** Disclaimer ** The following driving impressions are strictly the opinion of the drivers who created them. There was no compensation or gift recieved by the test drivers performing these tests. Your results may vary.
Test Driver: Stacey B. ‘Racy-Stacey’ SCCA Club racer and former Roush test driver.
Passenger: Mike P. Car owner of the test mule.
Vehicle specs: ’93 Ford Probe GT – TEIN Super Street suspension
Swaybar: Front: Stock Rear: 16mm Mazdaspeed Rear Stabilzer
No Strut Tower Bars
Alignment settings: FRONT [Zero Setting on Camber Plates] - (L) Camber -1.5 Caster +3.0 Toe +0.15 (R) Camber -1.5 Caster +3.3 Toe +0.17 REAR - (L) Camber -0.8 Toe +0.14 (R) Camber -0.8 Toe +0.12 Thrust Angle -0.01
Dampening Setting: (16) Softest setting X4 corners
Vehicle weight: 2 passengers 350 lbs – 25 lbs in luggage in hatch area.
TEIN - TEST ONE
Regular daily type driving
1. Small bumps
2. Cruising
3. Driveway feel
During the Regular driving test at the softest setting I rode as a passenger and drove the car. When I was a passenger I noticed right away, that even though the suspension dampening was on the softest setting. The car still had a little more feel of the road than what you could compare to from a sedan with a floated suspension. So quickly I equated that this suspension is not a stock replacement. So any comparisons to a soft riding suspension with minimal driver feedback could now be thrown out. Cruising was crisp and lane changes were very comfortable. When we entered a driveway with a 1” lip we felt the front tire crawl over the lip. So the feedback to the driver of road surfaces is precise. It wasn’t jarring or bouncing but you did feel it. Also unlike other cars I’ve ridden in. The car didn’t seem to twist and strain the suspension.
TEIN – TEST TWO
Canyon driving
1. Transition
2. Cornering hold
3. Push / Rotate
4. Braking/ acceleration
5. Emergency avoidance
Test two was performed in Turnboe Canyon. Due to time constraints we could only run through three settings of the suspensions overall dampening settings. (16),(10)&(6). The Super Street comes with 16 settings. 16 being the softest, and 1 being the tightest, we continued the test with the settings at all four corners at (16).
The first turn was in a residential area and the speed was about 15 mph. I didn’t lift off the throttle; I rolled off about 20% throttle and made a quick 90 left-hander. The car responded very surprisingly flat. As I approached the end of mid corner I increased the throttle to pull the car the rest of the way and realized I didn’t need to. The car went through the corner very flat and this was at the softest setting. There was a little body roll but nothing outside of what you would suspect from a performance suspension. The next couple of turns were also at relatively low speed. So I have to say that at this setting the car is very forgiving. If the driver makes a mistake and has to react quickly and gets out of there comfort zone the car will assist them at low speeds. Steering input was also very nice and didn’t require any effort to turn the car.
The next series of turns involved hills and corners. The first part of the canyon is very twisty and low speed. We took the first 4 corners in third gear. The posted speed 15mph. The car tracked very nicely through at 24. The next part was an ascending climb to a tight 90 deg turn. With our increased speed we found the car push a little and did a little throttle lift to bring the front traction back. The softness of the dampening we agreed was the cause of this. The next series of corners gave me the impression of driving a newer sedan with high technology in the suspension. The car flowed through the corners with my every steering input. I tested nose-dive and there was a very acceptable amount. The suspension hunched down and the felt planted. The suspension didn’t feel as if it bottomed out its travel, which was really nice since we were at such a soft setting. The front tires led the rear at this setting so the car would push and there wasn’t any rear end rotation. At the limits the car made the driver feel in control of the car and not a passenger.
At the top of the mountain we decided to change the settings to the next level. (10). Here was started out very conservatively as before. Like before I wanted to work my way up to what the suspension had to offer. The first series of corners were all down hill. The slow speeds – 25-35 – kept everything very comfortable. The transition from left to right was very noticeably different from the previous setting. The car also drove over terrain differently. The cars suspension started to entice the driver to drive it a little hard or aggressively through the corners. The ability to whip the steering wheel around and stay hooked to the road was really nice. At this setting I made the comparison between the Tokico-Illumina / Eibach suspension. Perhaps (11) would get you a very similar feel. So at this level the car was now very familiar to drive. The handling had now grown up a bit. The car started carving though the canyon and was very forgiving again, but not so much as to let my mother drive it around like this. The straight line bumps in the road are now more pronounced and the increased steering response would be to much for her. Braking dive and acceleration were very nice again. At this level the car could be pushed but to achieve rear end rotation you needed either sharp throttle off cornering or ‘Fade’ type drive technique to get the rear end to rotate. The front end had more bite and didn’t push nearly as much at this setting.
