tein SS VS Megan racing

[sickyute]

i'll make it quick...
Rep. me please :)

i'd take the teins over the megans i have now....
this will be subjective..but this is just a few..read lower for some facts.

Tein Pros
better all round performance
better for street..soaks up bumps even on the hardest setting
good enough for some track
a lot more forgiving
EDFC
Tein Cons
no pillow ball upper...leads to some spring popping when turning the wheel all the way while at a stop or moving slowly...it's seldom though
not agressive enough for the track person...will do for drags and agressive street use though

Megan Pros
pillow ball upper
no noises when turning wheels and so on
good for track, drag, or street use
Megan Cons
can't adjust camber from pillow ball upper
bottoms out all the time at the rear and can do with a lot more damping
quatlity of the struts are not as good as the teins interms of materials used and fabrication.
street use is harsh even on the softest setting and that will cause it to botton out even more, hardest setting it can get brutal but will still f-ing bottom out !!!
NO EDFC or something like it....it's easy to adjust the back dampers but a pain to remove all that shit to get to the front to adjust those.

if i had to do it again....i'd go tein SS all the way...for what u get compared to the megans for every day use and ability it's hands down better...as annoying as the spring pop was sometimes i'd much rather have that than my struts bottoming out everywhere...

weight in the car makes it even worst...and i'm talking about 1 passenger or even freaking groceries!!!!

another thing is after i installed the megans i couldn't get more than -0.3 degrees of camber in the front...even with my spc camber bolts....the bottom mounting position of the struts are just not deep enough to allow more cuz the nuckle hits the strut if u try to get any more negative camber!!! with the teins this was not an issue...i could have ran a whole lot more camber if i wanted to.

the bottoming out issue is terrible at the rear.
the camber issue at the front i don't like cuz if u have a certain size rim or drop, u can't get enough negative camber to avoid rubbing...in may case i'd probably only need about -0.7 degrees of negative camber to prevent rubbing and the suspension movement would take care of the rest...it wasn't possible to get that...so i still rub slightly....that's with 18x7.5 with a 42 offset and a finger gap between wheel and fender with -0.3 camber up front.

a fix for the bottoming out in the rear may be to raise the car up in the back...my car is not slammed in the back...it has a finger gap and -1.3 camber(honda spec)
raising it anymore would defeat the purpose of the drop...

setting damping to the hardest did not fix the issue....extending shock travel did not fix the issue...compressing spring thus increasing ride height may fix the issue.

the megans though offer more adjustability...but that's tracking...
u can preload ur spring separately and then adjust ride height which will have nothing to do with or affect ur spring preload setting. that's only in the front though. so that's a plus for it....all the good things for the megans are up front...
so a tracker/ autocrosser would enjoy that...

that being said....i'd take the tein SS anyday...even if it leaves some adjustability to be desired and doesn't have pillow ball upper.....but the tein flex will take care of all of that...for it's intended purpose it's hands down the better of the 2 and does everything right...the noises are seldom and only up front and the causes we know of.

price is the only factor going for the megans vs the tein ss or tein flex.

that's my 2c.

i may have left some things out...feel free to ask questions...

don't forget to rep :)

[Z1 Performance]

Nice post - great information!

Originally Posted by sickyute

i'll make it quick...
Rep. me please :)

i'd take the teins over the megans i have now....
this will be subjective..but this is just a few..read lower for some facts.

Tein Pros
better all round performance
better for street..soaks up bumps even on the hardest setting
good enough for some track
a lot more forgiving
EDFC
Tein Cons
no pillow ball upper...leads to some spring popping when turning the wheel all the way while at a stop or moving slowly...it's seldom though
not agressive enough for the track person...will do for drags and agressive street use though

Megan Pros
pillow ball upper
no noises when turning wheels and so on
good for track, drag, or street use
Megan Cons
can't adjust camber from pillow ball upper
bottoms out all the time at the rear and can do with a lot more damping
quatlity of the struts are not as good as the teins interms of materials used and fabrication.
street use is harsh even on the softest setting and that will cause it to botton out even more, hardest setting it can get brutal but will still f-ing bottom out !!!
NO EDFC or something like it....it's easy to adjust the back dampers but a pain to remove all that shit to get to the front to adjust those.

if i had to do it again....i'd go tein SS all the way...for what u get compared to the megans for every day use and ability it's hands down better...as annoying as the spring pop was sometimes i'd much rather have that than my struts bottoming out everywhere...

weight in the car makes it even worst...and i'm talking about 1 passenger or even freaking groceries!!!!

another thing is after i installed the megans i couldn't get more than -0.3 degrees of camber in the front...even with my spc camber bolts....the bottom mounting position of the struts are just not deep enough to allow more cuz the nuckle hits the strut if u try to get any more negative camber!!! with the teins this was not an issue...i could have ran a whole lot more camber if i wanted to.

the bottoming out issue is terrible at the rear.
the camber issue at the front i don't like cuz if u have a certain size rim or drop, u can't get enough negative camber to avoid rubbing...in may case i'd probably only need about -0.7 degrees of negative camber to prevent rubbing and the suspension movement would take care of the rest...it wasn't possible to get that...so i still rub slightly....that's with 18x7.5 with a 42 offset and a finger gap between wheel and fender with -0.3 camber up front.

a fix for the bottoming out in the rear may be to raise the car up in the back...my car is not slammed in the back...it has a finger gap and -1.3 camber(honda spec)
raising it anymore would defeat the purpose of the drop...

setting damping to the hardest did not fix the issue....extending shock travel did not fix the issue...compressing spring thus increasing ride height may fix the issue.

the megans though offer more adjustability...but that's tracking...
u can preload ur spring separately and then adjust ride height which will have nothing to do with or affect ur spring preload setting. that's only in the front though. so that's a plus for it....all the good things for the megans are up front...
so a tracker/ autocrosser would enjoy that...

that being said....i'd take the tein SS anyday...even if it leaves some adjustability to be desired and doesn't have pillow ball upper.....but the tein flex will take care of all of that...for it's intended purpose it's hands down the better of the 2 and does everything right...the noises are seldom and only up front and the causes we know of.

price is the only factor going for the megans vs the tein ss or tein flex.

that's my 2c.

i may have left some things out...feel free to ask questions...

don't forget to rep :)

[brooklynscat69]

U rep whore. Good review.

