TEIN BASIC ALMOST KILLED ME..

[NisanS13turbo]

Well I have a s13 with Tein basic dampers with cusco camber plates. I was coming home from an restaurant and got to my driveway and I first heard a snap thought it was the suspension making noise....drive up some more and it was same sound ,so I got out of the car to check what was wrong. And saw my right wheel sitting inside of my fender and I checked what broke and it was my Tein Basic damper and it snaped from under the mounts. Do Tein have any kind of warranty on this cause its kinda ****ty paying 900$ some thing that now seems really cheap. Had the Coilover for almost a year. Casual drifting.....nothing serious...

[180fan]

I'm gonna guess that they are going to blame it on installer error.

[blackieblack]

i heard that in japan tien is bottom of the barrel. idk, thats what i heard.

[UMS_CA18DET]

in Japan TEIN is considered the APC of Japan

[NisanS13turbo]

I'm gonna guess that they are going to blame it on installer error.

I had it for 1 year and im not a noob at imports so chances of installing it wrong is not possible but I do understand where your coming from. They probably would assume I installed it wrong...probably the best way to tell there customer if **** goes wrong... but I emailed them ...see what happens..

[NisanS13turbo]

[adrianfromthecastle]

^^^ what..... the ...... fug?? dam, ive never seen that happen before. thats sucks bro. you think its caused by the rust? i'm sure there should be some sort of manufacturer warranty right, esp if you only had it for like a year. chances are, your gonna have to ship that one to japan, and theyre gonna ship you another one, but it isnt gonna be an overnight thing.

[scott240sx]

i had the same thing happen to me not to long ago. what had happend was i had an extra nut under the pillow upper mount that was not suppose to be used but only on the factory upper mounts

[NisanS13turbo]

i had the same thing happen to me not to long ago. what had happend was i had an extra nut under the pillow upper mount that was not suppose to be used but only on the factory upper mounts

I had everything the way the instruction told me and yes this does really sucks the fact that I paid 900 for something that doesnt last longer then a year and we are talking about not even abusing my suspension of any kind of serious drifting.

[180fan]

Yeah that looks like a pretty clean shear. Tein does have an office in socal, their turn around time on rebuilding is actually pretty good. Worst case scenario, I think is they're going to charge you for a new cartridge. Not too bad.

Noob or not, we all make mistakes once in a while with installations. Depending on those upper mounts, the torques of the top nut, etc. It all comes into play with a failure like that. Especially with the nut that you're showing right there in the picture, that should not have been used with a cusco pillow ball mount. That washer is also very thin. The washer should have been about 1 cm tall and maybe about 1-1.5cm in diameter, with the top mounting nut looking like it had that part above attached to a normal looking 6 point nut.

[Young_240_Guht]

Thats not good man, have it inspected by NDI *nondestructive inspection, x-ray, soundwaves* and that should tell you how it busted... could be a service failure, or a manufacturing failure.

[NisanS13turbo]

Thats not good man, have it inspected by NDI *nondestructive inspection, x-ray, soundwaves* and that should tell you how it busted... could be a service failure, or a manufacturing failure.

Well, right now Im trying to figure out how to get this repair .

[ddgsxr504]

Thats not good man, have it inspected by NDI *nondestructive inspection, x-ray, soundwaves* and that should tell you how it busted... could be a service failure, or a manufacturing failure.

I am an NDI Tech and having something inspected won't tell you why it broke. It looks to me like a combination of stress, rust and, poor quality steel. It sheared off flush with the piston. Having it X-ray'd will tell you if there are any more cracks on the piston.

[Young_240_Guht]

Having it inspected will tell you if it was poor quality...X ray will also tell you if there are any impurities/// meaning, it was ready to bust since it came out the factory... meaning you would prolly get your money back, or get new ones... i am an inspector as well

[ddgsxr504]

Yes X-ray will tell you wether there are any impurites still there... I am assuming you are referring to porosity in the metal?? As to why it broke it will be a calculated guess from all the information gathered by inspection.

