Coilover Dampers for the Slowtra - The Japs

The Nismo S-Tune G-Attack shocks I've been running on the Slowtra for the past four years have proved to be a decent upgrade given the price you are paying (RM1.6K offer deal last time I checked) and want a sportier feel than the cushion soft stock suspension. As I'm now planning to take the Slowtra's performance and handling to a track day oriented level this shocks will be inadequate to the handling I'm looking for. For one thing the damping is inadequate and the spring rates are too soft. Next being non-height adjustable I cannot corner weight and balance the Slowtra. These shocks are also non-rebuildable and lifespan is only about 60K km. This I quote from my own experience as I've already had to replace the rears once (1K for a pair) as they were leaking. The other day when I was test installing my Wilwood brakes the front bumpstop actually came apart and had to be patched up and put back in place. I guess the fronts are about ready to go anytime.
This has let me to do extensive research the past couple months on upgrade options. I have three important criteria:
1. Damping adjustable - This is a must have so that I can have a daily driving setting and a track day setting. I'm not partial to one way (rebound only or rebound and compression combined) or two way independent. I don't think I have the capability nor budget to adjust and setup 3 or 4 ways so lets leave that out

2. Ride height adjustable - This will enable me to corner balance the Slowtra. Even better still if I can have independent ride height adjustment as from experience with the older non-ride height independent adjustable coilovers, adjusting the ride height alters the spring preload leading to funky damping characteristics.

3. Rebuildable - A nice to have for the lower budget shocks (< RM2K) but definitely a must for the more expensive options unless you are rich enough to throw away that amount of money every couple years. As good a shock gets it will still not last forever. Preferably can be rebuild and revalved locally.

Other important criterias include the ability to have camber adjustment on the lower mount, spherical bearing or "pillowball" top mounts. As you can see I am looking for a coilover shock/damper rather than the typical conventional shock. The N16 runs the same shocks as the USDM B15 so my research has been mostly on the Euro and US models as there are practically upgrade options apart from performance springs in for the Japanese domestic market Bluebird Sylphy G10.

 Let us start by looking at the Jap coilovers. Interestingly these are for the USDM B15 Sentra and if you contact the Jap headoffice they will tell you no such model available for the N16 or G10. You will have to contact the US sales office and mention the B15. They are the same.

Tein
Everyone's favourite sushi-land suspension, Tein has two models for the B15/N16. Both are twin-tube coilovers. The first model is the Tein Basic

• Part Number: DSP02-LUSS2
• Damping Adjustable: No
• Ride height adjustable: Yes. Independent Ride height adjustable: No
• Rebuildable: Yes but I wouldn't bother as you will have to send back to the US at about one third the price of the coilover
• Front Spring Rate: 6 kg/mm, Rear Spring Rate: 6 kg/mm
• Top Mounts: Use back your stock mounts
• Other Notable Features: None
• Price is substantially less than RM3K not including shipping and tax. You will have to buy from the US. No one here will want to help you without a substantial ridiculous profit margin. Don't be lazy!

Next we have the Super Street which is also of twin-tube configuration.

• Part Number: DSP02-KUSS2
• Damping Adjustable: 16 way single adjustable - compression and rebound combined
• Ride height adjustable: Yes. Independent Ride height adjustable: No
• Rebuildable: Yes but you will have to send back to the US unless N-One Racing wants to help.
• Front Spring Rate: 6 kg/mm, Rear Spring Rate: 5 kg/mm. Not sure if you can specify custom spring rates. Check with Tein
• Top Mounts: Use back your stock mounts
• Other Notable Features: Piston is 22mm. EDFC cabable. EDFC or Electronic Damping Force Controller is Tein's servo motor to adjust the damping from a controller mounted where you want on the dashboard. Looks cool from a marketing standpoint but IMHO really not necessary. Not cheap either! 
• Price is around RM3.5K possibly less if you look around not including shipping and tax. You will have to buy from the US unless you don't mind paying N-One Racing RM6K.

In addition Tein Japan has the Flex model for the Pulsar VZR (chassis number: JN15). From my research the difference between N15 and N16 shocks are the top mount and a shorter damper body for the rear shocks. Since the Flex is independent ride height adjutable I don't think this will be an issue. The top camber pillowballs are going to be wasted however unless you can order the Flex without the top mounts. Please note that this is only from surfing research and I do not have any practical experience so pursue at your own peril. And please share with me if you do have Flex shocks on your N16/B15/G10.

JIC
JIC were really popular more than ten years ago when I had the SP but apparently the parent company in Jap went chap lap a bit and the US concern were bought over and is now known as JIC USA. I have not fully research if this fact is true so consider this as gossip! :) Both JIC Japan and JIC USA are still active on the web. Again there are two models. Let us start with the cheaper model the FLT FAS. This is a twin tube coilover:

• Part Number: B15FLTA1
• Damping Adjustable: 10 way single adjustable - Not mentioned in website but probably compression and rebound combined like the Tein Super Street.
• Ride height adjustable: Yes. Independent Ride height adjustable: Yes
  Rebuildable: Yes but you will have to send back to the US
• Front Spring Rate: 7 kg/mm, Rear Spring Rate: 5 kg/mm. Not sure if you can specify custom spring rates. Check with JIC USA
• Top Mounts: Front spherical bearing mounts. For rears use back your stock mounts
• Other Notable Features: None
• Price is around RM5.7K retail and definitely less if you look around not including shipping and tax. Expensive IMHO compared to the Teins as I would say the FLT FAS is comparable to the Tein Super Street.

Next up is the FLT-TAR. This is a monotube damper.

• Part Number: B15FLTA2
• Damping Adjustable: 15 way single adjustable - Not mentioned in website but probably compression and rebound combined like the Tein Super Street.
• Ride height adjustable: Yes. Independent Ride height adjustable: Yes
• Rebuildable: Yes but you will have to send back to the US
• Front Spring Rate: 7 kg/mm, Rear Spring Rate: 6 kg/mm. Not sure if you can specify custom spring rates. Check with JIC USA
• Top Mounts: Front spherical bearing mounts. For rears use back your stock mounts
• Other Notable Features: Some models are inverse monotube. Check with JIC USA
• Price is around RM6.6K retail and definitely less if you look around not including shipping and tax. Expensive IMHO compared to the Teins unless you have the inverse monotube option which means you would then have to compare with the Tein Mono Flex which doesn't make the FLT-TAR expensive anymore.

I should mention that from experience the Tein Super Street is also called the Super Soft i.e. at lowest damping setting it is apparently more comfortable than stock. This is from a Satria GTi but I doubt it'll be softer than the ridiculously soft stock N16 shocks. I do not have experience with JICs but they have a reputation for being hard. However this was from ten years ago and I'm pretty sure the damping game has moved on since then.

I will talk about the newcomers the Taiwanese coilovers next. Are these the new shining starts or cheap Chinese knock-offs? Stay tuned.