Tein Clarification

[Unity112]

After a few debates with a friend of mine about the adjustability of the Tein shocks: I believed it only adjusted compression, and he believed that it only adjusted rebound, I decided to look up the information again for myself.

Heres what I found from the Japanese Tein site


16 Level Damping Effect Characterized Diagram (S13, Ft expansion)
Type HA Damper has an adjustable function for its expansion / contraction level so that the driver can select his / her own choice of damping force needed. The varieties of different levels of damping force covers wide setting range from that of the original shock absorbers to the level of race cars. A minute orifice which characterizes the suspension of the vehicle is fully controlled by the special formed needle with high response at steering, braking, and throttle control.
Furthermore, the damping effect reacts linearly to the adjusting dial. It is valid for all 16 levels.



I gather from this that expansion and contraction levels mean that the Teins are dual adjustable. Would I be correct in this assumption? If this is right, this gives more incentive for those to go buy a system like this.

[scapamouche]

Alas, they are NOT dual adjustible. (At least not the HA set for the Celica, anyway.)

The instructions for mine had a nice chart (Surrounded in Japanese, of course,) showing the range of responses to loading and setting. The rebound curve was the same for all settings, and the compression curve changed radically. If I had my Digicam handy, I'd snap a pic for you, but it's in WI right now, with the wife- skiing in da YooPee, don' cha know..

I wish they were dual adjustible- Not that I'd know what to do with them. Heck, I've been adjusting mine the wrong way since I bouth them until recently. They drive MUCH better if you adjust from full Hard, not full Soft.

[Unity112]

Thats what I thought. That it adjusted compression only. Hmm let me see if I can find my copy of the instructions as well.

Thats why I was looking for a second opinion as well. From that description though, its leading me to believe that it is dual adjustable. Thanks for the imput. Any other opinions?

[Unity112]

Heres an interesting article from Godspeed Motorsports. A rather distinguished distributer of many jdm performance products.

http://godspeed.hack.net/springs_and_shocks.htm

The main excerpt I found however is....

Adjustable shocks are widely available for many import cars, although they usually cost at least twice as much as non-adjustable shocks. This cost, however, is greatly worth it as most people like the ability to adjust them at the track for all out racing and still be able to soften them for
the drive home with little effort. Also, many people with front wheel drive
cars like to stiffen the rear more in order to increase oversteer at the
track. Many times in autocrossing you'll want much greater oversteer than
you would like on the street. These shocks allow you to tailor that to your
liking. Most of the lower priced adjustable shocks offer only rebound
adjustment which is the actual dampening factor or the force which tried to
revert the car back to the normal height after being compressed. A few
offer both compression and rebound control which also alters the amount of
force it takes to compress the shock. Only a VERY select few offer the
ability to control both these factors independently of each other and unless
your car is an all out race car, there is little need for such adjustability
especially considering the cost. Among the rebound adjustable only shocks,
KYB, Tokico, Koni are among the most common. Among the shocks that alter
both compression and rebound Tein and GAB are the most common. The Tein's
are also a short stroke shock and come with matching spring as well. GAB
also offers a short stroke shock for some models however the ride quality
tends to be on the stiffer side even in full soft mode.


Seems that they are dual adjustable. Looks like me and my friend were half right.

[nxracer]

If given the choice we want just the rebound adjustment

also the KYB AGX does not adjust just rebound, it does (per KYB) both.
also II GAB = KYB