Tein "Street Basis" coilovers

[DaveEV]

I followed the link to Nengun earlier in this thread. Cost was $1000 + $250 shipping via FedEx.

Here's that link again from earlier in the thread:

Here is the link to purchase from Japan from a package forwarding service. These guys are pretty legit. I emailed these guys and they checked availability and added it to their site for purchase.

http://www.nengun.com/tein/street-basis-damper" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1250 shipped.

[adrianco]

The shipment arrived on Friday morning, I spent 3hrs Friday evening putting them on, no real problems. Didn't need a spring compressor to get the old springs off or the shorter ones on. I would need to use one to refit the old front springs I think. Special tools needed - 17 and 18mm deep sockets.

I set the rear to max height and guessed the front at about half way, got 14" from wheel center to top of arch all round.

After it was done, realized that I hadn't put the rear top rubber spring mounts in, it seemed to work ok without them, I suspect that is why the rear adjustment doesn't match the front. We will run it like that today at the AutoX and I'll drop the mounts in and adjust heights tomorrow.

[nader]

I initially left the top isolator off in the rear too and realized there was not enough adjustment.

If you look at the Japanese instructions (towards the middle of the packet) it tells and shows you what distance to set the collars at and where to measure from in order to attain their recommended ride height. It took me awhile to figure this out but once I spent some time trying to understand the numbers it made sense and was quite comprehensive. Having a micrometer will help you dial in the collar heights. Also use the thin bumpstop in the rear or else you wont have enough upward travel and will be engaging the bumpstops all the time. The large ones they include are for when you have the rear set higher than recommended ride height.

Congrats and good luck today!

[aqn]

The shipment arrived on Friday morning, I spent 3hrs Friday evening putting them on, no real problems. Didn't need a spring compressor to get the old springs off or the shorter ones on.

why did you need to "get the old springs off"? On my past VWs, I'd remove the stock spring + strut as one unit, and if I'm putting on coilovers, just bolt the coilover into place. I can just leave the stock spring on the stock strut, no need to separate them. Is the LEAF's spring/strut assembly so different?

Special tools needed - 17 and 18mm deep sockets.

Very useful information, thanks.

[nader]

The fronts reuse the top hat from stock strut assembly. A pair of spring compressors and an air gun make separating the stock setup much easier.

[adrianco]

The rear suspension is definitely running the bump stops too much, but we impressed a lot of people today, I was getting times that were better than other similar cars (Mazda 3, Audi A4), and within a few seconds of much more powerful sports cars.

I ran our Lotus Elise a few times and got about 42s, other Elise/Exige, Evo, Corvette, two Mustangs were in the 40-45s range, I got 47s in the Leaf. The fastest cars had very sticky tires, I have the stock Ecotecs...

It turns in much better, has a lot more grip and stays flat in the corners. I turned off the traction control, it kept cutting the power when I was having fun, and I put about 42lbs in the front tires so they didn't roll over under stress.

Here's a run on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNpYI8ybgjQ - recorded using iPhone and GPS mount, because my GoPro battery went flat.

The event was at a Great America parking lot, Santa Clara CA. We had about 20 miles of fast freeway driving each way. After 5 runs in the morning, the battery was half gone, we recharged it at Citrix offices nearby for a few hours and it had 11 out of 12 bars at the start of the afternoon, which was good for 5 more runs and the drive home.

Battery consumption was 1.2 miles/KWh. I reset it before the morning runs. Here's how it looks.

[TNleaf]

Very nice! Thank you for posting this!

The rear suspension is definitely running the bump stops too much, but we impressed a lot of people today, I was getting times that were better than other similar cars (Mazda 3, Audi A4), and within a few seconds of much more powerful sports cars.

I ran our Lotus Elise a few times and got about 42s, other Elise/Exige, Evo, Corvette, two Mustangs were in the 40-45s range, I got 47s in the Leaf. The fastest cars had very sticky tires, I have the stock Ecotecs...

It turns in much better, has a lot more grip and stays flat in the corners. I turned off the traction control, it kept cutting the power when I was having fun, and I put about 42lbs in the front tires so they didn't roll over under stress.

Here's a run on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNpYI8ybgjQ - recorded using iPhone and GPS mount, because my GoPro battery went flat.

The event was at a Great America parking lot, Santa Clara CA. We had about 20 miles of fast freeway driving each way. After 5 runs in the morning, the battery was half gone, we recharged it at Citrix offices nearby for a few hours and it had 11 out of 12 bars at the start of the afternoon, which was good for 5 more runs and the drive home.

Battery consumption was 1.2 miles/KWh. I reset it before the morning runs. Here's how it looks.

[DaveEV]

The rear suspension is definitely running the bump stops too much, but we impressed a lot of people today, I was getting times that were better than other similar cars (Mazda 3, Audi A4), and within a few seconds of much more powerful sports cars.

I ran our Lotus Elise a few times and got about 42s, other Elise/Exige, Evo, Corvette, two Mustangs were in the 40-45s range, I got 47s in the Leaf. The fastest cars had very sticky tires, I have the stock Ecotecs...

It turns in much better, has a lot more grip and stays flat in the corners.

Thanks for the post! 47s is pretty good on stock tires - tires alone will easily drop 3-4+ seconds even on a short course like that.

How did you set up the alignment with the coilovers - did you attempt to dial in any negative camber?

What do you plan on doing to solve the bump-travel issue in the rear - just raise the height?

How is the ride for daily driving compared to stock?

Here's a video to ttweed's auto-x in his stock LEAF so one can compare body roll (from this post): http://vimeo.com/27563790" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TRONZ]

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing.

[adrianco]

Thanks for the post! 47s is pretty good on stock tires - tires alone will easily drop 3-4+ seconds even on a short course like that.

How did you set up the alignment with the coilovers - did you attempt to dial in any negative camber?

What do you plan on doing to solve the bump-travel issue in the rear - just raise the height?

How is the ride for daily driving compared to stock?

Here's a video to ttweed's auto-x in his stock LEAF so one can compare body roll (from this post): http://vimeo.com/27563790" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I didn't see any way to adjust the camber, I will get an alignment when I finish messing with the ride height. I will take the advice to use the shorter bump stops, put the rubber back in and set the rear slightly higher. I like the way the front is.

I will set the height up a bit more, since we run on bumpy mountain roads. The ride is much stiffer, but not unreasonable compared to our sports cars.

Thanks for the video, that course looks like a long high speed slalom, the courses I run are always very tight...