KW vs Öhlins vs Fortune Auto
May 6, 2013, 10:05 AM
#46
10k/12k would be great for street tires, even entry rcomp like nt01/r888/ra1. but if you're not going to be doing a lot of street driving and plan on getting more serious with turning the car into track car, then go with 12k/14k. i've doing 4 track days with them on street tires and they and two track days on A6, they felt great on street tires or rcomp tires. also not too harsh on the street on full soft setting. but i don't mind stiff suspension on street at all.
May 9, 2013, 06:22 PM
#51
For what it's worth, I've been using the FA 500 coilovers and have been very happy with them. I would have loved to have Ohlins but I'm on a budget. I mostly DD, so comfort is a plus but not a requirement. I found the ride to be decent given the nature of the car in general. I haven't experienced any odd noises or clunks but then again, I've only had them a few months.
I know this won't apply to you since you are buying new, but figured you might appreciate the feedback anyways. When I mailed them off to get rebuilt, they received them on a Friday, and had them rebuilt, dyno'ed and mailed with a printed spec sheet by the following Tuesday. $100 a corner. I was impressed in that regard but I could have just got them at the right time. When I called them, it wasn't difficult to get a hold of someone. The guys I spoke with were relaxed but professional (which seems to be the attitude with most great shops in this industry). Only thing I could complain about is the color.
I know this won't apply to you since you are buying new, but figured you might appreciate the feedback anyways. When I mailed them off to get rebuilt, they received them on a Friday, and had them rebuilt, dyno'ed and mailed with a printed spec sheet by the following Tuesday. $100 a corner. I was impressed in that regard but I could have just got them at the right time. When I called them, it wasn't difficult to get a hold of someone. The guys I spoke with were relaxed but professional (which seems to be the attitude with most great shops in this industry). Only thing I could complain about is the color.
May 9, 2013, 10:17 PM
#53
Is it just me, or are these forces quite a bit higher then they should be?
From what I've gathered, if you want to look at shock quality, these corrected and averaged charts like this don't mean much. The averaging and correction process can easily hide a lot of details about the shocks performance.
May 9, 2013, 11:37 PM
#54
For what it's worth, I've been using the FA 500 coilovers and have been very happy with them. I would have loved to have Ohlins but I'm on a budget. I mostly DD, so comfort is a plus but not a requirement. I found the ride to be decent given the nature of the car in general. I haven't experienced any odd noises or clunks but then again, I've only had them a few months.
I know this won't apply to you since you are buying new, but figured you might appreciate the feedback anyways. When I mailed them off to get rebuilt, they received them on a Friday, and had them rebuilt, dyno'ed and mailed with a printed spec sheet by the following Tuesday. $100 a corner. I was impressed in that regard but I could have just got them at the right time. When I called them, it wasn't difficult to get a hold of someone. The guys I spoke with were relaxed but professional (which seems to be the attitude with most great shops in this industry). Only thing I could complain about is the color.
I know this won't apply to you since you are buying new, but figured you might appreciate the feedback anyways. When I mailed them off to get rebuilt, they received them on a Friday, and had them rebuilt, dyno'ed and mailed with a printed spec sheet by the following Tuesday. $100 a corner. I was impressed in that regard but I could have just got them at the right time. When I called them, it wasn't difficult to get a hold of someone. The guys I spoke with were relaxed but professional (which seems to be the attitude with most great shops in this industry). Only thing I could complain about is the color.
Aside from how good their Coilovers are, all I hear in regards to Fortune Auto is how awesome their customer service is. it's the little things like that that make me wanna go with them. Thanks again for the feedback man 
May 10, 2013, 08:47 AM
#57
You say you want to build your evo as a 'track' car. Dedicated? or still street-driven? How much on the street? Are you going to work up to something like NASA TT competition?
I ran some JIC's at 9k/10k through HPDE and into TT. OK (but not great) for star-specs, not enough for NT01's, and overwhelmed by Hoosiers. Due to finances, I dealt with it longer than I should have. Being a dedicated track car on race tires, my new AST 5100's are 800 lbs front (14k) 900 lbs rear (16k), with helper springs.
