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Fortune Auto 500 coilover review (with a few pictures and track videos)
After three events timed events, a casual track day, and plenty of street driving on my Fortune auto 500 series coilovers, I decided to take the time to write a review. There's been a good bit of discussion on here about custom setups (starting with bilsteins, adding perches...), "budget" coilovers, and issues with "quality" setups like Ohlins (tapered springs, rear too soft bottoming out, etc), so I wanted to offer my review of a good performing, turn-key, easily customizable setup.
These coilovers are used on my 2005 RX-8, which is used almost exclusively for track days and Time Attack with NASA and SCCA. However, I drive it hundreds of miles to-and-from the track, and occasionally to work or an autocross, and wanted something that wouldn't beat me up on the long transits.
I'm fairly competitive, but I can't justify 50-100%+ of the car's value on a set of coilovers. I was looking for a good balance of performance, cost, and customer support. I think the solid performance of the Fortune Auto 500 coilovers in all three areas result in an excellent value. So without further ado...
Car specs/setup for context:
NASA TTD, SCCA CT2
2980 pounds with 1/3 tank and me in it (full interior, A/C, base model no DSC or TCS)
235/40/17 100-TW tires on 17x9 wheels
13.5" front and rear ride height
-2.7 front camber -2.3 rear camber
zero front toe, +1/16" rear toe in (total)
Coilover specs: Fortune Auto 500 series, 10k front 6k rear recommended spring rates (see comments later). Uses 60mm standard diameter racing springs, 7" front and 6" rear. All fortune auto kits come with custom spring rates (no extra cost) and custom valving based on customer needs and are hand assembled in Virginia. Since they are built-to-spec, they may take 6-8 weeks for delivery.
Build Quality / Fitment: Excellent.
Bolted right up, no issues or noises, independent height and spring pre-load adjustment is great. All of the hardware appears to be good quality and there were no manufacturing anomalies. Ground-control style spring perches, extended rear adjusters, and swift or hyperco springs are optional upgrades. Make sure to check the damper rod nuts and the set the spring pre-loads correctly (this is true when installing any coilover). They have a good warranty, and rebuilds are only $75 a corner done in Virginia.
Ride Quality: Very good.
These coilovers are more than tollerable on the street, even at low ride height. I have only reached the bump stops once during a severe bump. The damper adjustments are actually very pronounced and have a significant impact on ride quality. Reducing the damping all the way results in a very comfortable ride, while inceasing to 10 (of 24 clicks) is all the rebound that is needed for the track (for my driving style/tires/spring rates).
Performance: Very good (still being evaluated).
The recommended RX-8 spring rates are 10k front 6k rear. I opted for 8k front and 6k rear spring rates because i wanted to try a more neutral handling balance (my bilstein B12 kit was somewhat understeer-biased). The car is absolutely neutral and rotates like a dream. However, this on-edge balance makes it tough for me (a mere mortal!) to push to the limit, especially in fast or highly transient situations. To give an idea of the balance:
The damping adjustment range is way more than i need to get whatever result i need from the car. To tighten the handling, i've been going soft on rear rebound and firm on front rebound. This was very helpful, but the setup still feels too loose for me to push flat-out (shocks can't fix steady-state oversteer due to a roll-stiffness mismatch). A lot of folks would run a big front bar and no rear bar and this would likely work well, but I have 10k front and 7k rear springs on-order (a popular set-up / bias for RX8s) that i'm going to pair with the stock swaybars to regain some points in NASA TT (i've been running Hotchkis comp bars). I will report back about the balance once i've made the setup change. Even with the car being loose, i've been able to win a few events and even set a track record two classes up (new TT4 class, it seems the other guys are still getting up to speed...).
Customer Support: Excellent.
Fortune Auto is local to me (Virginia), and their email and phone service is excellent. They have been quick to answer questions, offer support, and process contingency claims and purchase requests. Lastly, i'd like to throw out that if you're interested in NASA TT, Fortune Auto has a very generous contingency program ($300/1st place, $100/2nd place) of Fortune Auto credit that can be used for pretty much anything and everything they offer (revalved, rebuilds, additional springs, spare/replacement parts, merchandise, etc).
Overall, i'm very satisfied with my Fortune Auto coilovers so far and would be happy to recommend to other RX-8 drivers.
UPDATE: Now running 10k front 7k rear swift springs. Car is much improved in terms of grip, responsiveness, and balance (less oversteer). This is a common go-to spring rate combo for RX8s. The car also continues to ride very well with the Swift springs, despite the higher rates.
Last edited by hufflepuff; 09-14-2017 at 05:07 AM.
The only thing I don't like seeing with the fortune auto coilovers is the damping. The compression damping is somewhat of a ramp and has a non-smooth knee. About half of the settings are worthless cause of the aggressive rebound damping at low speeds. The key to a happy tire is smooth transitions and not much compression or rebound damping at low low speeds. this adds to comfort and makes the tire happy as it can move and transition from compression to rebound smoothly. if this isn't smooth it feels pretty harsh. I think Ohlins DFV has done a good job of making this transition well. They also have a larger range of useable damping adjustments. I just installed a used set of Ohlins DFV 9/6 spring rates and they feel great. I was expecting it to be much harsher than it actually came out to be. I own Ohlins DFV on the rx7 and the 11/11 was too harsh for high speed canyon runs where I run that car and went with 8/6 and 8/6 is pretty good. I think 9/8 is probably ideal for the rx7.
