Tein Coilovers & Brakes DIY

[enkrypt3d]

So a friend and I spent the entire day yesterday overhauling my brakes and installing my new set of Tein RE's!

We Replaced the brake lines with Stainless Steel lines, painted the calipers with the G2 silver caliper paint, replaced the rotors with cryo treated Powerslot x-drilled and slotted rotors.

(This is the aftermath of the long day of work)

It took us about 2 hours and 3 trips to autozone to get the first OEM shock assembly out. Come to find out, we didn't need the spring compressor as it didn't give us any more clearance.

We used the 2x4 trick on the rotor, which you don't need a 350 lb man to sit on it as if you push down on it all the way, it will force the shock back into the cup. What we found is, as I put pressure on the 2x4, pushing about half way down, my friend was able to pull the bottom of the shock out of the cup. One thing that really helped is moving the brake cable stay that sits at the bottom of the shock. Move this bracket up to the top so its out of the way. This gave us enough room to pull it out! The first one took us about 2 hours of yanking, pulling, pushing and cursing, the last 3 took us about 15 minutes a piece!

The result is a nice ride with (I think?) 1.25-1.5" drop. The ride is firm and smooth as opposed to my 15 year old OEM shocks!

Seeing as how the RE's are fully adjustable, I have all shocks set to full soft for now. One thing I did notice though is that on the road, I'm getting a significant amount of bounce.

What can I do to fix this? I know the RE's have a way of changing the spring pre-load, but how do I know what to change it to? right now I just left it snug where the spring is not loose between the upper pillowball mount and the lower adjustment perch. Any input here would be great!

So for now I'm enjoying the new braking performance with the new handling performance!

I was going to do a DIY writeup but the entire day took us about 12 hours from start to finish!

 

[CL65 Captain]

Stiffen up the dampers a little and go for a ride. If it is still bouncing then stiffen a little more until you find a level that gets rid of the bounce. Then use this as the "base level" for your softest setting. In other words this becomes the new softest level and you can stiffen them up for the track/performance driving from there and afterwards return them to your street level. Full soft may be too soft for the springs - thus the bounce.

 

[KooLaid]

Did you set the preload to their recommended settings? How much did you lower it?

I had some bounce too but that was because I had preload set way too low. It was also lowered way too much. I ended up lowering it about .875" and setting my preload to their recommended settings. The bounce just about went away. I'm also running my dampening in the middle 4 click setting.

 

[enkrypt3d]

all I did was set it so that the springs were not loose when they were off the car. I made sure that they were set to the same position on each side. I am goin to call Tein tomorrow and see what the recommended setting are. Also, I am not sure how low my car is now, I have to take some measurements I just left them at the same settings as when I got them.

 

[enkrypt3d]

Ok so I set the front to 4 and back to 6 (from full soft) and that helped... then I set all 4 corners to 8 and that seemed to make some improvements.

Does anyone know what the recommended pre-load settings are?

As it stands now, I have about a thumbs width of threads on the shaft below the springs on the rears and about a pinky's width on the fronts... I tried my best not to change them when we were replacing the dust boots on them.

Btw we just used some generic dust boots and cut them to length... which worked perfectly! it looks OEM

 

[KooLaid]

Yeah, I tried the "tight enough so the springs don't move" and it was too loose. That's why mine bounced anyways.

The settings should be in the manual. Their settings are for lowering like 1.8" or so. (not certain) But I ended up lowering it less than 1". So I dialed each coilover to the spec according to the manual. Then I screwed down leg till I was .8" or so lowered on all 4 corners, using the lower leg lock rings, and the coil spring lock rings as good reference points to measure.

Their settings left my car much too low than I wanted.

 

[enkrypt3d]

Yeah, I tried the "tight enough so the springs don't move" and it was too loose. That's why mine bounced anyways.

The settings should be in the manual. Their settings are for lowering like 1.8" or so. (not certain) But I ended up lowering it less than 1". So I dialed each coilover to the spec according to the manual. Then I screwed down leg till I was .8" or so lowered on all 4 corners, using the lower leg lock rings, and the coil spring lock rings as good reference points to measure.

Their settings left my car much too low than I wanted.

Hmm not sure I understand all these measurements as I don't know if they apply to the RE's... Do you have the full manuals for the RE's by chance?

 

[KooLaid]

That is from the Tein RE for nsx manual and yes I do. The max file size I can attach in pdf form on prime is 244k. The manual is about 500k. PM me your email and I'll get it sent out.

Yeah, for me it took about 6 hours messing with clamps and such. Which were of NO help. It was also before the 2x4 trick came to prime. The removal alone too me about...... 4-5 hours. Install of the tein took me a little over an hour because they're so much shorter!

