to keep tems or not to keep tems?

88supraTT

New Member
Oct 2, 2005
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around the bend
as it states,i don't daily drive the car and i could care less about the ride but i have been working on it during the winter,and i got it running pretty good(just did a bhg and other stuff),and i was just woundering if it was worth keeping it(the tems)??

thanks for any opions/flames.
 

Clip

The Magnificent Seven
Oct 16, 2005
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eh, depends on what you want out of it. id say ditch the tems and go with a nice coilover setup, or even something simple like koni yellows and eibach springs. cant go wrong there, and the konis do give you some adjustment without having to take the damper off of the car and adjust it. i think the trd dampers have a 5 level damping adjustment, too, on car.
 

johnathan1

Supra =
Aug 19, 2005
5,056
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Downey, California, United States
Yea, TEMS are pretty wack...I have been thinking about getting rid of mine...it will always get stuck in firm mode for no reason, and the ride is really shitty, plus I need new shocks, so any major bump or pothole seems like it's going to jar the paint off of the hood... How would one go about disabling TEMS w/out removing them completely? Is there an easy way?
 

born2drv

Banned
Nov 1, 2005
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Burbank, CA
You know i got the TEMS tokiko illumina IIs installed with eibachs.... i got other suspension mods done all at the same time (new steering rack, tie rods, wheel bearings and ST way bars), so my overall impression of everything was fantastic ... it felt like a brand new car .... it was a total night/day difference like a completely different car.

However after driving it for a month now i'm wonding if i put the TEMS controllers on wrong or soemthing because honestly i don't feel any difference. i even tried pushing the shock down in all 4 corners by hand in SOFT/MED and didn't notice a difference between the 2 settings that way either. I'm going to put it in FIRM and see if i notice a difference, and if not I'm not sure what I'll do...

By the way, the TEMS controllers only turn the shock adjuster thing in 90 degree incriments in 3 steps right? if you take the TEMS controller off and turn it manually with a tool, what happens? What if you rotate it 2-3 complete revolutions? That's what I did and I still did not notice any difference?
 

88supraTT

New Member
Oct 2, 2005
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around the bend
ive been looking at rsr race springs and tokico hp.dose that sound like a good combo?or is their any other sugestions i have around 500 that i can spend or should i just get new struts(stock)?
 

SupraDreamPDR

Boost-a-holic!!
Feb 3, 2006
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Springfield, OH.
i am going to be removing my TEMS system and going for a nice coilover setup. the TEMS looks so ugly under the hood and it doesnt work to well at what i am wanting to do with the car... AutoX and Drag racing.
 

Bishop92t

Supramania Contributor
Apr 18, 2005
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www.ma70.com
TEMS was nice...back in 1987. These days there are much better suspension setups available. Tein EDFC with a set of their compatible coilovers is like an updated version of TEMS on steroids, of course it will run you around $1200+.

There are also plenty of good regular spring/strut combos out there as well. Personally I'm a fan of any linear rate spring at least 400lb. It all depends on how much you want to spend and how hard you want to play. The difference between coilovers and a conventional spring/strut combo is night and day, but either one is a huge leap over the stock floaty ride.
 

Clip

The Magnificent Seven
Oct 16, 2005
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easy way to remove would just be unplugging the wire harnesses and take off the actuators.
 

hot dayam mk3

New Member
Oct 17, 2005
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i got rid of my tems and went with bilsteins struts and old school all linear st springs. the ride is way better than stock and is predictable on turns, but im now saving up to get some buddy clubs pro spec racing coilovers so i can balance out the weight ratio on the car.