Tein SS

[Pressure]

After searching, it seems that no one has even tried the Super Streets. I don't know if people are (rightly so) scared off by the name or if maybe they just suck. I know from the words "driving comfort" on Tein's site that they aren't valved the tightest, but I get the impression that they are more durable than FLEXs - does anybody out there agree or disagree?
The EDFC is (unfortunately, it turns out) high on my priority list cuz my fiance drives the car as much as I do and she don't want to be adjusting the struts manually every time we switch and I don't want to be doing for her everyday mos def. She was always whining in the last car about hitting her head on the roof over bumps so we made a deal that the next car would be adjustable to somewhere close to civility. That leaves me with the FLEX, SS, or no EDFC.
It's a daily driver, and I will take it to the track to (try to) drift as often as I can get out there. Last car was a V6 Eclipse with roughly an 8\6 on Koni's in front, Tokico's rear.

Thanx for the opinions. :)

[Halz]

When properly set up, dampning has little to do with comfort. Improperly set up, an over-dampned suspension will be ridged/stiff.. the tires will skip over bumps, while a under-dampend suspesion will be bouncy.. we've all see the car with cut springs tossing its occupants around :(

The spring rate and tire pressure are much more practical variables to adjust in trying to maintain a plush ride.

Also, comparing spring rates between different cars is not acurate, unless whats call a 'motion ratio' is known for the front and rear suspension gemoteries.. which would allow for calculating a wheel rate and ride frequency; the former a unit that can then be used to compare directly to other cars, and the latter dictating the.. ride frequency.. how many cycles per second the chassis will occolate in a frictionless (..dampner-less) suspension.

Alllllso, increasing the front wheel ride frequency, biased to the rear wheel frequency, will induce a 'pitchy ride' if not otherwise well dampened.. this has to do with the speed at which the car tavels over a bump, and how long it takes for one end of the car to catch up to the other end. A huge percentage of production cars are setup with the rear stiffer than the front.. maybe excaggerated, but if you've ever ridden in a large bus, its noticably more stiff sitting in the back than it is sitting up in the front.
So, a staggered setup, front hard, rear soft, works against some natural comfort that needs to otherwise be solved with higher levels of dampening

I know I'm not answering the question.. just putting stuff out there for thought..

[DuffMan]

Why would you think SS would be more durable than flex?

The thing I would be worried about is the SS might not have a wide range of adjustment in the valving. Most of tein's lower end coilovers dont have such a wide range of adjustment. I think they gave the flex more adjustment due to its position as a flexable coilover, but I dont know if they did that with SS or not. I kind of doubt it.

I would call tein and ask them if the SS can be adjusted as soft as flex can, and if not go with the flex.

[Pressure]

Halz, good info. Duff, I guess the only reason I thought SS dampers might be stiffer was the description of the strut on the Tein site mentioned "weekend racing" :rolleyes: while the FLEX description had nothing but "adjustability" blah blah blah. I know it's not much, but that's why I asked here. When you talk about valving adjustment, they're both 16-way, so you're thinking that possibly each way or click has less overall valving adjustment for the SS line then the FLEX? :confused:
The website says that the FLEX can only adjust one kg lower spring rate than stock, while the SS can decrease by two. But that's a different subject, I guess.

[DuffMan]

Well the descriptions are really for marketing more than anything else. I would call them and ask though, because I am just making an educated guess.