the SS-P's almost 2 months ago, but it had been around 105 degrees since then, and in my old age I couldn't bare the heat.
About the Tein SS-P's: These are Tein's middle of the road coilover for our cars. They run around $1500 (they list for a little over $1600). They have a 16 way dampening adjustment, with 9kg front and 8 kg rear spring. They also have pillow ball upper mounts (that is the "P" in SS-P). By contrast the Flex's have 14/12, and Mono-Flex's have 14/14 (these are the higher end Tein's). The lower end Basic's also have 9/8, but do not have pillow ball upper mounts. The appeal to me was the spring rates which I thought were a good combo for mostly street use, and the pillow ball mounts.
Install: Difficulty- 3 out of 10. If you have installed springs before, coilovers are really easy. Not having to mount the front spring on the shock saves most of the hard work. This is at least my 8th time to install some form of suspension on a Z/G, so it was no problem. I wouldn't have an issue recommending this to a first timer if they are mechanically inclined. As usual, the directions are not great, and you should have the factory service manual to follow for torque specs. I good torque wrench and basic metric hand tools are all that is required. Air tools will help, but I did not even bother to use mine on this install.
Setup: Most of the effort goes into getting the ride height set (and in my case the alignment close because I also installed SPC front control arms at the same time). I found that I could adjust the front by just jacking up the car and going over the top of the wheels. On the rear I found it easier to just take the wheel off. Overall, this took maybe an hour. I had some issues with the SPC control arms that made this take longer (which still aren't completely sorted out...). I opted not to install the EDFC controller. Changing dampening is easy. The front adjusters are on the top of the CO, and accessible from under the hood. A 3mm allen wrench makes adjusting them easy. The rear adjuster is on the top side of the shock, and you have to raise the car slightly to adjust them, but I can do all 4 within 3-4 minutes. I have mine set on 11 front, and 6 rear. I will probably bump the rear up to 8-9 to make it slightly stiffer. I like the front where it is for now.
Driving Impression: In one word, GREAT. I don't know what took me so long. The car is much firmer and more solid feeling, especially over bumpy and choppy roads, but not as rough as my stock shock/Eibach spring combo. At the same time, the body roll is greatly reduced. I know it is hard to believe, but I attribute it to the stock shocks not being a good match for the Eibach springs. I also prefer the feel of the linear springs over the progressive Eibach springs. Handling is greatly improved, and I would not want stiffer springs unless this was approaching a full-time track car. Overall, I am blown away and really happy with the results. I would highly recommend these. There are dips that my front tires used to rub the upper fender liner and now it is stiff enough to not do so, but it takes the dip a lot smoother and with more composure overall.
I don't have any pics for now because the car looks like it did before (doh, you can't really see the coilovers), and I was too busy working during the install to take pics. Once I get everything dialed in and cleaned up, I will add some pics.
First, a little background.... I have an 09 G37 sedan (6MT sport) that has about 12000 miles on it. I went with Eibach springs about 15 months ago, soon after getting the car. At the time I was not blown away by anything on the market, so I decide to go with the Eibachs to get by for a while. I had the Eibachs on for about 10,000 miles, and never much cared for them. I thought they caused the handling to be pretty rough, and caused too much body roll with stock shocks. They were really rough over choppy roads. Overall, I was not very impressed and was really looking forward to getting rid of them. I got the SS-P's almost 2 months ago, but it had been around 105 degrees since then, and in my old age I couldn't bare the heat.
About the Tein SS-P's: These are Tein's middle of the road coilover for our cars. They run around $1500 (they list for a little over $1600). They have a 16 way dampening adjustment, with 9kg front and 8 kg rear spring. They also have pillow ball upper mounts (that is the "P" in SS-P). By contrast the Flex's have 14/12, and Mono-Flex's have 14/14 (these are the higher end Tein's). The lower end Basic's also have 9/8, but do not have pillow ball upper mounts. The appeal to me was the spring rates which I thought were a good combo for mostly street use, and the pillow ball mounts.
Install: Difficulty- 3 out of 10. If you have installed springs before, coilovers are really easy. Not having to mount the front spring on the shock saves most of the hard work. This is at least my 8th time to install some form of suspension on a Z/G, so it was no problem. I wouldn't have an issue recommending this to a first timer if they are mechanically inclined. As usual, the directions are not great, and you should have the factory service manual to follow for torque specs. I good torque wrench and basic metric hand tools are all that is required. Air tools will help, but I did not even bother to use mine on this install.
