Razi

Fuck, I guess my rear passenger side one is dead then.
I currently have about 16k miles on my coils, and it's been clunking for quite a while now. I've changed my rod ends (which turned out to be pretty busted) and everything, hoping it wasn't the coils, and it's still clunking.

Might just have Feal suspension just rebuild the rears or something.

yomisiu

shit, both my fronts cluck when i turn the wheel. started happening like a month ago. i've had them for less than a year and probably put no more than 4k miles on them.

Razi

If it rides fine, it's probably just the springs winding/unwinding.
Just mess with the preload until it goes away.
I messed with mine a ton and now it's silent.

fliprayzin240sx

So was it blown or not Razi?

I went with 500s on 11/9k swifts and so far, been happy with them. They're alot more forgiving on VA hwys than my old 8/6k Topline Aragostas since the valving on them are for smoother japanese roads. I got them thru Enjuku when during cyber monday sales with 15% off and ended up saving $340. So basically, the sale paid for the swift spring upgrade.

__________________

If you think Zilvia has too many assholes...
CLICK HERE!!!

zooopreme

Read the instruction manual that Fortune provides with their coils, it tells you just how much preload you need to add OR you can go with the bearings that they offer for 40 dollars.

Razi

I'll have to take it off to make sure.
But, if I drive it after the car's been jacked up for a while with that corner in full droop, then it rides a bit softer.
If it's blown already, I'll be pretty disappointed.
All my rubber bushings are in good condition, ball joint is fine, all the rod ends are brand new. Pretty sure it's the coilover at this point. I'll have to take it off this weekend and check.

KendallH

The binding doesn't even bother me anymore haha. The horrible clunk and shit handling of this blown front coil ruins my whole car for me. I think I'm going to be sending out the bad one to get rebuilt and then I'm gonna sell these junk Fortunes and get a set of PBM coils.

__________________

fliprayzin240sx

^^^Have you contacted them? Considering its still within warranty, I wouldnt be surprised if they rebuild it for free. I mean even quality parts can be crap sometimes too, what makes differentiate them is how well the company takes care of its customers. Last I checked, FA have 5 yr guarantees on them.

RAZI: What do you mean full droop? You're not lower the spring perch are you?

__________________

If you think Zilvia has too many assholes...
CLICK HERE!!!

Razi

Nope, the wheel is just off the floor.
On their website, the body and hardware have a 5 year warranty, but the "consumables" like seals and shock internals have a 1 year warranty.

fliprayzin240sx

Well, I'd still hit up Terry or Chris just to see what they can do for you.

__________________

If you think Zilvia has too many assholes...
CLICK HERE!!!

Razi

It's outside the 1 year warranty, so they can't do anything for me.
Oh well, off to Odi at Feal Suspension.

zooopreme

Just because the warranty period has passed doesn't mean Fortune can't rebuild them for you. Granted, there is a fee involved.

So idk what Odi charges but if I were you, I would ship your damper off to Fortune if you want it to be rebuilt.

stevenrapids

Ran the 500 series on my s14 for about 2 1/2 years now with about 25k on them and they still ride pretty damn good!

KendallH

Mine are out of warranty period, but have only been used since August '12, and were blown when I put them on (right out of the box).

__________________

Razi

Odi is fairly close to where I live, so it'll be quicker to just get it done there.

Perfect Balance

Fortune Auto has helped me out before on issues even when my coils were out of warranty. Contact them before making assumptions.

Razi

I already did.

Razi

Got them rebuilt a few days ago by Feal Suspension, and I've been riding around on them for a while and they feel much much better.

Also got 5k Swift Springs.

And here's the dyno graph for those who are interested. Feal & Fortune at 20 clicks.
He said the rebound was way too soft, even if I would've ran 3k springs, and he said that they were shimmed pretty badly. That's probably why they rode so rough over bad bumps.
I don't have to worry about crappy bumps on the road anymore.

Perfect Balance

Looks like they just made them have a super linear rebound "curve" (if you can even call it that anymore) just like every pos cheap coilover. Although the Fortunes could have been a bit stiffer to begin with, that depends on what valving they had for the type of use they were intended for.

I would have had Fortune Auto rebuild them.

xoxide

Anyone else dislike the Fortune v3 S14 lower mounts? They dont go near as low as my V2's do. Also not a fan of the new lower mount design with the small "rod", I liked the bushing integrated in like the v2 (and pretty much every other design out there) much more.

zooopreme

What spring rates were you using before and now? And what were coils valved for? Stock? Or custom street set up? What exactly did Odi do for your dampers? Did he set it to the specs you had or...?

fliprayzin240sx

I thought the off the shelf spring rates are 8/6kg? How'd you end up with 3kg?

