krudmuphin

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Hello all! Thought I'd take a few moments to share with you a brief look at TEIN's new starter coilover set, the Street Basis. As stated in the official TEIN description, this is NOT the "Basic", but rather a redesigned and improved version:

"The Street Basis damper is the evolution of the popular BASIC coilover. Developed to provide a sporty ride feeling and aggressive stance. The shortened shell case design provides optimum damper stroke at lower than standard vehicle ride height. Vehicle ride height is adjustable via the ZT coated threaded sleeve. Updated internal components and external coatings increase durability and product life. Street Basis dampers are great for daily driving and spirited driving for all types of drivers.
Made in Japan under strict quality control standards and developed by highly trained suspension engineers."

....sounded like good quality stuff to my ears! And with an MSRP at only $870 (You can find them for about $830 if you look around for a while), it was nearly impossible to pass up. I ordered my set from Excelerate Performance and it arrived weeks ago. That being said, I'm apparently the first one on this forum to get these. Therefore, I will give you a quick overview and my opinions along the way.

Here is a link to the Street Basis on TEIN's website:
http://www.tein.com/products/street_basis.html

Also, IMPORTANT NOTE:
This install was performed on a 2005 EX Coupe, so there may be differences in the product for earlier generations of Civic. The EM2 kit is virtually identical to the EP3 set, but unfortunately, the most expensive. To answer a common concern, there is no drilling or modifying of the coilovers to make them fit the 04-05 model. TEIN has already taken the liberty of changing the tie-rod tapered hole from 14mm (01-03 EM2) to 16mm (04-05) despite having the same part number for all 7th gens.

krudmuphin

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Part One: Overview & Installation

Alrighty! First off, the lovely box, coated inch by inch with beautiful Japanese lettering and the cute, yet slightly disturbing TEIN mascot. Looks can be deceiving, it's a small package, but it's probably the heaviest cardboard box I've ever dealt with.


Open it up and you see the well packaged coilovers! The front struts come on top, and there is a cardboard sheet to the lower level of the box where the rear struts and various other parts are located.


Here is a shot of the front and rear struts. So GREEN! Not pictured on the struts are the provided dust covers and top mount bearings which are included. These coilovers use various bits from the stock struts which I cover a bit later on. The kit also comes with two TEIN decals (white & black), 2 chrome vanadium spanner wrenches for height adjustment, and a bag of washers which I found to be unnecessary in the final assembly.


These instructions will come in handy, so don't lose 'em! Don't eat 'em either, assuming the installation will make you very hungry and tired. In here are some goodies like the spring rates, a preferred default height setting, and a complete exploded assembly of front and rear struts and indicators as to which parts are provided from TEIN, and which are needed from the OEM struts.


Yep, see! Pay close attention to make sure you don't put them together wrong... because I did a rear strut wrong the first time and believe me, it's not fun taking your freshly installed coilover off the car to reorganize a few nuts...


After racking your brain over the order of the components and trying not to misplace the unused OEM parts, it's time to get them in! Here is the front strut assembled and ready! The front uses only the top hat mount from the old strut and a couple annodized bearings (can be seen laying on the table behind the strut). Don't forget to use lubricant between the two bearing plates, otherwise the springs will bind, twist, and pop every time you turn the car. The various stock bushings are already adhered together as one piece.


And here it is installed! This would be a good time to mention that I did NOT have to use a spring compressor for this installation. I used Mex's famous suspension DIY to learn how to safely take apart OEM struts. Coilovers themselves create their own compression when you turn the spring seats and torque down the lock nut.


The rear strut assembly. Be especially careful with this one, a lot of OEM parts are used, washers, rubber spring seat, top plate, bushings... basically the whole upper half of your old struts as well as a brass collar from the TEIN kit. Don't forget to tighten the top lock nut on the rear struts BEFORE you install them! You need to have room above the lock nut to hold the piston rod with another wrench so you can tighten the lock nut while not turning the piston! Next to the strut is my Ingalls rear camber kit, freshly sandblasted and repainted. I recommend a rear camber kit if you're going to go with coilovers like these.


Well, curse me, I forgot to get a picture of the rears installed...
But to let you know, they were a tad difficult at first. Getting the old struts out proved to be quite difficult, especially the lower 17mm bolt that holds in the shock. Sorry for no picture, try to use your imagination, but I used the OEM jack and a small socket under the control arm pressing up on the bottom of the shock to relieve tension on the shock to get the bolt to come out. After that, the rest of the rear installation was pretty easy! You may need to use the OEM jack to press the control arm upward in reinstall the 17mm bolt into the rear shock.

Overall, the installation was about a 5/10 on the difficulty scale, 3 being a routine oil change... 10 being a jet engine installation....
But you will NEED a buddy for this! This is a 2 man job! Luckily I had my dad help out with this, or it wouldn't be working so well.

