Which of these coilover sets works the best for the money? In choosing I am looking for build quality, adjustability, and durability. I'm not looking for a full race set up or anything to that sort. Rather, a good set up with freedom to adjust and peace of mind. BTW I'm not sure what models you have all tried so fill me in on what you liked and what you didn't.
Thanks

 

All I can say is that I love my JIC's. I have them in an IS and Supra which is the same as your car. They are both awesome in ride quality and handling.

Tein is cool, but you gotta compare apples to apples. Most Tein that people buy for street are a much inferior assembly to that of the JIC. i.e. Twin tube dampers vs Monotube. Casing material will also be inferior. JIC uses Stainless steel cadmium plated casings.

 

I too have JIC's in my LS.

 

Anyone else have their 2 cents to toss in here?

 

I love the JICs, every application I've seen and experienced has been top notch!

with Tein though... I am a sucker for the electronic control module thing thats sweet haha

 

Everyone here has said jic, but I've been told they are built in Taiwan. Could anyone clarify on the actually quality/cnstruction of the jic coil overs? Tein is also nice. But, from my point of view, is trendy with every car out there having them just because of the name. If anyone could really give me the low-down between the two it would be of much help.

 

THey are not made in Taiwan. They are made in Yokohama Japan. They are probably rumors started by Tein. lol. Sport Compact Car should be coming out with an article on their manufacturing plant in Japan. I know that they were flown to Japan specifically to do this.

Peace.

 

Yeah i wasn't sure about the Taiwan thing. Everyone seems to be telling me tein, but it seems like "the thing" to do, just get em. Jic looks like a real nice set up though.

 

Those guys at ImportToys (I think) used to sell um and stand by um. There was a female member Emerald who used to have a hooked up SC4 and I am pretty sure that she had the JIC also. She was working with importtoys. See if you can get some info from any of them since they also seem to have actual experience with the JIC on the SC. Seems like the JIC which makes a coilover specific for the sc should be a good thing. Hey, why go with the crowd.

 

i was playing with both jics and teins at the sema show here in vegas last year, go jic flt a2's all i have to say is quality. the quality of the teins is about 10 times better than teins

 

Ok the only thing turning me off from the Jic Flta2 is the price. The Tein Flex is about 300 cheaper than the Flta2 and seems to offer comparable performance. Any inputs on that?

 

I've also heard that TEIN's are much better suited for normal street driving... what's the opinion from you guys on this? I can't decide if I want to get JIC SA-1 (height/damper adjustable) or TEIN HA (also height/damper adjustable).

Over here in Australia, one of the guys in the ALSC (Sydney) has got TEIN's on his Soarer, and he doesn't complain about them rusting or anything like that... I'm going for a drive soon to see what they're like, as for the JIC's, one of the other guys has hem on his (not sure which ones though!) and he said the ride is VERY stiff... which isn't what I'm looking for, apparently TEIN has better ride comfort with similar handling qualities of the JIC's...

Someone help me out here?!

 

Having owned a few sets of Tein's and now on my first set of JIC's, I must say, I would pick JIC....the SF/SA are great for street use...I'm thinking about swapping out my Tein FLEX in my GS for the JIC FLT-A2's...

And JIC's are made in JAPAN...even if they were made in Taiwan, the quality of the units speak for themselves...

Soarer_25GTT: The American version of the JIC stuff has much softer spring/dampening settings...the JIC units in Japan and Europe are stiffer...so if you order the US spec version, it should be good for street use...the spring rates are 12/9 for the SF-1...I don't think they're doing a US version of the SA-1....I have both the Tein FLEX (in my GS) and the SF-1's (in my SC400) and honestly, the adjustable dampening isn't worth fighting for...the FLT-A2's are nice cuz you can adjust the height w/o affecting the other aspects of the coilover...(preload, dampening, rebound, etc...) but I wouldn't buy them just because of the adjustable dampening...

I have some pictures of the SF-1 for the SC if you're interested...

Don't get me wrong, the Tein's are quality units and made very well...but if you have the extra budget to get the JIC's, I would say go for the JIC's...

 

Thanx for the info Manaray,

I guess I'll be (trying to) save the cash for a set of JIC's then! All I know is that JIC suspension components such as the SA-1/SF-1 are directly from Japan. The last thing I want with coilovers is an unbearable (ie. teeth jarring) ride, as Australian roads can be really shocking, and guess what, it's these roads that I have to commute through everyday of the week! Is there any US distributors willing to export to Australia? May be interested in a couple of months or so in buying a set. How much do they cost in the US? I know that they cost an arm and a leg (and then some) here in Australia!

BTW, that'd be great if I can check out the photos of the JIC SF-1 for the SC?

 

The JIC SF-1's are US$1500 retail. Steve Ganz (gonzo4u@earthlink.net) can hook you up on a good price and can probably ship it Down Under....

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