__________________

If you think Zilvia has too many assholes...
CLICK HERE!!!

zooopreme

Off the shelf was 7/5. And that's what I'm wondering too. Jumping from a couple of kg's up or down in spring rates isn't ideal especially if it's stock valving.

Razi

Odi asks you what sort of driving you do with the car, and how you want it to ride, and he'll valve it to match your preference.

I had 6k in the back, but he said even if I ran 3k it would've rode badly.
The bumpstops had to be trimmed as well, since they were too long.

Right now I'm on 7/5k springs, I'm going to switch the fronts to 8k springs down the road.
Seeing as how much better the coils ride after the revalve, and how badly they were valved before, I'm glad I didn't get them redone by Fortune Auto.

Perfect Balance

Trim the bumpstops? Sounds like someone lowered it incorrectly, first of all.

That shock dyno looks about as good as a set of GodSpeed coilovers now. You went from a digressive dyno curve (not as much as it should be though) to a sweet progressive one that's even worse than the linear ones that cheap Taiwanese coilovers lay down. If that feels better to you, then so be it. I was going to say the old graph did look a bit soft, but then I found out you had 5k springs. It looks much better before to be honest.

I'm going to say the only reason those still feel even kind of good is simply because they're so soft. In the same way how $20 autozone replacement shocks feel "good" on a stock car.

Razi

Lol no, I did not lower them incorrectly.
Preload was set properly and I only lowered the shock body.
Also, reread my previous post, I said I had 6k on the back.

What do you mean soft? I don't know much about reading shock graphs, but the graph seems to show the current valving to be much stiffer than the previous one on the rebound

I don't know what sort of experience you have with shocks, but Odi has been doing rally car and bike suspension for ages, and of course setting up his own drift car, and I trust his expertise.
If Godspeeds are like this, then more power to them.

I'm no suspension expert. I just posted the graph because I thought some people would be interested.

XxNickxX

Anyone have experience with and without the swift springs? Debating whether I should get them or not.

RiskyRick

I have no idea how to read that graph, but maybe there is some confusion as to which line is before and which one is after?

zooopreme

I do. I've owned three sets of FA 500's, their v2's and v3's to be exact. So my opinion will only reflect those models. I have yet to drive a car with their current set of version 4's.

Swifts make a difference for both track and public road driving. Just be aware that if you increase/decrease your spring rates significantly without properly revlaving it, you will find it hard to feel the benefits. I don't know the difference between their gold springs and blue springs.

Swifts are designed to be light and are made a softer material than what you see companies put in. The amount of coils on the springs (Swifts) plays a factor too. With more coils on the spring (stock coilover springs), you will experience less bowing motion. The negative effects to having more coils is that there will be less suspension stroke, increase in unsprung mass, and will effect the overall movement of other suspension components.

And since everybody asks "how low do they go?", I'll show some pics:

Here's the set with Swifts:


With one collar removed and the lower mount not flipped, I was at this height: CLICK

Here are the sets with stock springs, one was with custom valving and the other was stock:


And the set that's not circled got me here: CLICK

Perfect Balance

I mean soft simply in terms of the spring rate you're running.

The graph definitely shows a stiffer rebound curve than before, the issue is that it's a progressive curve instead of a digressive curve. Anything under roughly 2 in./sec is typically stuff like the suspension compressing for a corner or something like that. Weight transfer, basically. The quicker the movements get, basically what happens when you hits bumps in the road, rumble strips, jumps (basically everything above 2 in./sec), you don't want the rebound too stiff because the car will simply skip over bumps instead of absorbing them. Having too much compression or rebound at very high piston movements creates a very harsh ride and is very unstable. This is why you want a shock dyno to flatten off as the piston speed gets higher. This is difficult to do, so most shock dynos from cheap manufacturers are typically just a linear graph, with a linear relation between "stiffness" (I don't know the proper terminology) and piston movement speed.

What you've got posted above is a progressive rebound curve that gets exponentially stiffer the quicker the piston speed. Basically the harder of a bump you hit, the more your dampers will restrict any kind of movement. Granted, this is the rebound curve and not compression, but essentially what it's like is driving your car off a small step each time you hit a bump instead of the wheels coming down and absorbing it.

Like I said, it probably feels "ok" because of simply how soft the suspension is, it more or less just soaks everything up.