choosing springs

[project240racing]

I have a 1991 240sx. My brother just gave me new tekico blue struts that he dident want(not my first choice but hey there free). now i need to get springs. I want to see what people think about tein or a brand i saw on ebay spring tech. If anyone has either one or knows anything about them or can tell me how they look and feel please help me out Im not sure what to buy........thanx:help

[BadMojo]

I've never heard of "spring tech". I'd probably avoid those.

Tein makes a nice product. The S-Tech springs sold in the US are a reasonably stiff linear rate spring. I don't have them, but I believe they're supposed to give a fairly big drop.

I don't know much about the Tokico Blue's, so I don't know if they could handle the S-Tech's.

[project240racing]

im sorry there tekico struts i think thats how its spelled.......and i think there only a 1.5 inch drop .....can anyone varify that...thanx

[Nismo1182]

i have kyb agx with tein s techs. The drop is perfect and they are well matched to the shocks. I think its 1.5 in the front and 1.3 in the rear.

[harryhood]

wait is the car in your sig after the drop??

[91nis240]

actually its spelled T-O-K-I-C-O, and any after market struts will handle any lowering spring out there for our car since 2.3 inch drop is i believe the lowest drop any spring offers for the 240.

[Exar-Kun]

not true, most shocks and struts arent designf for 2 inchess less of travel, and will blow. max "Safe" rnag is 1.5 inchecs or so, depending on how well valved the strut or damper is, you can get custom short-stroke shocks for any lowering beyond that.-chet

[91nis240]

im sorry exar-kun but im gonna have to disagree w/ you some. MOst of the "max lowering" numbers that strut companies put out are under rated to try and keep pople on the "safe side". But when i used to have intrax lowering springs it was almost 2in drop. I kept the original factory struts 77k miles on them. i replaced the spring and shock for coil overs at 93k miles and my origanl factory stock struts were still fine! So therefor i strongly beleive that any new after market shock can handle any lowering spring. But i guess if you want to be on hte upmost absolute supposed safe side then dont gor below 1.5inch drop.

my 2 cizents!

[C-Kwik]

Depends on the use. It's not hard to max out a street suspension on a race track if you run grippy tires. Which is a very good reason to run anti-sway bars that can handle the lateral load. Keep in mind the 240 already has a relatively short suspension travel.

Shocks rarely blow prematurely unless they bottom out internally.

While your experience with your stock shocks are good, one experience is hardly enough to make a convincing argument.

[Kinesthesia]

I agree with Exar Kun and C-Kwik... I think it's a stretch to say that since a set of stock shocks survived 20k miles dropped two inches, that any aftermarket shock will do more than that and still perform well.

Second, according to Tein (via email and verified over the phone) S-Tech's are *not* linear, they are progressive. They list one spring rate instead of a range because they say it's impossible to accurately measure the initial spring rate, so they just list the max.

Last but certainly not least... Springs will have probably the biggest impact on ride and handling and just about the cheapest suspension part. Figure out how you want to drive the car (daily driver, road track, drag, drift, etc) and then DO NOT SKIMP. I think you'll be sorry if you grab the cheapest springs with little or no thought to how you want to use the car.

[BadMojo]

Second, according to Tein (via email and verified over the phone) S-Tech's are *not* linear, they are progressive. They list one spring rate instead of a range because they say it's impossible to accurately measure the initial spring rate, so they just list the max.

Tein's explanation for this seems pretty shady. S-Tech's are the only progressive spring I've ever seen that have only listed one spring rate. I certainly don't know enough about coil springs to know if what they say is true, but it's also kind of odd that they don't seem to mention the fact that S-Tech's are progressive anywhere on their website.

[sil80drifter]

Omg, if the S-Techs are progressive?! ...what the heck am I supposed to do? I was going to buy them for the sole reason of beign a non-excessive drop, non progressive, well known brand spring, which is also not very expensive.... I hope they are linear... Nismo1182, can you tell on your car? Does the spring first lean a lot, and then after a while just lock into a certain stiffness? Please please please, say it ain't so! What other springs are similarly sized (drop wise), and are non progressive? I really don't like progressive springs, for the same reason people don't like HICAS; it's not very predictable on a track and in general.

sil80