Hey Friends,

I wanted to share my experience with my new suspension setup, my 510 coilovers from Fortune Auto. In my research I wasn’t able to find much on their work with 911’s, so this thread is to help anyone shopping a coilover setup for their 911. I have had these on the car for about 5 months now so feel it’s a good time to give an honest review.

TL;DR ; I installed these on my 997 C4S and loved them so much I sold my H&R coilovers and put them on my 996 turbo. They are AMAZING, come with top hats, endlinks, radial bearings, have customized rates, are hand built, and rebuildable from a USA made company. Want more? KEEP READING.


*DISCLAIMER: I don’t work for FA, and am not affiliated with them in anyway. I’m just a guy who was wanting coilovers, and this was my personal experience. They didn’t pay me to write this, and i’m not getting any kickbacks, just wanting to help the Porsche community. That being said, let’s get started!


The car in question is my 997 C4S. I purchased this car as I wanted something daily friendly but also could have fun with on the weekends and on the track. I have a 996 turbo that makes 750awhp, an air cooled 911, a 944 turbo project car, a 600whp 335i bmw sedan, and a lexus hybrid daily All of the fun cars need constant love and attention, and I wanted something I could just hop in and DO IT ALL, so my search for coilovers for my 997 started. I wanted something soft enough for daily use, but have the adjustability to be hard enough for track days...because who doesn’t need multiple track cars. When I purchased the car it had RWD springs (which sag on an AWD model due to weight) on it on stock shocks that were blown, so I wanted to raise it up while finding something comfortable as well. The car looked amazing but driving it around on a normal basis was just asking to rip the front lip off somewhere. Here's what it looked like slammed on those springs.






There aren’t a lot of options out there but my research was still long and tedious. The car was equipped with PASM (which i thought was awesome) so I wanted to keep it. I was recommended to do Billstein coilovers (which they make a soft and hard version) to keep PASM, I was recommended Billstein pSS10’s with manual adjustment (b/c some believe 10 way adjustability is better than the 2 way PASM system), I was recommended Ohlins, and I was recommended BC racing (as a budget replacement). I was leaning towards Ohlins because of their heritage and name, but then...someone mentioned fortune auto, a brand I wasn’t familiar with, so my research continued. When I was shopping for these, all brands (except BC) had a waiting period for some reason. Billstein was 6-8 weeks, Ohlins I believe was 4, and the pricing ranged from BC’s sub $1500 to Ohlins $3500.


FA has apparently been in the game for a while, they are a grassroots company in Virginia. I called them up and spoke to a guy to discuss my options and what they offer. FA offers multiple street, street/track, and race options. Their 500 series which is more street duty, and then their 510 setup (can street, but more track focused), which has different internals and some digressive valving wizardy which apparently makes the shock be able to behave super soft and super hard. I went with the 510 setup, as they said the shock has an extreme RANGE of stiffness, and would suit my needs perfectly. Each kit at FA is hand built (their slogan is #HandBuilt4me) so you can pick your custom rates. I went with 6k/12K as this was pretty close to Ohlins specs, and the car would spend more time on the street than the track so I didn’t go wild. The FA coilovers COME with built in adjustable camber plates, so that would save me $500 from buying elephant racing top hats, they use hyperco springs, there is a 5 year warranty on parts and 1 year on consumables (seals, fluids, etc). They also come with a radial bearing to cut down on noise which I liked since the 997 doesn’t have a super loud exhaust. Both the 500 and 510 setup have 24 way adjustability, but I was told the 510 on super soft will be very soft and and full stiff will rattle your teeth out. Something else that was important to me was that this company is located in Virginia (usa made), AND you are completely rebuildable. This means that if I decide to track the car more, I can rebuild the shocks, or swap in different spring rates, all in my home garage...I liked this idea a lot. The kit required their adjustable endlinks, which some companies came with and some you had to buy extra.



