If you're thinking about Teins...
Just go ahead and get them.
Here's my impression of them after a week on the road...
How's the ride? It's stiffer than stock, I won't lie to you, but it's completely civilized (Gary set damping at 12 in front/10 in back - I've dinked with it a little on both sides, but 12/10 is about right for the street). There are a couple of roads around my neighborhood where the dips and expansion gaps in the old concrete make the car a little bouncy, but the suspension is well-controlled and I don't feel the wheels pogo-sticking like I could with the old shocks. I found a couple of extra rattles in the dash, but they turned out to be all the crap I had sitting the glove box - easy problem to fix. The other 99% of the time, the ride feels better than stock because the shocks do a much better job of controlling the body motions. Also, even though my car is now about 1-1.5" lower, it hasn't bottomed out, and I haven't high-centered it yet (even while off-roading down near Ennis this past weekend!).
How does it handle? Hands-down, this is the best-handling car I've owned - it's like a big go-kart, but with A/C and a stereo. On our Sunday drive down near Ennis, I noticed several improvements - and this was before I had AJ align my car. Overall, it feels amazingly stable and tight in the corners - I pulled out of a coule of 35 mph corners at 70+ with no problem. The alignment (or lack thereof) made it a little darty on turn-in, but once it took a set, it was golden. Mid-corner bumps did not upset the chassis at all. Burning down some long straights over uneven pavement, the car felt very tied-down. Cresting bumpy hills at 80-90 mph, there was no float or squirm at all. It inspires lots of confidence. And all I did was swap for the Teins - I'm on stock sways, stock bushings, everything else is stock.
Yesterday I took my car to AJ and he set it up to the specs Gary gave me, so now it feels even better than it did on Sunday. Turns out the alignment was pretty screwy :rolleyes:. Now there's no dartiness on turn in, and the car absolutley tracks like a laser through the corners. It's just awesome...
Yes, it was a lot of money, but compared to other setups I considered, the Teins were not a huge jump up in cost - no need to buy bumpstops, shock mounts, etc. Also, since they are a matched set, so there's no guesswork trying to figure out which shocks work with which springs. Needless to say, I'm very happy with the end-result. Now I'm really excited about getting back into some Auto-X action, and ready to make my reservations for Hallett! Hell, I even bought a new helmet yesterday...
Thanks to Gary and AJ for getting me hooked up!
(BTW, this is the last time I'll slobber about these things... I promise.)