[NisanS13turbo]

Yes X-ray will tell you wether there are any impurites still there... I am assuming you are referring to porosity in the metal?? As to why it broke it will be a calculated guess from all the information gathered by inspection.

What are the benefit of inspecting it? ok what if I find out why or what cause it to break. That wont do me any good i'll still have to send it in to get it fixed. Or am i missing ssomething?

[Young_240_Guht]

incase you want to go to court, itd be good info to have if you kno someone who can do it, and i just wabted to think i dint waste 2 years and my money going to school for it

[i2ice4m3]

What are the benefit of inspecting it? ok what if I find out why or what cause it to break. That wont do me any good i'll still have to send it in to get it fixed. Or am i missing ssomething?

that NDI won't tell you anything for sure, but in case you do find a manufacturing defect that lead to it's failure, that can decide who gets stuck with the bill :P

[180fan]

you will be found at fault. Those basics didn't come with the hardware for the upper mounts from cusco. The hardware you need looks like the picture of the hardware that I've got with my apexi camber plates I've got up for sale. If you were using that nut and washer that you've got pictured up top, it's your fault they busted. Using the wrong hardware, you're asking for it.

[NisanS13turbo]

you will be found at fault. Those basics didn't come with the hardware for the upper mounts from cusco. The hardware you need looks like the picture of the hardware that I've got with my apexi camber plates I've got up for sale. If you were using that nut and washer that you've got pictured up top, it's your fault they busted. Using the wrong hardware, you're asking for it.

The manual told me to use my stock washers and stock upper nuts?

[180fan]

not for those cusco upper mounts. The problem with the stock washers and upper nuts is that they allow the thin section of the shaft to move around inside the pillowball section of the upper mounts (on the nut, there's that long cylindrical shaft, that fits inside the pillow ball and fills up the slack preventing the shaft from moving around inside the pillowball). Additionally, the pillowball section will have a very difficult time moving around with that washer and that nut you've used. It will interfere with the movement of the pillowball, adding more stress to that already stressed section that snapped. Did you buy those cusco's new or used? If you bought them used, did the person who sold them to you give you the washer and nuts like I have pictured above?

[ddgsxr504]

Sounds to me like...

[NisanS13turbo]

not for those cusco upper mounts. The problem with the stock washers and upper nuts is that they allow the thin section of the shaft to move around inside the pillowball section of the upper mounts (on the nut, there's that long cylindrical shaft, that fits inside the pillow ball and fills up the slack preventing the shaft from moving around inside the pillowball). Additionally, the pillowball section will have a very difficult time moving around with that washer and that nut you've used. It will interfere with the movement of the pillowball, adding more stress to that already stressed section that snapped. Did you buy those cusco's new or used? If you bought them used, did the person who sold them to you give you the washer and nuts like I have pictured above?

I bought them used and no the seller did not include any kind of nut or washer with the cusco. So what you've said is what cause for it to snap. Well that sucks, now im wonderinf if it could be repair by Tein but they are not responding to me email , do anyone have TEIN USA direct number so I can contact them from there on. Thanks guys

[180fan]

the guy who sold you the upper camber plates is a prick. plain and simple.

Tein is a bit slow in answering their emails. I think you'll have better luck asking about a "rebuild" but it'll cost you probably close to about 200 for the part and shipping back, and by the part I'm talking about is the cartridge. While you're there, you should seriously look into getting those nuts and washers. The nuts can be had from Tein USA for like 10 a nut. Forgot how much the washers were.

[NisanS13turbo]

its been a week and half now and they still havent emailed me back there # and I try google but no luck.

[NisanS13turbo]

anyone got TEIN'S number? Anyone

[whiterps13]

You payed 900 bucks for used Tein Basics? I got mine for 550 and they were used for less than 500 miles.