Since FA handbuilds all their setups for you specifically, I was told there would be a 4-6 week leadtime before I got them in hand. This wasn’t something I was super thrilled about, but in the long run 4-6 weeks isn’t going to kill me, and at the time all the other manufacturers had similar wait times so I said F it and pulled the trigger. Then I began to wait…


3 weeks later I get an email that says they are built and coming my way, and a few days under the 4 week mark they showed up. Not bad. Maybe they were slow, maybe they liked me, maybe this is normal, maybe your experience will be different, who knows.


Upon receiving them I was in shock, these things were BEAUTIFUL. Anodized green/blue/black parts were extremely sexy and I couldn’t wait to put these things in and give them the go around.




THIS IS WHERE THE STORY GETS BAD, OR GOOD...HOWEVER YOU WANT TO LOOK AT IT.






I quickly installed the coilovers and was super excited to go out for a drive. I followed their instructions on setting pre-load and height adjustment...and the fronts were WAY too low. I’m talking SLAMMED too low. I couldn’t raise the car up anymore as it wouldn’t have enough bite on the shock. My heart sunk. Did I just blow $2500? Do I have to send them back and start my search all over again? Daaaammit...this sucks. On top of that, the bottom receiver did not have a tab for the sway bar (since it’s a C4S). faaack. Now what. (keep reading)







I hop on the phone and call FA and speak with a guy named Matt, apparently their engineer guru dude. I express my concerns to Matt, sending pictures and videos to him as to why it’s too low, and that there’s no end link tab for the sway bar. I’m upset but not trying to be a jerk about it, I just want it right / fixed. Matt quickly explains that he can just re-cut some more threads into the shock body and this will fix my issue, and that they accidentally sent the C2 version of the bottom receiver opposed to the C4. JUST THAT EASY! I panic again, “do I have to wait another 4-6 weeks?” Matt ensures me he’ll rush my front shock replacements and receiver to the front of the line, and a week later I have my parts in hand. So was I upset it wasn’t right the first time? Meh...a little, but I was more thrilled to have someone I could talk to who would make things right JUST FOR ME. I cannot say if billstein or Ohlins would provide that level of service.

Since the FA coilovers are rebuildable, a few bolts remove the top hat, the spring, the spring perches, and the new shock drops in, and everything goes back together in minutes. The lower receiver threads on and off so no harm no foul there. I was back in business!









This time I install the coilovers on the car and the height can be dialed in DEAD NUTS where I wanted it. I ended up doing a 1” drop all around, which was just enough to have a great stance, but not so low that i’ll be dragging my front lip, since the car isn't a show car. Apparently the reason they first set was so low is that someone wanted their car slammed opposed to a 1" drop. If you order a set If be happy to share ride heights with you but i'd certainly tell them what your goals are before ordering.


I dialed the car’s camber in though it would need a proper alignment but I wanted to go drive to see how these bad boys performed. 24 ways of adjustability, how crazy can it be? FA calls these coilovers “Jeckyl and Hyde" since they have two completely different personalities...AND THEY WERE RIGHT. On full soft (1) they drive just a hair stiffer over stock. My girl at the time could thought it was smooth and has NO problems riding around in the car on bumpy roads. On turns it performed much better than my previous spring/PASM setup, though not as tight as I wanted it in the corners...


UNTIL...you crank these bad boys up. I did some tests at 13/14 stiffness, and for fun, 24/24. HOLY HELL. These things bite… What’s super odd, is that at low speeds they will be very bumpy, so 24/24 in a city would not be my recommendation (1/1 isn't super bumpy), BUT once you get up to higher speeds when at 24/24 the bumps in the road feel much similar to when the car is set on full soft. HOW? I have no idea, that’s the dual valving digressive piston wizardy I was talking about earlier. I even called Matt to ask if this was normal, and he said yes, that’s why these are so amazing.


After an alignment I went on a hocking hills cruise with some friends at full stiff for hours. The car bites and darts and goes wherever I want it to go (i’m on Michelin 4s tires). We had some spirited runs where I was all over everything, I CANNOT WAIT TO TAKE THESE TO THE TRACK. I could not believe how well this car was handling and the way it was performing.


