Funny you mention Buddy Club as junk, however with over 100k miles on mine with multiple track days with still not a whimper or rebuild, id say they have proven to have a better track record as far as quality/reliability goes then some of the higher end brands like KW. This is in regard to the RS model and not the street/N+ coilover which there is a notable difference in performance. Most notable, the larger piston and damping range for up to 14k springs, which at 80k miles I switched to from the standard 10k. But at $1200 budget, you may not be able to afford the RS. For a single adjustable in the $1400-1500 range though, hands down Buddy Club RS takes the cake.

 

At $1200 the Fortune Auto should probably be on the list. It is a monotube assembled in the US from pieces sourced around the world (but interestingly, not China).

The models at that price point are the 500. The 510s are $1700...and they go up to...well there 2-way reservoir shocks are $3800.

The the reviews on this and other forums have been favorable...but then most are.

 

I'm on FA500 with 14/12 standard springs 16/14 valving. They are great in all honesty probably the best bang for the buck you will get for a new damper at your price point. I have been hitting autocross events every weekend since I installed them. I run str and still in the process for setting the car up/getting familiar with it. I am fairly quick when compared to my local str guys. Do not know how much these coilovers contribute to my results but I am not complaining.

 

Those are stiff springs. Are you also running stiff anti-roll bars? Are you lowered? There are lots of factors that combine to affect handling. Out of the box the Bilstein PSS come with springs just slightly stiffer than stock. The Ohlins DFVs come with 10/8 springs. Both shift the stiffness to the front. Lowering affects the roll centers. Net: it is hard to compare shocks unless the rest of the setup is the same or similar.

In addition to handling and ride one factor is durability. Will the shocks be the same after 10k miles? 30k miles? What does a rebuild cost? How long does it take? Racing shocks are built with seals biased toward low resistance at the expense of durability. Street shocks are usually biased the other way. However, in meeting a price point other trade offs are also made.

Still, the FA 500 would seem the best deal at $1200. I think that price includes springs.

 

A lot of the input needs to be filtered by usage. As fun as HPDE is, it is not racing and most people running track days do not have as much data to show what is faster, since they never push to 10/10ths (Even if they think they are many times). Moving to Motons from KW will most certainly improve the car based upon many, many, many S2k owners setups who place well at nationals. That does not mean that KW is not good, it simply means that when tenths or hundredths cost 2-5 positions in the results, the Motons will likely have the upper hand ... assuming the person setting the car up knows what they are doing.

And calling a damper junk does not mean it is not durable necessarily. BC may last for ever, but if it is 2 seconds slower than the next best think on an autox course, it is junk for that application. 99% of people could not tell the difference between Tein, Buddy Club and Moton .. when in reality Moton is worlds better. But if you never push the car to those limits then the extra dough for those may be a waste for you.

Tons of people (probably more "tuners" than not) swear that slamming their civic as far as it will go, running tein springs or something similar with softer rates so their butt doesnt hurt over bumps and running super camber makes their car super fast around a track. In reality, they most times have made it slower than a stock car, yet in their mind it handles mad good yo! But those guys hard park and quick detail their cars more than they ever really drive them hard, and have never compared to a properly set up car. So what is perfectly good in their mind is a junk setup for everyone else. So you have to remember that. IF someone is telling you that X coilover works awesome, ask them what they do with the car. If they show and shine and you are thinking of winning the next SCCA nationals event, then their input means pretty much nothing for your application. Does not mean they are idiots, just means that they are comparing apples to pickup trucks.

 

Dave it's me Dave we met over the weekend at the schools I was in the SS ap1 on rpf1's, we discussed all of this lol.

 

For me, its an HPDE car so springs around the 500lb range are fine. That's well stiffer than stock even considering lowering and some increased roll lever arm. For me it always comes down to the quality of the damping. Its a combination of design, quality components and most importantly the knowledge, and experience to balance the shock tune with the intended application. This is the real difference when going with a top flight company. I am not going for lap times, but I can appreciate the nuances a finely tuned shock offers.

As interesting as the FA seems, I am leaning more toward the Konis. I trust those guys to get the valving that will work well.

 

I recommend going to Koni directly as well to revalve them if you go the Koni route. I used TrueChoiceKoniRacing because Koni had a 10 week leadtime and I needed them in half that. While the build feels great and they are performing well (valved for 800/650 spring rates), the customer service could have been a LOT better and the dyno sheets that are included are force vs position graphs only, which tell me almost nothing in terms of tuning like the force vs velocity graphs. The graphs are also poor quality, no numbers anywhere on them, etc. I contacted them after to see if they had the other sheets available and they have never responded. I guess they got my payment and feel they need to do nothing more now to help me. Thats fine ... I will just never send anything back there again and will stick with Koni in the future. Koni (especially if you get Lee) knows their stuff and is very helpful about setups.

The downside is that I was interested in digressive valving, which I was told is not doable with the koni yellows. But that has not been an issue for me really.

 

I would be interested in digressive valving also. My experience with yellows is they don't blow of like multistage valve, but they don't seem to build up as the piston moves faster like a traditional high pressure monotube. Maybe the valving is not digressive but it feels that way. The car that I drove with them felt pretty good over sharp kicks, but the body control was firm. Maybe this has more to do with the rebound range vs compression rather than a digressive bump curve???

 

Agreed on Buddy Clubs - I had the Racing Spec Damper set on my RSX and that was the best out-of-the-box setup you could buy for the car. Smooth as hell, inverted monotubes, great body control, and really made it dance. I used it on both track and autocross. The adjuster was fairly linear and rebound only as well. I don know the N+, just like 99% of the other $1200 coilovers, are pretty much garbage though if you want to do anything but drop the car.