OKAY, so after about 2 hours of readjusting the spring seats like crazy, I finally reached a compromise between ride height, and available clearance. The TEIN Street Basis is a VERY SOFT coilover, so they need a little wiggle room or else you'll have some rubbing issues. They do NOT have adjustable damping force, so if you're looking to race your Civic, these are not the springs for you.

So my first impressions are:
-These are very high quality. At first look, they appear to be the precision engineered and well designed product that TEIN claims them to be. And they're SOOO GREEN! Your friends will be green with envy!
-The instructions were fan-freaking-tabulous. Very detailed, well written (even idiots can follow along), and lots of pretty pictures to guide you along!
-Well packaged and makes a great storage box for your unused OEM parts, and in my case, a few extra TEIN washers.
-The nylon disc on the spring seat makes these coilovers pretty easy to adjust, even under load, but keep in mind that it is still pretty tight once you start compressing the spring a lot. It doesn't help that spanner wrenches are some of the most awkward-to-use tools known to mankind.
-These make great use of your OEM parts, and you shouldn't lose or damage anything if you ever put the stockies back on.

Now for some comparions. I didn't go very low, maybe only 1.4" max, but it still makes a dramatic difference in appearance.

BEFORE:

Monster Truck!

AFTER:

Low rider!

Currently I'm running a 1-finger gap up front.


And 1-finger gap in the back. Not too shabby! But I'm also running 0 camber right now thanks to the Ingalls arms and desperately in need of an alignment.








My "tastefully" placed sticker. The other side only has a green "T" because there is less surface area on the strut tower. My car desperately needs a wash, wax, and shine after all this.


Afterwards, give yourself a pat on the back, and drive yourself (if not first to an alignment shop) the best Chinese restaurant in town and dig in! Kick back and watch a movie with friends. That's how I did it. Time to schedule my alignment before it's too late... haha

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Part Two: Ride Quality & Performance

After a quick ride around the block, I must say, these coilovers are a lot softer than I had anticipated. I figured it'd be stiff as a rock, but instead, it's actually comparable to the stock ride comfort. Personally, I think it is actually more comfortable!

There is dramatically less body roll, but in order to go lower, you will need a bigger sway bar and possibly some negative camber to prevent rubbing around the corners. I had some rubbing issues at first, rears only, but that's mainly because the springs settled an entire 1/2" when I rolled out of my driveway. When I pulled back in, my 1-finger gap had gone down to 0-fingers and I had to readjust them. With more upgrades for less body roll, these will be more suitable for driving situations. I figure that after I install a DC5 sway bar, I can lower the rears a bit due to the lessened independence of the springs.

Despite being soft as marshmallows, these babies handle corners like clockwork. My steering response increased, though admittedly not as dramatic of an improvement as a good set of tires will do you. My car feels light and grippy! When you reach cruising speed on a straight road, they really hunker down and the ride becomes buttery smooth, it's oddly euphoric...

The ride is firm, but not the least bouncy or bumpy. Perfectly in between. So you won't have a broken spine in your mid-thirties and you won't feel like your driving a farm tractor either. Conquering speed bumps proved to be no problem either, especially at my current height, but it's still advisable to approach such things at an angle.

After my first day of driving on them, I'm thoroughly impressed. These seem just perfect for my daily driver! After all, these were mainly designed for street use, so TEIN took comfort and ride quality into immediate consideration.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Part Three: Longevity & Thoughts

I will update this section after a few days, weeks, months, and likely a year or two after having them installed. Stay tuned!

NOTES:

5/23/12 (5 days after install)
At this point, I'm beginning to notice some of the weaknesses in this coilover system. First off, it seems like the rear struts are not stiff enough, and not being able to adjust the dampers is somewhat annoying. I really don't feel confidence in high speed cornering as compared to the OEM setup which felt safer. Either it's my insecurity, or they're not actually an improvement. They're not what I'd call a high performance coilover. Ride comfort is still insanely good though! Even with occasional tire rubbing (my tire setup is mostly to blame), it glides like a Cadillac.
Also to be noted, the front coilovers tend to bind, obviously due to the design of the MacPherson strut. The problem mostly went away after putting lubricant between the bearing plates and above and below the spring itself, but came back after a few days and a drive through the rain. After turning the springs to a new sitting position, I seem to have gotten rid of the bind entirely, but I have a feeling it will return to haunt me. Several alignment shops have denied me service because of the binding problem, so I'm hoping my latest adjustments will do me some good and I'm going to use some extra time to play around with more ride height settings and get my DC5 rear sway installed.
I'm still very happy with these TEINs though, especially the joys of having an evenly lowered car at a reasonable price!

5/28/12
Installed a larger sway bar (21mm) in the rear and I've decided that this is a MUST for all who're looking into a soft coilover setup. It really helped stiffen the rear and reduce the amount of roll and wobble. Before, it felt a bit unstable in the back end, but now it's nice and tight. The bigger sway bar really brought out the potential of the coilovers and I can feel the performance increasing drastically. My advice is to upgrade your rear sway bar to a DC5 (From '05-'06 RSX-S) or purchase an aftermarket bar around the same diameter. Needless to say, the stock sway bar looks like spaghetti in comparison. Not good, haha.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

lol, I accidentally deleted the overview and installation section, which made me very frustrated, but somehow it magically came back. Huh... weird. Anyways, enjoy!