I will say this, If something happened to my 997 and I had to buy another one, my first purchase would be another set of these FA 510 coilovers. They ABSOLUTELY hands down transformed the car and made it into a monster. I can literally set it to full soft and drive it daily and still enjoy some backroads, OR, can go nuts and dial it all the way up (or anywhere in between) if I know I’m going on a spirited only drive. I took a risk on this company, and couldn’t be happier with the way the car behaves now.


In full disclosure, I also opted to get their RDC kit, their remote damping control kit. This is an electronic kit that has servos attached to each shock and a brain that mounts inside the car to be able to change the shock from inside the car. It’s basically like PASM, but 24 way adjustability directly inside the cabin. This was an expensive piece and extremely cool on paper. I can’t say I’d recommend it with 100% certainty, as a few of my servos that showed up when I purchased the kit didn’t work. FA made it right and replaced the servos no hassle, but I’m still a little nervous that if one goes out, I’ll have to replace it...and if it goes out, when will it go out, and how will I know it went out…? FA said they have seen VERY few defects and I just got a bad egg, so it is what it is. The kit is still installed on my 997 and is freaggin cool, but i'm still a hair nervous and always wondering if it's working (you can hear the servos turn barely). The other part is that you will have to modify / cut your top hat area if you are running a healthy amount of negative camber to clear the cables.








MUUUUUUUUCH BETTER HEIGHT







ALSO you should know...I enjoyed this kit so much that I sold my H&R coilovers on my 996 turbo and went with a set of (stiffer) FA 510 coilovers as well. The 996 turbo will see more track time so when I had it aligned I was able to -2.9 degrees on camber with their top hat/camber plates. (I did not do the RDC kit on this car, but FA does offer extenders to be able to reach the shock adjustment **** for the rear of the car). I will say that aligning it can be a pain since you can’t reach the allen bolts on the top hat /camber plate. I personally made notches on my car (because race car) to be able to reach them for easier adjustment while on the rack. Most users will need to drop the shock down, reach in with an allen screw, adjust, and re-raise.











I hope this helps anyone else out in the market for a set of coilovers but not sure if they want to keep PASM or not. I can fully say I’d recommend the 510 setup for anyone like me who wants something daily friendly, but also the ability to crank it up and really tear into some corners. I imagine their 500 series is similar just with less flexiblity, but their 500 series prices are much lower too (I believe around $1500 at the time of writing this).


TL;DR? Some growing pains at first, but WELL worth the wait. Amazing coilovers, support, and price from a USA company. Would buy over and over and over again, this should be your first mod on your car period.

 

Good post. Long AF, but worth the read. I appreciate it.

I basically had my heart set on ohlins, but now have another option to research and obsess over until I pull the trigger...

 

I wanted to be thorough

It beats "yeah i put these on. these are awesome. go buy some".

 

So you’ve had them for awhile, how are they doing?

 

Im a few track days in and about 1,500 miles of street use an here are my thoughts: I would absolutely still buy them again if I did it all over again.

First, I drive the car on the street at setting one most of the time. It’s extremely comfortable and paired with Michelin’s on 19s I don’t feel many potholes (my city is terrible). The car is sporty enough for on ramps and light turns but I don’t feel every bump. When I hit light back road cruising I’ll turn them up to around 13/14 and as speed increases the bumps in the road don’t feel as bad but low speed bumps are MUCH more noticeable but so is improved handling. When we go on a full back roads cruise (hours through hocking hills and the entire goal is to just drive) I’ll crank It up more and the car will just bite into the road. As long as you have the tire it’s a completely different car, I couldn’t get the car not to grip on the street, though I’ve found that limit on the track heehee.

On the track im at 20/21. 24 was actually too bumpy and I felt like I skidded around and just bounced everywhere. I think it’s himarous the shock can go from 1, super comfortable, to 24, bouncing down the paddock lol.

My only issue so far is that my front end link was hitting the chassis at full lock on turns. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m running -3 degrees of camber or not but I had to drill a hole In the end link arm to move the position in.

Other than that ive been super happy with the suspension and just hope they stand the test of time!

 

Excellent report; thanks for sharing.