( Stay tuned more to come )
TEIN Driving Impressions
Driving impressionsTest Driver: Stacey B. ‘Racy-Stacey’ SCCA Club racer and former Roush test driver.
Passenger: Mike P. Car owner of the test mule.
Vehicle specs: ’93 Ford Probe GT – TEIN Super Street suspension
Swaybar: Front: Stock Rear: 16mm Mazdaspeed Rear Stabilzer
No Strut Tower Bars
Alignment settings: FRONT [Zero Setting on Camber Plates] - (L) Camber -1.5 Caster +3.0 Toe +0.15 (R) Camber -1.5 Caster +3.3 Toe +0.17 REAR - (L) Camber -0.8 Toe +0.14 (R) Camber -0.8 Toe +0.12 Thrust Angle -0.01
Dampening Setting: (16) Softest setting X4 corners
Vehicle weight: 2 passengers 350 lbs – 25 lbs in luggage in hatch area.
TEIN - TEST ONE
Regular daily type driving
1. Small bumps
2. Cruising
3. Driveway feel
During the Regular driving test at the softest setting I rode as a passenger and drove the car. When I was a passenger I noticed right away, that even though the suspension dampening was on the softest setting. The car still had a little more feel of the road than what you could compare to from a sedan with a floated suspension. So quickly I equated that this suspension is not a stock replacement. So any comparisons to a soft riding suspension with minimal driver feedback could now be thrown out. Cruising was crisp and lane changes were very comfortable. When we entered a driveway with a 1” lip we felt the front tire crawl over the lip. So the feedback to the driver of road surfaces is precise. It wasn’t jarring or bouncing but you did feel it. Also unlike other cars I’ve ridden in. The car didn’t seem to twist and strain the suspension.
TEIN – TEST TWO
Canyon driving
1. Transition
2. Cornering hold
3. Push / Rotate
4. Braking/ acceleration
5. Emergency avoidance
Test two was performed in Turnboe Canyon. Due to time constraints we could only run through three settings of the suspensions overall dampening settings. (16),(10)&(6). The Super Street comes with 16 settings. 16 being the softest, and 1 being the tightest, we continued the test with the settings at all four corners at (16).
The first turn was in a residential area and the speed was about 15 mph. I didn’t lift off the throttle; I rolled off about 20% throttle and made a quick 90 left-hander. The car responded very surprisingly flat. As I approached the end of mid corner I increased the throttle to pull the car the rest of the way and realized I didn’t need to. The car went through the corner very flat and this was at the softest setting. There was a little body roll but nothing outside of what you would suspect from a performance suspension. The next couple of turns were also at relatively low speed. So I have to say that at this setting the car is very forgiving. If the driver makes a mistake and has to react quickly and gets out of there comfort zone the car will assist them at low speeds. Steering input was also very nice and didn’t require any effort to turn the car.
The next series of turns involved hills and corners. The first part of the canyon is very twisty and low speed. We took the first 4 corners in third gear. The posted speed 15mph. The car tracked very nicely through at 24. The next part was an ascending climb to a tight 90 deg turn. With our increased speed we found the car push a little and did a little throttle lift to bring the front traction back. The softness of the dampening we agreed was the cause of this. The next series of corners gave me the impression of driving a newer sedan with high technology in the suspension. The car flowed through the corners with my every steering input. I tested nose-dive and there was a very acceptable amount. The suspension hunched down and the felt planted. The suspension didn’t feel as if it bottomed out its travel, which was really nice since we were at such a soft setting. The front tires led the rear at this setting so the car would push and there wasn’t any rear end rotation. At the limits the car made the driver feel in control of the car and not a passenger.
At the top of the mountain we decided to change the settings to the next level. (10). Here was started out very conservatively as before. Like before I wanted to work my way up to what the suspension had to offer. The first series of corners were all down hill. The slow speeds – 25-35 – kept everything very comfortable. The transition from left to right was very noticeably different from the previous setting. The car also drove over terrain differently. The cars suspension started to entice the driver to drive it a little hard or aggressively through the corners. The ability to whip the steering wheel around and stay hooked to the road was really nice. At this setting I made the comparison between the Tokico-Illumina / Eibach suspension. Perhaps (11) would get you a very similar feel. So at this level the car was now very familiar to drive. The handling had now grown up a bit. The car started carving though the canyon and was very forgiving again, but not so much as to let my mother drive it around like this. The straight line bumps in the road are now more pronounced and the increased steering response would be to much for her. Braking dive and acceleration were very nice again. At this level the car could be pushed but to achieve rear end rotation you needed either sharp throttle off cornering or ‘Fade’ type drive technique to get the rear end to rotate. The front end had more bite and didn’t push nearly as much at this setting.
( Stay tuned more to come )
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