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

MOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAaAAAAAAR L0000000WER

TFMEX

GO LOWER!!!!!

What Size are your tires? They look THICK!

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

That's about as low as I can go right now unless I have some rubbing in the rear. My tires are quite large... 225 x 45. They're brand new so I don't want to get smaller ones yet. Also I haven't attempted to roll my fenders, but i can do that eventually.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

good job!

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

How much of a drop do you have going right now?

paulymcd7

Why will I need a bigger sway bar? And I know almost nothing about suspension is the soft springs bad? Will that take away from the life? And very nice by the way!

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, I should've been more specific. I recommend a better sway bar because the rear struts are very soft. At the rid height I'm currently at, with no rolled fenders, and 0 camber, the tires will rub when you go around corners due to body roll. A stronger sway bar should reduce body roll dramatically and prevent the rears from rubbing.
Lots of things can determine the life of the struts, but I don't think softness is going to be an issue. As long as you don't max out the lowering setting, the shocks can handle it pretty well.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Listed below, I'm about 1.5" in the front, 1.6" in the back

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

so the teins basis do not have shock adjuster?

BTW, ye deserve rep!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

sounds like they will be too soft for me. but a good oem type feel to them which is nice for most. watch for suspension parts to start failing. lowering springs will put more stress on bushings and parts like tie rods, control arms, etc. how big are those rims?

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

No they don't, that's part of the reason they're only $800. They're on par with the popular entry level Skunk2 coilovers, albeit some of the new Skunks have dampening adjustment to a small extent. I feel that it shouldn't be too much of a hinderance for daily driving.
And thanks for +rep

@gearbox, the rims are 17 x 7

TFMEX

Wow your running 225's huh? What made you go so wide? I was rubbing with 215's with -1.5 camber in the back with rolled fenders. I ended up getting a set of 205/40s RUBBING GONE!

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

and... xl tires?

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

I went with Tirerack.com's recommended tire size. I didn't know any better at the time (and I hadn't planned on lowering it) But hey, nothing wrong with more traction!

And about the XL... again, I just went with an automated recommendation. My other excuse... I'm a bowler, I have 4 14lb. bowling *****

TFMEX

I think even with the rolling of the fenders and -1 camber your going to rub. Im running -1 with my 205's and its close and I have a 0 finger gap in the rear.... could even consider it a tiny tuck.

How are you planning the roll the fender? You going to rent a roller or heat gn that **** up and rubber mallet it (like me)

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

My neighbor has a fender roller! Woo! Make the right friends
And i like my 1 finger gap all around. I'm not sure if I'll have much trouble with rubbing. You also have a sedan which is heavier in the rear, if that makes any difference.

TFMEX

Nice on the fender roller. Mine came out fine just took a while. I was fine with my 1 finger gap but after a month I wanted MOAR LOW. I can still go lower but then my ***** will start dragging..... I dont want that LOL

paulymcd7

the skunk2s are cheaper.. whats the difference between these and the skunk2s? pros aand cons please

TFMEX

The Skunk 2's are NOT cheaper. The Pro-S II is $950 and these are slightly over $800.

From K's review The Skunk 2 Pro S II compares as such:
-Stiffer (not bouncy but deff stiffer)
-uses less OEM parts (top hats only) basically the install is remove old tophats and screw them on.... install
-Spring rates are 10K (not sure on the Teins)
- looks like the preload and ride height are separately adjustable on both with is a nice PRO for both. Height doesnt affect shock travel.

I love my Pro S II's These dont look like a bad option either.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Updated 3rd section. I will do this periodically and as I discover more benefits or faults with the setup.
l
l
V

mac25

rep'd up, nice work =D

TFMEX

The binding "COULD" dissipate after they settle in. I had a few creaking noises nothing huge but they went away after about 1000 miles...

How soft to they feel compared to stock? same or softer.

have you tried to make it stiffer by putting more prelaod?

im surprised that you have been denied at shops for an alignment... is the binding that bad?

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

The fronts are definitely stiffer than OEM. The rears are about the same as stock feel, but when you're lowered, that's not very desirable. The preload is already pretty high.
And two alignment shops said "We need you car to be turning more freely and not binding before our machines can get a good reading." Whatever, lol

Thanks for rep mac25! Although I've pretty much burned out this thread. It's gone from a simple review to a full repetitive conversation... XP

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Good write up!! That's weird that's it's so soft. On Tein they say the spring rates are Front- 340lbs/in and Rear - 450lbs/in. They must have a really soft damper or something. Curious to see how they hold up.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Updated section 3 down below again.
I cannot even begin to stress how much a bigger sway bar improved the setup. All my doubts about the rear coilovers are completely blown away and everything feels just right. Keep in mind you'll have to shoot another $50-$120 for a good bar, but it was totally worth it