Why AST? Go to a well attended NASA event and start checking out the cars of the podium finishers in classes like TT3, people running very good times, people that own track records. You will see Penske, AST, JRZ, Moton, KW, Ohlins. I'm not saying the FA units are bad or good. I do like some of the stuff I see out of them. I hope they establish themselves as a legitimate supplier for reasonably priced high performance coilovers. And getting their stuff on some cars that show well at events is the main thing they need to do.
So make up your own mind. The FA products show a great deal of promise, and may end up being the best bang for the buck thing going. But the names I mentioned above all have LONG pedigrees associated with racing (professional and grass roots) and winning.
I ran some JIC's at 9k/10k through HPDE and into TT. OK (but not great) for star-specs, not enough for NT01's, and overwhelmed by Hoosiers. Due to finances, I dealt with it longer than I should have. Being a dedicated track car on race tires, my new AST 5100's are 800 lbs front (14k) 900 lbs rear (16k), with helper springs.
Why AST? Go to a well attended NASA event and start checking out the cars of the podium finishers in classes like TT3, people running very good times, people that own track records. You will see Penske, AST, JRZ, Moton, KW, Ohlins. I'm not saying the FA units are bad or good. I do like some of the stuff I see out of them. I hope they establish themselves as a legitimate supplier for reasonably priced high performance coilovers. And getting their stuff on some cars that show well at events is the main thing they need to do.
So make up your own mind. The FA products show a great deal of promise, and may end up being the best bang for the buck thing going. But the names I mentioned above all have LONG pedigrees associated with racing (professional and grass roots) and winning.
May 10, 2013, 09:01 AM
#59
You say you want to build your evo as a 'track' car. Dedicated? or still street-driven? How much on the street? Are you going to work up to something like NASA TT competition?
I ran some JIC's at 9k/10k through HPDE and into TT. OK (but not great) for star-specs, not enough for NT01's, and overwhelmed by Hoosiers. Due to finances, I dealt with it longer than I should have. Being a dedicated track car on race tires, my new AST 5100's are 800 lbs front (14k) 900 lbs rear (16k), with helper springs.
Why AST? Go to a well attended NASA event and start checking out the cars of the podium finishers in classes like TT3, people running very good times, people that own track records. You will see Penske, AST, JRZ, Moton, KW, Ohlins. I'm not saying the FA units are bad or good. I do like some of the stuff I see out of them. I hope they establish themselves as a legitimate supplier for reasonably priced high performance coilovers. And getting their stuff on some cars that show well at events is the main thing they need to do.
So make up your own mind. The FA products show a great deal of promise, and may end up being the best bang for the buck thing going. But the names I mentioned above all have LONG pedigrees associated with racing (professional and grass roots) and winning.
I ran some JIC's at 9k/10k through HPDE and into TT. OK (but not great) for star-specs, not enough for NT01's, and overwhelmed by Hoosiers. Due to finances, I dealt with it longer than I should have. Being a dedicated track car on race tires, my new AST 5100's are 800 lbs front (14k) 900 lbs rear (16k), with helper springs.
Why AST? Go to a well attended NASA event and start checking out the cars of the podium finishers in classes like TT3, people running very good times, people that own track records. You will see Penske, AST, JRZ, Moton, KW, Ohlins. I'm not saying the FA units are bad or good. I do like some of the stuff I see out of them. I hope they establish themselves as a legitimate supplier for reasonably priced high performance coilovers. And getting their stuff on some cars that show well at events is the main thing they need to do.
So make up your own mind. The FA products show a great deal of promise, and may end up being the best bang for the buck thing going. But the names I mentioned above all have LONG pedigrees associated with racing (professional and grass roots) and winning.
The NASA TT and TA are the exact events I plan on running. And like i've said I really wanna try to compete in the annual Modified Magazine Street Car Tuner Shootout that held every year in AZ, literally 15 minutes from my house. Like you i'm building on a budget. A few of the guys in the AZ region are running the FA coilovers and they're the podium guys all the time.
And i'm familiar with all the names you listed above and they're all great companies. The point of this thread was to see if anyone had any experience with FA's 510 series coilover and how they stacked up against the bigger, more expensive european brands.