Which are the best lowering springs for an AE101 liftback?

[amdeman]

With so many options around, be fair to say that the main contenders are Dobbi Sport, King, Tein, H&R, B&G, Jamex?

Any suggestions opinions and experiences are greatly welcomed.

After a set biased more toward quality and comfort than low, some lowering than slamming.

Background the car is 1995 NZ new NON-Super-Strutt, has had all of the suspension bushes replaced recently with Nolothane / Super Pro items, has new OEM shocks, used as a DD, on usual (average) Auckland roads, installed a GT tower to fire-wall brace.

Looking forward to the helpfulness of the TS community.

[touge_ae101]

tein hands down. properly matched rates to ae101 and have a good amount of drop and handle really really well. had jamexs before i had the tein's and the difference was night and day.

[Kiwi-Corolla]

I've got Jamex springs in mine and the ride comfort is surprisingly good. You can still 'feel' the road, but it's nothing back breaking or rough. Handles well too in my opinion. Not 100% sure if mine are the lows or super lows, but they make the car sit at a nice height.

[amdeman]

tein hands down. properly matched rates to ae101 and have a good amount of drop and handle really really well. had jamexs before i had the tein's and the difference was night and day.

Sweet, thanks for that.
What shocks did you run with them?

Where to find Teins in Auckland?

[Boosted_162]

tein hands down. properly matched rates to ae101 and have a good amount of drop and handle really really well. had jamexs before i had the tein's and the difference was night and day.

Sweet, thanks for that.
What shocks did you run with them?

Where to find Teins in Auckland?

Haven't had in a rolla, but i agree with Rhys - Teins hands down!

Distributor is autolign, but Nick/tsoob can get them for you (Platinum wheels)

[Kiwi-Corolla]

What's the ride quality like with Teins though? I remember on my brother's old Glanza V he installed Tein S-Tech springs and the ride comfort was terrible. Sure, it handled well and made it look very low, but for a daily driver it was nowhere near comfortable.

[amdeman]

What's the ride quality like with Teins though? I remember on my brother's old Glanza V he installed Tein S-Tech springs and the ride comfort was terrible. Sure, it handled well and made it look very low, but for a daily driver it was nowhere near comfortable.

Hmmm... Food for thought.

Which strutts were being used?

[Bazda]

Had teins in my mates AE111 carib wagon. They were great, not that low though. He paid like $300 for the set with the special on trademe.

[amdeman]

Had teins in my mates AE111 carib wagon. They were great, not that low though. He paid like $300 for the set with the special on trademe.

That's another tick in the Tein column.

What about the other brand options?

[Mr Revhead]

Tein or TRD can't be beat really.

[amdeman]

Tein or TRD can't be beat really.

Looks like the 'T's have it.

Are there still TRD springs around for the AE101?

[Bling]

I rate my Cobra springs, AE111 coupe though. Teins do have a good rep on here though.

[DexGT]

What's the ride quality like with Teins though? I remember on my brother's old Glanza V he installed Tein S-Tech springs and the ride comfort was terrible. Sure, it handled well and made it look very low, but for a daily driver it was nowhere near comfortable.

If they lowered it any amount it was probably sitting on the bump stops , starlets only have 55mm travel to start with .
I fitted tein coil overs in my race starlet and it rode so much better than the road starlet that I sold the road starlet

[ALES_AE111]

Just fitted Tein S.Tech on my ae111 couple weeks ago along with new shocks. NVH hasn't really changed at all and the car is riding better and sits a little lower than before, but not drastically. Admittedly, the old shocks were clapped out, so the balance of harder springs with shocks that work has probably picked up where softer springs but wrecked shocks left off.

For the AE101 or AE111 with superstrut the drop is 25mm front, 16mm rear, so not very low. Not sure of the mac strut drop, but would imagine maybe a little more than SS?

From what they say (admittedly it's their marketing) Tein aim their springs to only drop the car as far as the factory suspension geometry will allow. Certainly seems that way with the Levin: LCAs sitting nicely.

[Mr Revhead]

Yep, TEIN and TRD will only go as low as it can without negatively affecting the handling.
Lots of after market ones do not take that into consideration. In fact some brands will list a spring purely on if it fits in with no consideration of weight and use.

[touge_ae101]

tein hands down. properly matched rates to ae101 and have a good amount of drop and handle really really well. had jamexs before i had the tein's and the difference was night and day.

Sweet, thanks for that.
What shocks did you run with them?

Where to find Teins in Auckland?

ran them with rooted old std shocks for a bit then went to koni adjustable inserts. ride quality was good IMO wasn't stiff at all. tein springs only lower the car as much as they recommend (50mm for ae101) as they actually do research on the suspension geometry and make their products to actually suit the car rather than just generic drop/spring rate.

[amdeman]

Cheers guys, with the great info like that makes the decision much easier.

Who's got good hook-ups with Tein?

[TRDWGN]

Tein S Techs for a BZ-R levin have the best spring rates, and will slot in no prob's

Tein do about half a dozen or more variants for the various AE101, AE111 models

[fangsport]

i used std height ae111 levin struts in my ae101 5door. pulled the bum down nicely

[amdeman]

Tein S Techs for a BZ-R levin have the best spring rates, and will slot in no prob's

Tein do about half a dozen or more variants for the various AE101, AE111 models

Ah, might be the key to it.
Any idea how to find that out; seems like there's very limited info on the websites seen so far?