Contents of damper kit: Individual Comp/Rebump Adjustable shock absorber x4 Main spring x4, Lower spring Seat x4,Spring Seat lock x8 Bump rubber x4, Dust cover x4, Pillow ball upper mount x4 Hook spanner x2, Instruction manual. Type HG is a shock absorber for rally racing and dirt trial racing. It is can meet the demands of any road surface. Individual compression / rebound damping force adjustment(16 levels x 16 levels)
Suitable for use on public roads and racetracks.
Features remote reservoirs (like fox shox for motorcycles)
Author
stratos Registered User
Registered: November 2002 Location: Penngrove, CA Posts: 403
Review Date: Thu July 15, 2004
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
Pros:
Nice ride, yet great cornering on back roads. Stealthy
Cons:
Does not lower the car, Auto-x perfomance a little lower than stiffer set ups
The Tein HGs are a nice product. I should say first off that if you are looking to lower your car, these are not for you. These are not really even a “raise it up and then lower it down” depending on your mood set-up either. The range of adjustment on the perches is rather small, just a little more than enough to get it corner weighted (If you like it a tad lower). You have a little more leeway for taking it higher. The good news is that even at their near stock ride height the handling is quite good, awesome in fact.
For a Dirt/Gravel set-up the work great on the street, at full soft they are nearly indistinguishable from stock. That is until you take a corner. There is barely any body roll. Turn it to full stiff and it’s near the same as my old JICs (with out the bounce). The spring rates are 252lb/in front, and 196lb/in (progressive) rear. The springs themselves are the larger stock style.
They come with a very nice set of pillow-ball upper spring perches, well made and quite beefy. They have remote reservoirs piggybacked on the strut. The compression Adjustment knob is on the top of this reservoir. The bad news is that the rebound adjuster is on the top of the strut shaft. In the front there is enough of a fender gap to reach the compression adjuster and setting the rebound is as easy as popping the hood. In the rear things are more difficult. The fender gap is not big enough to fit you hand in, and the back seat covers up the top of the strut.
Auto-x has proved them a little on the soft side for that aplication. I must say that for my day-to-day, back road driving they are perfect. The handling is sublime and the ability to soak up the roughest of roads is just short of amazing. I have my car set at –1.3deg camber 0 toe up front, -1deg 0toe rear. I have been running around with the compression and rebound set in the middle for a baseline. Even with the higher stance, lower spring rates and middle of the road damper settings, I would say that they compare equally to my old FL-A2’s(actualy better on bumpy backroads). That is until you hit some high speed sweepers where (with these settings) are about 8/10 of the FL-A2’s. The only place where I can see that the HG would give up more to a stiffer JDM coil-over, is in the auto-x arena. That is not much to give up though considering what they do and a much better ride. Not to mention you can hit the dirt, with a simple change of tires.
All in all a great suspension, but as I said not for everyone.