So smooth transitions in damping are best.
I wish I could get a full shock dyno of the ohlins dfv to show but all I can find are small ones.
For track work, dual digressive and ultra digressive designs are all the rage and working great. These damping curves feel busy on the street, but they keep the tires very planted on the track.
Here are some examples of what are widely accepted to be 3 of the top Miata coilovers for track use.
Great review, Huff. I will write more comments, when I have some free time.
If you look below 1 IPS, you can see that the xida transitions and provides very low force at the very small up and down movements. This allows the wheel to move and follow the contours of the road well and provides a lot of grip.
If you think about what the tire sees at the contact patch it makes sense. You load the car in a turn and at some point the suspension will move the fastest (IPS) and then slowly slow down in compression, and then slowly reverse back from into rebound when the weight unloads.
The whole key to driving fast is being smooth and transitioning the loads as slowly as possible to disrupt the tires the least amount.
The same applies to the damping/compression. you want a nice smooth transition between compression and bump and you want the curves to be very smooth and S shaped. Any hard jerky knees or aggressive bends do not help the tires. I think a few companies out there have figured this out well.
Obviously there are other parts to damping/compression and in some spots you want the car to jack down a little, but overall in the low speeds you want more compression force than rebound under that 1 (IPS) and smooth.
After a few more events under my belt, i can say that my previous assessments all still hold true. However, the first negative aspect has reared its head: limited droop travel. Now this may be an issue with many aftermarket coilover systems, but perhaps i notice it more because of my comparatively still rear bias.
When i get up on the curbs, the inside rear tires begins to get some wheelspin under power. Now enough to cause a loss of control, but i can hear the engine start to rev up fairly quickly. When i leave the curb, the car settles again.
Now, switching from my 8k front 6k rear springs to the 10k/7k setup i plan to put on should help with this. Also, disconnecting the OEM rear swaybar should also allow a bit more droop and rear traction. I'll try one or both of these options in the near future to see if i can calm the car down when applying power over curbs.
After a few more events under my belt, i can say that my previous assessments all still hold true. However, the first negative aspect has reared its head: limited droop travel. Now this may be an issue with many aftermarket coilover systems, but perhaps i notice it more because of my comparatively still rear bias.
When i get up on the curbs, the inside rear tires begins to get some wheelspin under power. Now enough to cause a loss of control, but i can hear the engine start to rev up fairly quickly. When i leave the curb, the car settles again.
Now, switching from my 8k front 6k rear springs to the 10k/7k setup i plan to put on should help with this. Also, disconnecting the OEM rear swaybar should also allow a bit more droop and rear traction. I'll try one or both of these options in the near future to see if i can calm the car down when applying power over curbs.
I'm not so sure about that. Running that little rebound in the rear will allow the springs to launch the rear of the car post compression, which will make it very light over some types of bumps. I would try it at 2 to 3 clicks lower than the fronts and see how that works.
Did you ever put the 10/7 spring rates on with the stock swaybars? I am running 9/6 with stock swaybars and it still feels great. I bet 10/7 would be pretty good.
i have the front springs installed; will install the rears when i have some more free time. i'll report back once I have the car set up (aligned, ride height).
^^I suppose you have to buy cheap shocks after dumping $20k+ in a 3-rotor motor swap, but it seems a bit backwards to me ...
These are definitely affordable (or cheap if you prefer)!
But they ride well, and perform well, and are holding up well, so they could be a good option for someone one a budget. Fortune answered a tech call yesterday at 4:48 pm, so they have good support, too. Besides reduced droop travel (which may happen with many aftermarket coilovers?), i can't fault them.
Loss of rear droop travel is not a given, unless one doesn't use a tender spring.
Pretty much any aftermarket setup with reasonable spring rates without a tender spring is going to have trouble with droop travel.
It is possible to optimize the short top hat setup as well, but it inherently has less travel than using a stock top hat. You'll either run out of bump travel or run out of droop travel.
My two cents is the stock top hat is the way to go, even if it makes reaching the adjuster on the top harder.
Now running 10k front 7k rear swift springs. Car is much improved in terms of grip, responsiveness, and balance (less oversteer). This is a common go-to spring rate combo for RX8s. The car also continues to ride very well with the Swift springs, despite the higher rates.
I am also running a little more rear rebound (suggested by Dallas). The combination of the altered spring rate bias and the higher rebound adjustment has tamed the wheelspin I was getting on top of the curbs.
Overall the car is easier to drive but still retains a neutral balance. I also changed the ride height, camber, and corner balance, so this probably factors in too.
With the 10/7 setup do you have the rear swaybar connected?
With street tires, yes I could run with it connected and the car would be very neutral. As grip increases, the car feels looser so disconnecting the rear bar lets you push harder due to greater stability.
Just here to report the awesome customer service that Fortune has. I got a secondhand set off a member here and needed extra height out of the system. After an email to FA they set me up with a new set of longer lower mounts which arrived a week faster than I was quoted and are perfect. Easy peasy.
still loving this setup. a fellow rx8 competitor on custom ohlins was having oversteer at strange times this past weekend... my car was planted and controlled. was fast enough for 1st in TTD, only a few tenths off the track record.
05-31-2017, 08:51 AM
