Tein Street Flex

[YanMa YatTai]

Tein have released a new line of coilovers.
Street Flex have replaced Type Flex
Street Advance have replaced Super Street
though I do not think it is a like for like replacement. You can see where they line up against one another on the US site - http://www.tein.com/products/index.html

But what looks attractive to me is the pricing. Have a look at what Fulcrum list them for -
http://performance.fulcrumsuspensions.com.au/index.php?option=com_vehiclefilter&filter=product&Itemid=250&car_id=64&part_number=GSM40-51SS1
compared to prices ~$2500 for Type Flex!
Also, Street Advance is much less than Super Streets in price as well.

Question is, have Tein now gone cheap? Is the lower price a reflection of lower quality?

Now that Tein's are lower in price how does the bang for buck comparison against the likes of Yellowspeed stack up? Anyone heard of installations of the new Tein gear in comparison to the old stuff?

[Apu]

The question is has there been price gouging in the past?

[project.r.racing]

Since both these products have been around longer than 6 months. There has be previous discussions about these. they are simply the same product with a new name and a new price tag. And the new price tag being lower to compete with the same quality product like BC and YSR.

[YanMa YatTai]

Sorry, newish then. Google "site:" limited search yielded no results on the topic. All I can find is references to the old products.

Same quality as YSR? Really?

So if they are sooo last year, anyone here have them installed?

[project.r.racing]

dunno why google isn't working for you. heaps of forums with discussions about them when i did a search 10 seconds ago. you ain't in china with a internet block are you? cos that would be sooooooooooo bad.

since you are having soooooooo many issues with google, try this link:-

http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&sclient ... 24&bih=571

[YanMa YatTai]

No. In Oz. I specifically searched this forum via Google with site:mx5cartalk.com as a domain limiter. I also searched with miata as a key word without the domain limiter. Not interested in what some other car experiences are. I want to see if anyone with an mx5/miata has the new street flex installed. Plenty with old type flex. Tein Japan still list street flex as new for 2013 so I would be surprised you found lots of feedback for installs on mx5/miata. I did a search for '"street flex" miata' limited to past 12 months and got 2 pages, mostly news on their release so not sure what you are finding.

[project.r.racing]

Well you get what you ask for. At no point did you specifically ask for MX5/Miata only information. If you look in the link I provided. You will see 3 or 4 down miata websites. And there is more than 2 threads there. And even a installation problem thread. Hopefully helps you with your search for answers. If you want the correct answers, ask the correct question first.

[sailaholic]

He did ask on mx5 forum. Looking for mx5 related information was a bit of a given I thought.

[project.r.racing]

You dont need 'MX5 only' information to compare prices and build quality to other brands of coilover. Which is why I didn't assume 'MX5 only' information was required. He has the google search link now and been pointed in the direction of 'MX5 only' information. So hopefully he find the answers he is looking for.

[manga_blue]

Actually they're listing for 100,800Y in Japan at the moment and there are crazy exchange rates this week. So if you've got a reasonable importer then they're a very good buy. If not then Fulcrum's price is not too shabby at all.
http://page15.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t295042262

[project.r.racing]

100800YEN = AUD$1060ish + shipping costs.

Cheaper to get from USA.

Dont get advance, get flex for the full length height control.

[YanMa YatTai]

Project R,
Thanks for the link but your search would return squillions of irrelevant items. I am looking for Street Flex, as you have also recommended. Your search is for Street Advance, which I believe has been available for a longer period of time than the Street Flex.

My questions are in my original post.

Question is, have Tein now gone cheap? Is the lower price a reflection of lower quality?

Now that Tein's are lower in price how does the bang for buck comparison against the likes of Yellowspeed stack up? Anyone heard of installations of the new Tein gear in comparison to the old stuff?

I know the Teins are now cheaper. Rightly or wrongly I have previously assumed a Japanese product with a price premium would be superior to a Taiwanese product that is relatively new (YSR). They are not simply re-branded. Well not according to Tein marketing - http://teinusa-blog.com/street-flex/. I would have thought an evolution of a product would make it better, though I would also expect cheap competition introduced since the development of the Type Flex would also make Tein think about lowering costs to compete on price, which could mean the new product is inferior to the previous product.

Yes I am looking for experiences for the mx5. Sorry if I did not make that clear. I am looking for experiences of the new Street Flex in an mx5. It doesnt look like there are many. Previous discussions/comparison threads on YSR vs old Tein products has proven unfruitful as, not unexpectedly, most people cannot provide a direct comparison as they would have bought one or the other and not tried both. So I thought I would ask. Apologies if I have offended your search first before asking principles.

[project.r.racing]

I think you need to take a step back and read my first post in this thread. You asked for info on unit price, build quality and fitment issues. I only commented on unit price and build quality and said there had been discussions about these before. I did not comment on fitment issues or post there were previous discussions about fitment issue. then you came back with a smartarse post in reply to my post but I looked past that. Then I still posted what I did after that to help you find info as a knew a 6 month old product wasn't gonna be alot of info around. I didn't realize you only wanted unit price and build quality info from only MX5 owners. And now you are still being rude and throwing it back in my face with more smartarse comments. There is still plenty of info out there if you substitute advance for flex in a google search.

[project.r.racing]

I know the Teins are now cheaper. Rightly or wrongly I have previously assumed a Japanese product with a price premium would be superior to a Taiwanese product that is relatively new (YSR). They are not simply re-branded. Well not according to Tein marketing - http://teinusa-blog.com/street-flex/. I would have thought an evolution of a product would make it better, though I would also expect cheap competition introduced since the development of the Type Flex would also make Tein think about lowering costs to compete on price, which could mean the new product is inferior to the previous product.

This is what has come up before, and it does make for good duscussion.

Price has dropped roughly $450 for Flex to Street Flex.

Evolution of product has seen improvements of the product. The main improvements (as per your link) are a bearing (not needed on a MX5), inturnal valving and the painting process.

So you have to guess that the top hats, lower brackets etc are all the same as the previous Flex. So many have agreed that the new Street Flex shouldn't have fitment issues as the old Flex did not either. I know this doesn't help the 100%, but it must give a potential buyer some satisfaction that the product will fit fine.

[Lokiel]

The question is has there been price gouging in the past?

Yup!

Now that there are more decent options available, at decent prices, there's no reason to pay through the nose for the low-entry name brand kits.

In a head-to-head comparison, I suspect that the only area that Tein SS would beat my BC coilovers are on the level of comfortable daily driving - but them I could probably just soften my damping to achieve that level anyway with just a few clicks on the shocks!