[King Bob]

sickyute, have you ever heard of amr engineering they are also known as form/function and also k sport I think. I contacted them a few months back and they said they have fg2 coilovers. I was wondering if you know anything about them. I am looking at the amrs', teins', and I "was" looking at the megans. So now I am between the amr and the SS. Any advice will be welcome.

[sickyute]

never heard of them...
do they have a website or something i can check out?

PS. i think my car will be seeing teins again in the future...flexes more than likely.

[eugenekim.net]

im waiting for the release of the tein flexes and it has the pillow ball upper mount

[atruhondagrl]

You made my day with this, Marvie. This morning I took my car to the shop to get the whole set up installed. TEIN SS' and EDFC. Thanks a bunch. :) Rep well deserved!

[Nomar06]

Im sure this will clear things up for alot of people. Thanks for all your help!

[604_ep3]

I just finished installing the Megan in my 06 Si coupe. I noticed the same problem with the rear springs bottoming out. I personally prefer the higher level of adjustment in the Megans. In the environment that I live in with lots of rain and occasional snow. The Tein do not fair well in that those conditions. I hope that the Megan will fair a little better. Will let you guys know in a couple months.

Back to the issue of the rear bottoming. Have you considered removing the 3/4inch spacer that Megan provides? I can't quite figure out why it's there. The additional 3/4 of might allow for that the needed travel to not bottom out. The bottom of the adjustment collars and bottom of the spacer have the same dimension and same rubber isolator. The springs should in theory be able to rest against the collars just like the front springs do. The springs should be able to handle the weight of the vehicle at 10kg/mm in the rear. I'm trying to contact Megan for an answer to the question about removing the spacers.

[Toxis]

Tein SS will not do well in rain and snow environment? Why is this? I'm seriously looking at getting a set of SS's in a week and a half but we get a good amount of rain and occasional snow here in Kansas City. What's the dilly?

[604_ep3]

Around here, all the guys subaru and honda guys who run the Tein basic and SS have problems with the sleeves and collar corroding and binding. Not so much with the flex, which is an anodize fully thread body as opposed to the short sleeve section on the basics and ss. I am hoping with a fully threaded and anodized body of the Megan will fair quite well in the wet enviroment. We get alot of rain around here and snow maybe 2 or 3 weeks a year. But during the cold times in the winter even without snow there's alot of salt used on the ground due to icy roads.

[Toxis]

Can anyone else confirm/deny this??? I'm like 604, we get 3-4 snows a year but it's cold and rainy for a good amount of time.

[sickyute]

don't know about the rain and snow...

i do want to know what megan says about the bottoming out of the rear end though....

keep us informed.

[604_ep3]

Just spoke with Megan Racing and emailed them some pictures of the rear springs installed in my vehicle. Hey Sickyute are you rear springs installed like mine? With the spacer between the spring and the adjustment collar?

[sickyute]

Originally Posted by 604_ep3

Just spoke with Megan Racing and emailed them some pictures of the rear springs installed in my vehicle. Hey Sickyute are you rear springs installed like mine? With the spacer between the spring and the adjustment collar?

this is what my rear looks like...



the rear strut bottom bold is a lil lower now as i put it lower to try and get more shock movement to help with reducing the bottoming out.

let me know what my picture tells u...

BTW....tein's flex is out and is going to be ordered anytime now...

the megan's are for sale 650 + shipping after i figure out the fix for the bottoming out.

[duy2006si]

Dude, I would like to buy them from you! This whole thing about bottoming out, what does that mean? Is it bad for the car? Oh, and what about the Tein Basic's? Not worth it? All I'm going to do is spirited driving with a drop right at the wheel line F/R.

[sickyute]

don't get the basics...not worth it IMO...

if u want the megans they are yours....

the bottoming out is not bad for the car...but bad for the strut...kinda...

if u are in the car alone...it will not bottom out....atleast mine doesn't...
if u add considerable weight u'll hear this knocking sound coming from the rear only when u hit a bump in the road or a deep rut or something...i'll let u hear it on saturday when i come by...

it will do no damage to the car though...

the truts are fine...and if anythig was to go wrong with them megan or AJP will cover it under warranty...no issue...a they are both already aware of this...

it's not a huge issue...but an annoyance...

i'll let u hear it when u get here....if u want them...they are urs for 650...

[duy2006si]

ok, cool, sold.

[07SiGuy]

Originally Posted by Toxis

Can anyone else confirm/deny this??? I'm like 604, we get 3-4 snows a year but it's cold and rainy for a good amount of time.

Well Toxis....I'll let you know in about 3-4 months how well the SS stands up to a Kansas winter. You guys may not even get as much as we do here in Wichita.

As for the review....well done sickyute. Great advice for everyone, well done.

As for the SS suspension, I love it so far. I'm getting my alignment today after getting my camber kits on the back. It's a great ride, great drop, and although pricey...well worth the cash. I have them set a little on the high side right now preparing for the winter months. The streets can become a menace with hidden potholes and dips in the road....I'd rather have the extra clearance and drop it again in the spring.

[atruhondagrl]

I have to say. I'm impressed with the suspension. Marvie, where did they put your EDFC? They put mine in the glove box. I love it.