I have Feal 441s on my Evo. I've had them for about 4 years and they've been great. I suggest going there, and seeing for yourself. I went for a tour a few years ago. They know what they're doing.

Absolutely true that Feal sources their hard parts from Asia, but then builds all their dampers to their own spec, similar to what Fortune Auto does. It's kind of genius really- a lower bracket, an upper bracket, locking collars, upper mount, bump stop...this stuff is pretty generic to begin with.

What counts is the quality of the machining and internal parts of the damper. At a certain point, let's be real, it's not going to share the same internal hardware as a $8000 set of Penskes. But having a good working knowledge of valving and the ability to confirm your parts are being manufactured accurately to exacting tolerances really goes a long way.

Myself, I'd choose Feal (and I did) versus Fortune. When we established a relationship with Feal at work, I had the opportunity to really research not only the product but their background, and take a tour. They know their craft. Before they started producing their own product, their main business was servicing and tuning high end off road/moto, rally, and road racing suspension. To be successful there, which they were, you have to know what you are doing.

I don't know much about Fortune's background, but similar approach to their product. Definitely stronger marketing presence in the Evo world, and a good product to back it up it seems.

When it came time to buy some "real" dampers for my last s2000, I was about to pull the trigger on Ohlins R&Ts. But you know what scared me away was a few things:
1) Servicing cost
2) Comes with wrong spring rates
3) Damping profiles are fine but somewhat generic.

I almost went to JRZ singles, but ended up having Inertia Labs out of Houston build a custom kit for me using Tractive dampers. Those were amazing. So happy with those.

It's true that when you spend big bucks on high end shocks, you can often achieve better ride quality in spite of spring rates that are far and away from stock.

OP, I think I would agree that the dampers available with air kits is going to be a major limiting factor.

 

I did the accuair system in my EVO X.
I bought that new tank that you can install the compressor inside for a quiet operation.
I still need to finish the ride height sensors.
I cant wait till I’m finished.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ohlins lucked into a good setup on the Evo since they cant seem to get the rates right on most cars. But that doesn't take away that they do work pretty well on an Evo. Especially for a lower rate (say 10k/12k or less) on a street car. If I were to build a DD Evo I would absolutely run something along those lines.

Airbags? No, just no.

 

Hardly anybody uses air suspension in a performance application because;

a) it is expensive
b) Tons of added complexity/weight (think air pump, sensors, computer to control it, etc...)
c) Reliability (leaky seals, blown bags, etc...)

To me, if you're looking for a good compromise between street/track then I would just go with some stock or slightly-stiffer-than-stock springs and not lower it too much. Lowering the car mostly improves the "look". If you care more about performance then go with stiffer springs and upgraded dampers. Airbags will just end up being a headache with very limited up-side imo. If you are a show/shine person and want to slam your car for shows or whatever then that is another thing entirely.