Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Wednesday February 12, 2025
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
NASIOC
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC General > Newbies & FAQs

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-12-2025, 08:14 AM   #1
Bugeye01WRX
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 506873
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: New Zealand
Vehicle:
2001 WRX
Sedona Pearl Red

Default Tein H Tech (Gold Lowering springs) vs going back to OEM springs

Hey

For everyone not aware of my situation please refer to the "2010 STI rougher than I'd like" thread.

The guy I bought car off has a set of Tein H-Tech gold lowering springs on the factory struts. He doesn't have the OEM springs.

Am I better off going back to factory stock springs? He said that the H Techs were only a little bit stiffer and lower compared to factory OEM.

I will say I am sensitive due to my back and would rather go for comfort rather than performance/looks as it is purely for a nice daily driver.

However, if the H Techs are not too bad it'll be easier to get those off him.
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
Bugeye01WRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
Old 01-12-2025, 02:04 PM   #2
nomoretickets
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 538662
Join Date: Jul 2024
Default

The stock struts and stock springs are going to be the softest. I don't know what the rate on the Tein springs is, but lowering springs generally do ride stiffer than stock. But since you already have coilovers on the car, with high quality coilovers, you can swap the springs out to something with a different spring rate. Fortune sells Swift springs in just about every length and spring rate you can imagine, and they even have a form on their website to help you pick the right set. Id probably start there.
nomoretickets is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2025, 04:37 PM   #3
GoFrogs
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 507317
Join Date: Oct 2019
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: SW Ohio
Vehicle:
2019 WRX
Pure Red

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bugeye01WRX View Post
Hey

For everyone not aware of my situation please refer to the "2010 STI rougher than I'd like" thread.

The guy I bought car off has a set of Tein H-Tech gold lowering springs on the factory struts. He doesn't have the OEM springs.

However, if the H Techs are not too bad it'll be easier to get those off him.
Tein couldn't make their webpage any more confusing. I couldn't find any technical specs for those springs. What a convoluted mess of a website.

With a 1.2" drop, I would gather that the spring rate on the Tein H-Tech are at the upper limits of the stock Sachs dampers. Changing the springs out is the easiest route, especially if the struts/shocks are off the car; however, any other aftermarket spring (from mild<-->wild drops) will all be at the upper most limits the OE can handle.

Some Bilstein B6 or B8 might be a better match for the gold H-Tech; however, you are looking at $800 for front and rear dampers.

I guess it all depends on what your budget is and which direction you want to go; or what your priorities are (comfort seems high on the list).
GoFrogs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2025, 07:04 PM   #4
TurboRev
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 463945
Join Date: Mar 2017
Default

If you want a comfier ride, swap the Teins for Eibach Pro-Kit springs and KYB Excel-G dampers
TurboRev is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2025, 10:58 PM   #5
cmiovino
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 134005
Join Date: Dec 2006
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Vehicle:
2004 WRX Premium
PSM

Default

I've had various lowering springs over the years on multiple cars and always found lowering springs never the answer. The inherent problem you have is you're lowering the car vs the spring height and are thus reducing travel. Generally speaking, reduced travel makes the ride harsher. Most notably on the BRZ, at autocross, we found the stock springs were more or less on the bump stops in hard cornering... so lowering the car any more made you virtually ride on them constantly. Eibach Pro Kit springs are notorious for doing this on stock or stock-style struts.

The better way to lower is via coilovers because you're using other methods of lowering like the tophat itself being thinner. You can generally get more travel out of a full coilover and a better ride if they're not garbage <$1k models. Many in the $2k+ range have better valving, more travel, and better rides on the street if you don't totally crank up the adjustments.

Given that, if you're looking for a decent ride, you're better off sticking to stock ride heights on stock style struts. STI springs with new or better struts. It's possible your struts are also shot too... from the lowered springs. If it's a 2010 on the original struts... eh, they're probably on the way out if the mileage is nearing 80-100k.

If you can swing something like $2k for RCE SS-1 coilovers, you can keep a better ride, still be lowered, and have adjustment. If not, you're looking at probably $1k for new good struts (don't cheap out here), stock springs, and new tophats.
cmiovino is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:20 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2025 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.