Tein Hard Tie Rods
 

WELL! i did it!
installed them today sicne i got them today (yeah yeah i have no patience)

WOW these suckers are BEEFY!!! im very impressed in both its quality and ease of install

why did i buy them?
I go drifting a lot
1 friend broke his going around a cone
another friend bend his (seriously bent) at the track friday
Mike (VRT) broke his dropping a wheel at the track
i read a lot of drifters bring extra tie rods to the track. after the above 2 (top 2) incidents, i seriosuly understand why!!

ok. let's begin:

Tein Hard Tie rods (inner) retail: 80 dollars
Tein Tie Rod endlinks: retail 80 dollars
you MUST buy the endlninks w/ the hard tie rods!! stock WILL NOT FIT the inner rods!!


i bought mine thru JDM Spec Performance in IL. contact Leo:

http://www.jdmspecperf.com/
836 Arlington Heights Rd. #192
Elk Grove, IL 60007
Phone : (630) 890 -6341
Fax : (630) 563-0343
HOURS (CST)
M-Th 12-8
F 12-6
order inquries: [email protected]


album: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290310787

OK the actual install:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...b/fc4bde8e.jpg

Jack car and place jack stands
Remove Wheels
Turn wheel (easy access to tie rods)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...f/fc4bdd0e.jpg

remove cover boot on inner rod (has a wire strap type deal holding it

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...5/fc4bdc9b.jpg

pull the boot forward to expose ball joint (beware, its greasy and messy)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/fc4bdc4d.jpg

loosen ball joint on tie rod endlink. bang out
now loosen and remove the inner rod
COUNT THREADS! VERY IMPORTANT!

compare w/ stock
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...6/fc4bdb86.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/fc4bd8e6.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/fc4bdb04.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d/fc4bda59.jpg
OH DAMN! tein MUCh beefier!
install (reverse of above) torque to specs
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fc4bd85f.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...f/fc4bd80a.jpg
cover boot back over the rack.
do other side (same process)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fc4bd9e7.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...3/fc4bd95f.jpg


baddabing. wheels on and drive off!
GET AN ALIGNMENT (i am this week)

i'll continue the write up AFTER the alignment (write about handling)

right now, felt less bumpsteer, car felt VERY smooth on the freeway. but i'll write aout that when my head is clear and car is properly aligned!

any comments?!

Now THIS is the GOOD ****! This is what I like to see! Thanks a ton, Aaron!

I thought the beefyness was just to keep it from breaking, without any performance gain.

actually i was told they are desined primarily for lowered cars
they seems can move a lot easier
i heard some bumpsteer would be eliminated, as do the KAZAMA endlinks
that's the purpose of them

ill findout soon after alignment
riding home felt tad smoother, but i'd rather not say becase of lack of alignment and my mind wasnt on my car at that time
i'll know tomorrow driving to work
i go same way everyday and know the road well


also yeah the keepingit from breaking was the PRIMARY reason i bought these. breaking tie rods at teh track SUCKS.

oh time to do install, worked by myself for the most part (my friend pushed brakes for me when i removed and torqued wheels) took about 2 hours. maybe bit more because i ddint count threads and hand to hadn measure it to get a 'driveable" alignment! d'oh!

Bro, did you leave out the spacer for the rod or did you installed that too? The above pix didn't show whether you had them or not. Some pix in your imagestation albums had them. So, what's up? You gonna get more countersteer or not?

DUDE! i put the spacer IN! haha
ill take pics after alignemtn so my toe will be at 0
i'll get pics nex to my friends car so you can see the change
yeah the spacer is in. no doubt
the other reason i bought it

i'll be drifting like haruguchi's (yellow FC) in no time :p yeah....riiiiight.

does anyone know the difference between the tein hard tie rods and jics? is there much difference at all besides the 450+ price tag on jic' and $80 for teins? the jic tie rods look nice but at $450 each.. i dunno.. they look kinda beefier from pictures than teins but i dont know if its worth the price

dousan, will the kazama tie rod ends fit on the tein tie rods like cake or the thread pattern is different?? should be the same right? stock..

no!
here's where it gets REALLY complicated (for the dummies outthere--and there's a lot)

basically
s13 tie rods (stock) you use s13 kazama tie rod endlinks

tein hard tie rods you use s14 kazama tie rod endlinks


JIC? F*ck JIC

Was talking to the other aaron today about the tie rod. My friend bought the JIC rod and still hasn't put them in yet. He mentioned a special tool to take out the rod, but seems like you didn't need any special tools... I am confused now, I assume that it was pretty easy to take out the rod w/o any special tools, correct? Or maybe the JIC rods are different?

nah

tools used?

cresent wrench
needle nose pliers
screwdriver
hammer (mallet-heavy one for ball joint)
19mm wrench

elbow grease and my brain

note that BRAIN USAGE is the most important of all those.

Hey now...were not talkin about what you think of the people who run it but the products themselfs. :eek:

haha i know
thats why idont support JIC
products are great
but the people suck=no support from me or my friends

also JIC is VERY pricey and im extremely interested in WHY
beefier? longer? more adjustabilty?
i'd like to know

nicky-find out!

I have to say though, JIC hard tie rods LOOK different... I don't know if that has anything to do with anything, though. We'll know when NY_Jee's friend puts his rods in. In his car, not in NY_Jee. :D

Since JIC is domestically available now I don't understand why their products are SOO expensive. There shouldn't be the "jdm tyte" mark up on them.

I've personally seen the JIC rod, it's beefy alrite... Haven't seen the tein rods, so can't make a comparison there. But in relation to my ST sway bars... The JIC rods are about as beefy as the front one, hope that draws a better picture for y'all. BTW, the spacer on the JIC rod is built in. That's about all I know. Are JIC's better, I don't know for a fact that they are. Are they beefy, yes. Is the built in spacer better than a add-on like tein or any other company, I have no clue. My friend hasn't put them in on his car yet, so I can't tell you if it made a huge difference. He was able to use Kazama end links tho. I haven't driven a car w/ tein rods in them(what you doing this weekend, aaron?), so I can't give any feedback on them either. But I'd love to find out tho.

whoa.. i just went to browse the for sale and gb forum and just came back to see so many replies.. anyways.. thanks for the info dousan. i mighta made a big ass mistake in buying the wrong super tie rod ends. thats kinda odd.. why do the tein tie rods use s14 tie rod ends? :confused: did tein make the thread pattern on their tie rods for s14?

oh that's what richard told me
he has the s13 kazama ones and he was Tein hard rods

also, it is the size. the tein uses s14 size (M14)
s13 is M12 size

yeah i'll be in walnut this weekend it seems...water pump replacing d'oh! hahahaha..oh well

wow the jics WOULD be super heavy duty! sweet. but not for 400+ bucks! ouch. well only suckers pay retail so im sure can get it much cheaper, but still, that's laot

sounds good. i can wait to see your friend's, im very interested in them.

Isn't the picture of the Tein rod in comparison to the stock rod up at the start of the thread?:confused:

he means JIC vs. TEIN vs. STOCK comparisions

Sometimes pix don't do justice. For example, the pix of JIC rods doesn't justify its price. Seeing it in person(although I still think it's overpriced), it's really well made and beefy. Although aaron took pic of the tein rod next the stock ones, haven't seen them in person, I don't want to jump to conclusion.

yea.. the jic pics make the jic tie rods look nice.. it probably is nicer than teins and a little beefier.. but just a little.. i dont think its 4 times nicer to justify for the 4 times difference in price hike? i dunno. they look maybe twice as nice if that.. maybe if they were $200 i'd consider buying them..

so the hard tie rods are basically the same thing as the kazama super tie rod end.

Then what is a pillow tension rod?

thanks for the help

good write up Dous! get it aligned and let us know how they are! lol Im sure the first time I bend a tie rod those'll go in! So the Tiens work with the Kazama super end links huh cool.

nice writeup!

now for a noob question from the guy with 1600 posts - is tie rod breakage a typical consequence of high cornering forces, or is it something that comes from hopping curbs and lots of quick steering wheel movement?

For $160 for the complete setup I might consider these if I ever need to replace tie rod ends anyway... and DEFINITELY if I ever break a tie rod heh

John.. I've read a few of your posts now.. and you definately need to spend some time with our friend, and yours:

#/f/blued2/top_search.gif

Dousan, I'm most interested in HOW they acheive more countersteer.. You should climb up under there and take some illustrative pics of how the Spacer works. :D :D :D

the spacer allows the "block" or "stopper" part of the inner tie rod to be slighty further away from the rack. This allows a few more degrees bfore they finally contact.

From Mike aka DJElektrique:
"Here.... I made a diagram.
The green color is the spacer.
Notice how the rack will stop moving because
the opposite side (the red colored tie rod joint on the right) hits the rack, keeping it from turning anymore.

Well, add in the green spacers and you just made the rack longer and it will turn that much more before the red tie rod joint hits the rack. Easy as using brake cleaner to clean your hands. "

http://www.djelektrique.com/images/rack.jpg

Here is the full thread on FA: http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...e#Post67347302

Hmmm... I think if you lengthen the inner tie rods (with the spacer) then shorten the outer tie rods (with the normal toe adjustment) you'll alter the steering geometry such that the knuckle moves through more of an arc for a given amount of movement at the rack.

Edit: I guess not... hahaha oh well, all that doodling on the back of a calendar page for nothing!

yeah VRT pic rocks
he'll probably reply on FA about it i posted it there

yeah turning. oh damn. well my toe is off (big time) but let me give example

i do a uturn everyday on my street to leave (its a culdesac)
so usually i end up getting REALLY close to the curb (scuffing tire) or have to make a 3pt turnabout

this morning. i had, i kid you not, a HUGE gap by the time i ended the uturn. the radius was SO MUCH tighter
when i get the alignement fixed, we'll shoot some video (digtal) of my car and my friends (stock setup) doing a uturn on the same street both this way:

full stop against sidewalk
turn to full left
turn

we both will have LSDs too, so already lose some uturning ability.

anyways, just to give an idea. its funny when i turned it all the way to see EVERYTHING (more then before) hahaha..

yeah i'll get more inf. when i crawled under there and turned everything i was lke "AH i see how that spacer works!!"
i am horrible at described. i'll try and get some vid/pcitures...one day. haha..im so lazy. and i hate lying under cars.
i'll get some vid of the crazy turning radius later! :)