Project VA WRX: Improving the Suspension With Tein Flex-Z Coilovers

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On more expensive Tein models, the lower mount is machined billet aluminum.  On the Flex Z it is welded steel.  Although it's slightly heavier there is nothing wrong with it.  The mount is 2 layer corrosion resistant powdercoated.  A stiff urethane bushing is used in the eyelet.  To make ride height and spring preload adjustments easier, low friction plastic washers are used between the spring or the lower mount and the adjuster/spring seat.
The rear top mount is fabricated from powdercoated steel.  A hard rubber bushing is used here instead of a bearing to reduce costs.  All hardware is rust resistant yellow chromate. 
We noticed that the Type Z shocks used a short rubber bumpstop over your typical progressive MCU urethane foam part found on most high end shock. MCU bumps stops are much more expensive than rubber but if there is sufficient travel, rubber works just fine.
To install the Tein Type Z's we first had to jack up and disassemble the car. We installed a few other missing front Superpro suspension parts that were on back order previously at the same time. We will be covering those parts in a later article. 
To access the rear upper shock mounts, Howard had to first remove the trunk liner to get to the bolts for them. 
With the use of a  ratchet wrench to remove the nuts at the top shock mount, the shocks were free and ready for removal.

8 comments

  1. By chance do you have any content where you compared shock dynos of various coilovers for a specific application? Maybe showing say $500 up to $3500 offerings, comparing the linearity of their adjustment, etc. etc. I’m too much of a layman to make actually look at the dynos themselves and make the comparison, but it would be great to read your takeaways/insights from an expert like yourself.

    Cheers.

    1. That would be pretty expensive to do, costing about $1000 per set of shocks, and dyno’s don’t tell you everything. Especially with cheap shocks.

  2. Regarding the coilover install, did you guys adjust preload or ran it how it came out of the box? And Are Rear LCA recommended.

    Thank you!

  3. Regarding the install, did you guys adjust preload or ran it how it came out of the box? And Are Rear LCA recommended.

    Thank you!

    1. We don’t tune with preload, I don’t agree with that. Preload doesn’t increase the spring rate, it just increases the initial force to move the suspension.

  4. Can you confirm that the new Flex Z’s are made in China. I just bought a set from an authorized dealer & i’m looking at the box & they say designed by Tein in Japan, Assembled by Tein China MFG. Which is odd since they’re advertised at the time of writing this as Made in Yokohama Japan.

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