Setup: Most of the effort goes into getting the ride height set (and in my case the alignment close because I also installed SPC front control arms at the same time). I found that I could adjust the front by just jacking up the car and going over the top of the wheels. On the rear I found it easier to just take the wheel off. Overall, this took maybe an hour. I had some issues with the SPC control arms that made this take longer (which still aren't completely sorted out...). I opted not to install the EDFC controller. Changing dampening is easy. The front adjusters are on the top of the CO, and accessible from under the hood. A 3mm allen wrench makes adjusting them easy. The rear adjuster is on the top side of the shock, and you have to raise the car slightly to adjust them, but I can do all 4 within 3-4 minutes. I have mine set on 11 front, and 6 rear. I will probably bump the rear up to 8-9 to make it slightly stiffer. I like the front where it is for now.
Driving Impression: In one word, GREAT. I don't know what took me so long. The car is much firmer and more solid feeling, especially over bumpy and choppy roads, but not as rough as my stock shock/Eibach spring combo. At the same time, the body roll is greatly reduced. I know it is hard to believe, but I attribute it to the stock shocks not being a good match for the Eibach springs. I also prefer the feel of the linear springs over the progressive Eibach springs. Handling is greatly improved, and I would not want stiffer springs unless this was approaching a full-time track car. Overall, I am blown away and really happy with the results. I would highly recommend these. There are dips that my front tires used to rub the upper fender liner and now it is stiff enough to not do so, but it takes the dip a lot smoother and with more composure overall.
I don't have any pics for now because the car looks like it did before (doh, you can't really see the coilovers), and I was too busy working during the install to take pics. Once I get everything dialed in and cleaned up, I will add some pics.
Last edited by jran76; 09-01-2010 at 08:29 PM.
08-31-2010, 10:47 PM
#2
I installed a set of Tein SS-P coilovers and there don't see to be any good feedback or reviews on them, so here it goes. I have had quite a few people ask about these.
First, a little background.... I have an 09 G37 sedan (6MT sport) that has about 12000 miles on it. I went with Eibach springs about 15 months ago, soon after getting the car. At the time I was not blown away by anything on the market, so I decide to go with the Eibachs to get by for a while. I had the Eibachs on for about 10,000 miles, and never much cared for them. I thought they caused the handling to be pretty rough, and caused too much body roll with stock shocks. They were really rough over choppy roads. Overall, I was not very impressed and was really looking forward to getting rid of them. I got the SS-P's almost 2 months ago, but it had been around 105 degrees since then, and in my old age I couldn't bare the heat.
About the Tein SS-P's: These are Tein's middle of the road coilover for our cars. The run around $1500 (they list for a little over $1600). They have a 16 way dampening adjustment, with 9kg front and 8 kg rear spring. They also have pillow ball upper mounts (that is the "P" in SS-P). By contrast the Flex's have 14/12, and Mono-Flex's have 14/14 (these are the higher end Tein's). The lower end Basic's also have 9/8, but do not have pillow ball upper mounts. The appeal to me was the spring rates which I thought were a good combo for mostly street use, and the pillow ball mounts.
Install: Difficulty- 3 out of 10. If you have installed springs before, coilovers are really easy. Not having to mount the front spring on the shock saves most of the hard work. This is at least my 8th time to install some form of suspension on a Z/G, so it was no problem. I wouldn't have an issue recommending this to a first timer if they are mechanically inclined. As usual, the directions are not great, and you should have the factory service manual to follow for torque specs. I good torque wrench and basic metric hand tools are all that is required. Air tools will help, but I did not even bother to use mine on this install.
Setup: Most of the effort goes into getting the ride height set (and in my case the alignment close because I also installed SPC front control arms at the same time). I found that I could adjust the front by just jacking up the car and going over the top of the wheels. On the rear I found it easier to just take the wheel off. Overall, this took maybe an hour. I had some issues with the SPC control arms that made this take longer (which still aren't completely sorted out...).