What I had to do was jack the car WAY up. lay down a truck spare wheel that weighs alot, and use tie down straps to hold the arms down towards the spare truck wheel. It was a serious pain.

 

[enkrypt3d]

That is from the Tein RE for nsx manual and yes I do. The max file size I can attach in pdf form on prime is 244k. The manual is about 500k. PM me your email and I'll get it sent out.

Yeah, for me it took about 6 hours messing with clamps and such. Which were of NO help. It was also before the 2x4 trick came to prime. The removal alone too me about...... 4-5 hours. Install of the tein took me a little over an hour because they're so much shorter!

What I had to do was jack the car WAY up. lay down a truck spare wheel that weighs alot, and use tie down straps to hold the arms down towards the spare truck wheel. It was a serious pain.

haha I feel you there bro! I know that one very well now...

PM sent! Thanks again man!

What are your thoughts about getting the car corner balanced? Is it a must? I'm getting tires soon so I was thinking of getting an alignment and the corner balance at the same time.

 

[NSXDreamer2]

based on my experience, the Tein RA/RE spring is way too stiff for US bumpy hwy. The valving is definately not matching the stiff springs once you turn 2/3 from stiffest setting. (That's what everone's compliant of the pogo effect.) In fact, I found out that even at stiffest setting, it doesn't hurt the ride comfort that much but only slightly more vibration... which, is better than pogo IMO.

 

[enkrypt3d]

based on my experience, the Tein RA/RE spring is way too stiff for US bumpy hwy. The valving is definately not matching the stiff springs once you turn 2/3 from stiffest setting. (That's what everone's compliant of the pogo effect.) In fact, I found out that even at stiffest setting, it doesn't hurt the ride comfort that much but only slightly more vibration... which, is better than pogo IMO.

yea im quickly finding that out... I dont mind the ride at all I'm just working out the kinks at the moment. I just need to get it all tweaked out right now and I think i'll be fine My OEM shocks were toast! so this is a vast improvement.....

I was thinking of getting some spacers for my OEM 2002 style rims (I have 5mm set on the fronts) so that they are flush with the fenders until I get some new rims...... ugh it never ends! lol

 

[KooLaid]

Yeah, the RE is quite the stiff ride for where I drive the most, city, highway and mountains. When I hit the smooth butta stuff like highway 26 though, it's a beautiful suspension setup. BTW, adjusting, tinkering, driving, adjusting, tinkering, will eventually come to kick your @ss. It's very time consuming trying to dial in the car, JUST RIGHT to your taste. Maybe it's just me? lol

Cornering balancing will come as recommended by many here, or highly recommended. For me, I never did it and I've been on my suspension for the last 10k miles??? I've never dialed it in completely perfect for me though and have been through swaybar setups like crazy trying to perfect it. Swaybars seem to have a huge affect on the overall handling of the car. In some instances, rather.....bizarre or unexpected outcomes. I've been on oem sway bars, Type R front swaybar, and now dali street/race. Still working out the kinks. I'm now switching over to Bilstein and oem springs. I have swayed FAR from the original issue I was trying to fix with my car when it was stock, which is dial out the slight understeer. Then lowering being 2nd. I've adjusted, changed and tinkered with lots of suspension related parts/issues. I'm now going to go back to square one because I seem to be getting further and futher from where I wanted to be and that was just a slight modification from stock handling.

I don't cruise, I drive the $hit outta my car. So I want it to be "perfect".

BTW, you have email w/ pdf

 

[enkrypt3d]

Excellent! Thanks a million - Yea I have a contact that can do a corner balance for $350 plus $100 for an alignment... going to grab a camber kit and new tires then call it a day!

Yea on my dali street/track sways I have both from and rear set to full stiff and I love it... I don't think I've had a chance to run the car anywhere near the limit as I want to wait till I get new tires and the above tweaks... I'll definitely let you know how it goes!

 

[enkrypt3d]

Go here for more pics! http://www.enkrypted.com/nsx/low/

 

[KooLaid]

Looks good. Yours is considerably lower than mine, I've got a two finger gap in the front and slightly less in the rear currently. Before, I was lowered about 2" in the front and slightly less in the rear. Dear god it was scary driving around, the ride kicked my butt, and the bouncing was hard to adjust to. I only had it that low for a day, lol.

Big question remains.... how about the handling? high speed corners, low speed corners, etc etc.

The following pictures they kinda look the same, BUT pic#1 has 215/35/18 & 265/30/19 and pic#2 has 225/35/18 & 285/30/19. So the gap looks the same even though I raised it because I also increased tire sizes later on.
Initially:

Currently: