Can an ISF ride like a Lexus ??

[jeffrosie6]

Only complain of the 8kg front springs is that we have a lot of speed breakers here and the front dips a lot more, so have the stiffness almost on full. Will definitely be better with stiffer springs. 

I also agree with you Rich that corner weighing is like suspension mapping and makes a better handling car.

[RichGS11]

18 minutes ago, jeffrosie6 said:

Only complain of the 8kg front springs is that we have a lot of speed breakers here and the front dips a lot more, so have the stiffness almost on full. Will definitely be better with stiffer springs. 

I also agree with you Rich that corner weighing is like suspension mapping and makes a better handling car.

For a comparison I'm either 18kg or 20kg upfront (need to find the spec sheet). I wanted to eliminate as much roll as I could and with the weight of these cars, I thought even 16kg was too light (the weight on most ISF set ups).

[Jon Dee]

Went to a Car Club driver coaching and training day at the Manfield Chris Amon Circuit, and put in a few hot laps with the ISF 😎  I raced on this circuit many times years ago in a smaller car, and it was a real nostalgia trip. Have to say that the Bilstein B6/stock springs combo could not be faulted for a road car being tracked. Had no end of fun, and the ISF surprised a few hot hatches down the back straight !!! 

The Teins have a hard act to follow, and it will be interesting to see how they compare when I get them installed. Then I'll have no choice but to go to the next "driver training" day... it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it... hell yeah 😁

Cheers...

[Jon Dee]

Tein Flex Z installed exactly to Tein's recommendations, and have had a couple of runs over my usual test track. That's a square set of 18 x 8.5 wheels with 255/40-18 rubber all round. The OD of these tyres is the same as the OD of the factory staggered set of 19 inch wheels with 40/35 profile tyres. The Teins dropped the front by 25mm and the rear by 12mm compared the the Bilstein setup, which was in turn about the same height as stock suspension. Got about 100mm clearance under the front lip and if that doesn't cause a problem, I'll leave it at that for the time being.

Subjective impression from test drives is that the ride is now smoother and a lot of the sting has gone out of the small irregularities encountered during suburban driving. They can still be felt but impact has been reduced. The ride now has a more sophisticated feel to it... more how even a "sports sedan" from Lexus should feel 🙂 If you like a firm "sports car" ride, then the Bilstein setup would be more to your liking due to the stiffer B6 valving.

The Teins are obviously valved a bit softer at the recommended settings (8 clicks from full hard in front and 6 clicks in the rear) and this makes the springs seem "softer" even though the Tein spring rate is much the same as OEM. That's a tradeoff that I'm happy to accept for the smoother ride. Curiously, the car seems a bit quieter now as well 🙂 

Cheers...

 

[B1 RMA]

That's good, can you fit the EDFC control unit to your set-up?

[Jon Dee]

It's an available option, but I haven't looked into it at this stage. Fitting the motors to the top of the shocks may possibly mean some modifications to the covering trims, but otherwise would be straight forward.

Here's a link to a happy customer's review 🙂

 

Cheers...

[B1 RMA]

2 hours ago, Jon Dee said:

It's an available option, but I haven't looked into it at this stage. Fitting the motors to the top of the shocks may possibly mean some modifications to the covering trims, but otherwise would be straight forward.

Here's a link to a happy customer's review 🙂

 

Cheers...

I don't think Tein get much publicity in the UK. My track prepped RX7 was transformed with them and could be easily adjusted for road and track.

My Mini had a very uncomfortable but fun ride, after putting the full EDFC system in it completely transformed the ride. I had the unit set on Auto and it would give a near limousine ride on main roads and motorways then when you turned off on to a nice twisty B road you could feel it tightening up as you put your foot down.

The RCF rides way too high so my plan is to remove the AVS system and fit a full Tein EDFC system in. This will allow my car to be significantly lowered to give a nice stance and I reckon an even better ride than the AVS system.

[Jon Dee]

Interesting !!! I've always been a "set and forget" guy when it comes to damping. Even when I bought a new dirt bike I just rode it with the factory settings and never changed them. In a car that meant settling for a ride that was good for normal road use, but not really firm enough for track use. Reading up on the latest version of the EDFC system, it sounds like it may now be possible to get the best damping for all conditions... applied automatically on the fly 🙂

I now have no choice but to do due diligence on the EDFC to check out the installation details and costs. Now that I have the coilovers installed, the hard part is already done. Thanks for the input.

[Jon Dee]

Hey David... looking at the EDFC Active Pro setup, looks like I have room for the motors, but after that it gets more difficult 😄 Most of it looks doable, only finding suitable locations to mount the controller and signal converter is a bit of a problem. The signal converter and power supply filter can go in the glovebox, but there are no obvious places for mounting the controller discretely on the dash. How did you mount the controller in your RX ?

Also, to cut down on the amount of stuff mounted in the cockpit, I was hoping to be able to pickup a VSS to feed a signal into the EDFC. Appears to be a bit of a problem with CAN-bus cars, so wondering if you had any info on this ? If adding the GPS kit is the only way, then sobeit 🙂

[B1 RMA]

2 hours ago, Jon Dee said:

Hey David... looking at the EDFC Active Pro setup, looks like I have room for the motors, but after that it gets more difficult 😄 Most of it looks doable, only finding suitable locations to mount the controller and signal converter is a bit of a problem. The signal converter and power supply filter can go in the glovebox, but there are no obvious places for mounting the controller discretely on the dash. How did you mount the controller in your RX ?

Also, to cut down on the amount of stuff mounted in the cockpit, I was hoping to be able to pickup a VSS to feed a signal into the EDFC. Appears to be a bit of a problem with CAN-bus cars, so wondering if you had any info on this ? If adding the GPS kit is the only way, then sobeit 🙂

A specialist I use for some of my cars fitted them so I don't know how difficult the job was. The first thing I did was turn off the 'beep' that indicated changes in the suspension as you drive, it drove me mad quickly. I'm not going to bother mounting the display on the dash either because it is a distraction like the 'beep' in fact I'll probably mount it in the cubby area on the passenger side because I set it in Auto and just left it in that setting. I would give the Tein agent a call because my installer told me they are very helpful

[Jon Dee]

Yeah... I'm thinking that I could probably devise some kind of suction cup mounting for the windscreen so I could have the controller handy for setting up the various parameters. Then once that is over, make a bracket to mount it under the dash on the passenger side or in the glovebox. As you say, once it is set up there is no need to be looking at it all the time. It just needs to be firmly mounted and pointing in the right direction.

[B1 RMA]

24 minutes ago, Jon Dee said:

Yeah... I'm thinking that I could probably devise some kind of suction cup mounting for the windscreen so I could have the controller handy for setting up the various parameters. Then once that is over, make a bracket to mount it under the dash on the passenger side or in the glovebox. As you say, once it is set up there is no need to be looking at it all the time. It just needs to be firmly mounted and pointing in the right direction.

My thoughts exactly, once installed the display is so busy it's a distraction

[Jon Dee]

Ordered the EDFC5 to make sure I got the latest tech, and the box just cleared customs so I will have it in my hands next week 🙂 I'm only going to do this once, and EDFC5 looks to have smaller, quieter motors and an improved, more easily read display screen. Oooohhh... and AI so that it can "learn" driving habits and anticipate when to start adjusting for the next corner 🙄 

Just hope that works better than the AI google uses to guess what I am looking for when I start a search !!!!

[Jon Dee]

These EDFC5 motors are tiny !!!! Smaller than I expected, and pretty sure I will be able fit the rear ones under the boot linings without any cutting. They measure 35 x 35 x 35 excluding the little tit that fits down inside the top of the shock. Additional height will be less than 35mm above the threaded end of the shock.