I was in Japan last week in Osaka. I wanted to visit HKS Kansai but it was too far away. Well I found out that Tein is coming out with a new Flex. As you guys probably know, the Flex right now is dual tube designed. The new one will be Mono Tube like the RS or the super racing. It's designed to be more aggressive as in geared more toward for track and less on the street comfort like the current one. I just thought that I wanted to let you guys know, and for those who are interested in getting the Flex system to wait and check out their new system.

 

Yeah, i've seen people awaiting these for months now.....i'm personally not holding my breath.


Fact is Tein saw a drop in sales for EVO/STi due to a lot of the Euro coilovers becoming a lot more popular on the street as well as the track. A lot more postive feedback. KW, Bilstein, AST, Whiteline.....all of these have challenged the "features" of near zero droop travel and excessive bounce of the JDM coilovers valved for JDM roads VERY effectively and Tein did not fail to notice the shift in demand to the more flexible type of dampers.


Only time will tell if the new Teins can keep up with the latest from KW and Bilstein.....


Was the last Flex really geared toward street comfort?


Anyway, great track performance and acceptable street comfort are NOT mutually exclusive! That's where a damper shows how quality and "flexible" it really is.



- Andrew

 

after reading what i just wrote.....i will say that Tein does have all the resources to make something amazing. here's hoping they do.


- Andrew

 

When are they coming out? any word on the prcing?

 

I remember reading review articles on the Mono flex for the Evo on Sport Compact Car magazine. "Coming soon" to the USA is what they said. These things are out in Japan already and no word from Tein USA.

 

I'm not so sure when they'll be available here in the US, but they're already available in Japan. Well you know the Japanese always keep the good stuff over there. About the pricing, but they might drop the regular flex and just keep the Mono Flex and price it higher. I mean higher then the regular flex but lower then the RS or the super race. We can only wait and see.

 

The main problem is spring rate. If you have a high spring rate how do you get comfortable street ride ?? In the Flex you can set how hard the damper will be BUT when the spring rates remain the same it is still only suitable for the track (or for good roads) but not suitable for city streets. However I understand there are some Coilovere`s that can do both !!! $$$