Dross99_si

Anybody run these on your EVO X? I hear they are pretty decent, but looking for honest reviews/opinions. Thanks!

maperformance

iTrader: (358)

A little biased it would seem, but do realize I have access to Fortune, Ohlins, KW, and more, yet I personally tend to choose Feal when I have the platform option on my rides do to the bang for buck factor.

Frankly there is some personal preference in the valving, look, and rates, though with enough track data and testing, each company has great results for their specific purposes. When a set of coilovers with a super solid history of incredible valving comes on board with Swift springs included in the base price? And me being able to get them out the door for $1250? Damn hard to beat. I know you'll want on the road feedback, and personally I rank them right in there with near the Ohlins/KW levels while beating the FA's in price.

-Adam

Dross99_si

Adam,
Thank you for your input. I was looking at the max travel 441 model in particular for daily driving and maybe a few track days per year. These were suggested by someone I personally know who has extensive hands on experience in track suspension tuning on EVOs. Of course he loves and recommends Ohlins, but for someone on a budget he tells me that these are pretty hard to beat. I was just looking for more opinions from fellow X owners that may be running these coilovers..
Thanks again!

hispanicpanic

I'll believe it when i see the shock dyno. +1 for them being monotubes, but a big -10 for being "secretive" about their damping which is honestly laughable.

I'd be willing to bet they're some sort of billstein derivative shock inside their own bodies.

WarmMilk

iTrader: (1)

^actually I think they're BC coilovers that they rebuild in house to their own specs... I haven't researched it too much but thats the most common thing I heard about what the coilover actually is, so don't take my word as gospel on this.

I am however fairly confident that they're not Bilstein anything internally, if they were I'm pretty sure they'd advertise it as Bilstein is a reputable damper company.

also, if you google Feal dyno you'll see plenty of shock dyno's... idk where you're getting the secretive thing from...

rico05

iTrader: (1)

The fact they include quality Swift springs is also a plus. Going to keep my eyes on these if I don't import some MCA from Australia.

hispanicpanic

They advertise it on their site.

Are BC's monotubes? I thought they were twin?

WarmMilk

iTrader: (1)

^they're monotube

I didn't see any dyno's on Feal's site, but I also didn't see anything about their valving being a secret either... then again I didn't look too much either. but like I said before, if you wanna see dyno's just google it

WarmMilk

iTrader: (1)

Swift springs are great and all but I can't help but feel like its the latest trend to try and add some quality to your coilovers... almost like a sales gimmick, "oh look, they come with one quality part (the springs) so the rest of it must be quality too"


*that being said I'm not saying feal coilovers are bad, I have no personal experience with them so I don't know.

random rant nothing to do with Feals:
I know Feals been reviewed well, but most people suck with reviews, a lot of them are justifying their own purchases to themselves and have a hard time admitting they spent their money on a subpar product. my personal favorite is when someone gets a spring thats 5x stiffer than stock and they say it rides like a cloud...

hispanicpanic

A big +1 here! lol And real talk, Swift is just marketing. Every racer i know always starts with hyperco on their setups and rarely move to swift. Honestly hyperco's are just way more practical. Swifts when compressed beyond a certain point will loose spring rate and permanently deform. Then you'll have a ride that looses its static ride height. One corner will be sinking in while the others are normal....



I don't read suspension reviews because i'm honestly not interested in the stuff reviews are written about...... But my MCS coils DO ride like clouds compared to my KW's, and my KW's had HALF the spring rate. I honestly thought KW's were decent compared to the low end stuff, but after having experienced a true motorsport coilover, i don't think i'll ever go back. In my opinion, it's either stock, or drop 3.5k on something proper.

The main reason why the MCS and other true motorsport coilovers are so smooth is because of how digressive their high speed damping is. Basically, over bumps where the shocks are forced into higher velocities, the MCS's valving will blow off applying very little force to the wheel, while the KW's and BC's have no provisions for high speed blow offs so the damping force will be 5x what it is at low speeds and overload the grip available on the tire.

Its hard to understand the full effects of this without having ridden in a car with these coils, but ask any JRZ owner. They'll tell you the same thing. But all of this can be interpreted from the shock dyno's.

WarmMilk

iTrader: (1)

good dampers definitely improve ride quality, but when you have 800lb per inch springs all around on a 3000lb car, there nothing any damper can do to get that spring to compress more than 1/4" when it hits that bump in the road... its flat out gonna move the car up. whereas with a softer spring it'd just move the wheel up..

and also the Evo isn't a really good example of a "ride like a cloud" in the first place, even in stock form...

maperformance

iTrader: (358)

I should clarify my personal and outside of work opinion of suspension for the public lol. I fall into a history of driving coming from off road racing with various vehicles. I believe that damping is the secret to keeping the wheels on the ground, and doing the work of absorbing abnormalities in the road surface. That said, the damping is correlated to the spring rates to an extent. A stronger spring is used to support a vehicle and it's weight distribution dynamics over the course of each wheel's travel. This means that if a stiffer spring is required over stock, then the damping (both rebound and compression) must accommodate to prevent an overworked damper or, undesirable wheel contact characteristics. Thus springs are a set item for me, and the damping is where the magic, and dynamics of adjustability come into play to an extent I'd rate as high as 75%+.

I think that springs are important however. The specific reason springs beyond the rate are important, are the quality of manufacturing over time, and how they hold up as a spring rate. More importantly than that to me, beyond accuracy, and the long term results of high mileage or abuse, is the weight, and the actual range of motion they are capable of in relation to the suspension travel. I view any springs with exact damper travel specifics and consistency through heat ranges, wheel travel ranges, and weight, are a winner in my book. Are all springs bad in stock form? Of course not. FA500's are great stock springs. But why would a company offer a spring upgrade that I can tell you, from the inside, is virtually $0 yielding? #allspringsmatter. BUT there is a significance to the quality just like damping that I'm excited to see being paid attention to in the industry.

-Adam

WarmMilk

iTrader: (1)

^for the record, I'm not saying that Swift springs are bad, I'm also not saying that Feals dampers are bad. I'm just pointing out that Swift springs are sometimes used as a sales gimmick, while the springs themselves are quality, the rest of the coilover (not pointing at Feals) may not be.

maperformance

iTrader: (358)

I entirely agree with you I didn't mean to imply I didn't.