Driving Impression: In one word, GREAT. I don't know what took me so long. The car is much firmer and more solid feeling, especially over bumpy and choppy road, but not as rough as my stock shock/Eibach spring combo. At the same time, the body roll is greatly reduced. I know it is hard to believe, but I attribute it to the stock shocks not being a good match for the Eibach springs. I also prefer the feel of the linear springs over the progressive Eibach springs. Handling is greatly improved, and I would not want stiffer springs unless this was approaching a full-time track car. Overall, I am blown away and really happy with the results. I would highly recommend these.
I don't have any pics for now because the car looks like it did before (doh, you can't really see the coilovers), and I was too busy working during the install to take pics. Once I get everything dialed in and cleaned up, I will add some pics.
First, a little background.... I have an 09 G37 sedan (6MT sport) that has about 12000 miles on it. I went with Eibach springs about 15 months ago, soon after getting the car. At the time I was not blown away by anything on the market, so I decide to go with the Eibachs to get by for a while. I had the Eibachs on for about 10,000 miles, and never much cared for them. I thought they caused the handling to be pretty rough, and caused too much body roll with stock shocks. They were really rough over choppy roads. Overall, I was not very impressed and was really looking forward to getting rid of them. I got the SS-P's almost 2 months ago, but it had been around 105 degrees since then, and in my old age I couldn't bare the heat.
About the Tein SS-P's: These are Tein's middle of the road coilover for our cars. The run around $1500 (they list for a little over $1600). They have a 16 way dampening adjustment, with 9kg front and 8 kg rear spring. They also have pillow ball upper mounts (that is the "P" in SS-P). By contrast the Flex's have 14/12, and Mono-Flex's have 14/14 (these are the higher end Tein's). The lower end Basic's also have 9/8, but do not have pillow ball upper mounts. The appeal to me was the spring rates which I thought were a good combo for mostly street use, and the pillow ball mounts.
Install: Difficulty- 3 out of 10. If you have installed springs before, coilovers are really easy. Not having to mount the front spring on the shock saves most of the hard work. This is at least my 8th time to install some form of suspension on a Z/G, so it was no problem. I wouldn't have an issue recommending this to a first timer if they are mechanically inclined. As usual, the directions are not great, and you should have the factory service manual to follow for torque specs. I good torque wrench and basic metric hand tools are all that is required. Air tools will help, but I did not even bother to use mine on this install.
Setup: Most of the effort goes into getting the ride height set (and in my case the alignment close because I also installed SPC front control arms at the same time). I found that I could adjust the front by just jacking up the car and going over the top of the wheels. On the rear I found it easier to just take the wheel off. Overall, this took maybe an hour. I had some issues with the SPC control arms that made this take longer (which still aren't completely sorted out...).
Driving Impression: In one word, GREAT. I don't know what took me so long. The car is much firmer and more solid feeling, especially over bumpy and choppy road, but not as rough as my stock shock/Eibach spring combo. At the same time, the body roll is greatly reduced. I know it is hard to believe, but I attribute it to the stock shocks not being a good match for the Eibach springs. I also prefer the feel of the linear springs over the progressive Eibach springs. Handling is greatly improved, and I would not want stiffer springs unless this was approaching a full-time track car. Overall, I am blown away and really happy with the results. I would highly recommend these.
I don't have any pics for now because the car looks like it did before (doh, you can't really see the coilovers), and I was too busy working during the install to take pics. Once I get everything dialed in and cleaned up, I will add some pics.
09-01-2010, 07:39 PM
#7
here's some pictures of mine
I was going to do a write up but OP gave a great review on them and it looks like we have very similar opinions on the coils
Anyone interested in a set let me know
(sorry OP )
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09-01-2010, 08:18 PM
#8
I tried to get these from you a while back, but at the time you said you couldn't get them. I guess you can now. I am sure you will hook people up with a good deal. I got my Invidia exhaust from you, and would recommend Amplified to anyone wanting these.
09-01-2010, 08:23 PM
#9
09-04-2010, 09:13 PM
#11
I just noticed mine look a little different than yours. On my fronts, both collars are anodized green, and my rear springs are green. I wonder what is different. As mentioned, I picked these up maybe 2-3 months ago. At the time Tein said it was the last set in the US. I guess they made some minor changes.
. The production should look like yours.
09-24-2010, 12:15 PM
#12
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Excellent review. Still considering the Teins but hear good things about KW as well. Glad your setup is on a sedan as well. Anyone have stronger recommendations for Tein or KW?
