99/01 Feal 441+ Coilover Review

Corvairkid

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Hi all, I am not very active on this forum, but recently installed a set of Feal 441+ coilovers on my car and wanted to share my thoughts since there doesn't seem to be a lot of people running them on our cars.

Cliff Notes: I think they are fantastic

My car is a 2001 Bullitt with an 03 cobra IRS in the rear, I am posting here since I used the 99/01 cobra set up. Before the coilovers, my car had the IRS in the rear with poly bushings everywhere, adjustable toe bars, factory 03 cobra coupe springs (600lb/in), and the factory 03 cobra sway bar (26mm with adjustable endlinks). The front had the factory bullitt springs (600lb/in), factory bullitt sway bar (28mm), strut tower brace, subframe connectors, and poly bushings on the swaybar, endlinks, steering rack, motor mounts, and trans mount. I had Koni SA's on all four corners, and the motor is completely stock. The car handled pretty good, but the front end always had a lighter, floaty feeling that I wanted to get rid of.

I finally decided on the Feal 441+ kit and BMR lower front control arms. The Feal setup runs 441lb/in springs at all four corners. I was worried this would be too stiff since the spring rates seemed closer to what most others consider road race setups. Feal was confident this was a good aggressive street setup based on the damper frequency tuning they do. I don't know anything about shock tuning, and decided to go for it anyway.

Initial Feal Impressions:
I went back and forth with Feal a lot before the purchase and they were always quick to respond to emails and phone calls. They answered every question I had about the coilovers and helped pick out the best options for the way I wanted to use the car. These are built to order, and I think they took about 5-6 weeks to get even though I placed the order about two weeks before all of the COVID shut down orders started. The coilovers showed up in a nice box individually wrapped with plenty of bubble wrap. I called a few times while doing the install and they always answered the phone and were able to help me out right away.

Front Install:
The front coilovers were extremely easy to install. I dropped the lower control arm first and let the old shock hold everything else up, bolted in the control arm, and the coilover went in like any other strut. The factory preload gave me about 1.5" of droop travel, so I left it alone

I ran the Feal camber plates. They are a three bolt plate, but the the plate rests underneath the entire upper tower so I am not worried about durability issues. I also riveted the upper stock plate back on and bolted it down for some extra strength. The stock camber plate is clearly inferior to the MM four bolt plates, but it gave me enough adjustment to set both sides up equally. Feal even said most people just order the MM from the start, and it is really the only way to go if you want to run a more aggressive alignment. My car is mostly a road car, so I am happy with it for now.

Rear Install:
The rear coil spring removal was the hardest part of the process. I ended up using two external spring compressors and one internal compressor to get the springs out rather than dropping the exhaust and swinging the rear of the IRS cradle down.

After removing the old shocks, I found the easiest way to get the coilovers in was to drop the preload all the way down, bolt the lower shock mount to the control arm, and jack the control arm all the way to the bumpstops to compress the shock bushings and properly torque the upper bolts.

The factory preload setting had almost 3" inches of droop travel, so I ended up adding a ton of preload to get it to down to 2"

Driving impressions:
I have put about 1,000 miles on the new set up and am extremely impressed. The front end is rock solid at any speed, turn in is neutral and incredibly quick, body motions are minimal, the car brakes flat, and I cannot believe how much better the car rides than before. The car just soaks up mid corner bumps with ease. There are no squeaks or rattles anywhere. I have the ride height about 3/4" lower than a factory bullitt and do not have any bump steer issues and the shocks are set around 18 clicks stiff.

I could see someone wanting to go to a stiffer set up for autocrossing or open track, but I have no intentions of changing mine. It should still hold its own on an autocross course and I can comfortably run cross country with it. Overall, I am extremely happy with the purchase
 

Corvairkid

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Blkkbgt

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Pictures? I have the MM coilover conversion and thinking of upgrading to real true coilovers.

What do you honestly thing you will gain by going with "real true coilovers" over your MM setup?

I ask because all but KW have extremely low spring rates and soft valving. If you are on Konis or Bils it will be a downgrade. Most of these kits are for looks and do little for handling. Let's also not forget about the 3 bolt CC plates that come with them or should I say camber plates because from what I can tell some don't have a caster adjustment.
 

Corvairkid

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What do you honestly thing you will gain by going with "real true coilovers" over your MM setup?

I agree with BLKKBGT that you won't really gain anything by switching from MM. I was cross-shopping the Feal setup with doing a coil over conversion on my Koni SA's. If you already have MM valved bilsteins and want to change the dynamics, your best option is probably having MM change valving and/or spring rates

As for the camber plates, these are JUST camber plates. Feal will sell the struts ready to go straight to MM CC plates and said most people go straight to that option anyway. The biggest reason I ran Feal plates was to stay under budget.

As for the three bolt issues, these camber plates keep the strut mounting point below the strut tower. The plate itself fits flush around the entire underside of the strut tower to spread the load out evenly. The bolts mostly keep the plate from moving around while the actual plate distributes the load evenly across the underside of the strut tower. If these manage to punch through the tower, I would have wrecked four bolt plates too.

I agree that the MM plates are still the better option and will switch over to them at some point since they provide the caster adjustment in addition to more room for camber adjustment
 

A_Law

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What do you honestly thing you will gain by going with "real true coilovers" over your MM setup?

I ask because all but KW have extremely low spring rates and soft valving. If you are on Konis or Bils it will be a downgrade. Most of these kits are for looks and do little for handling. Let's also not forget about the 3 bolt CC plates that come with them or should I say camber plates because from what I can tell some don't have a caster adjustment.
I don't really have a reason. I don't really have any issues with the MM set up. I want to eventually run some autox events but car got side lined for a couple years and am just now getting back into working on it (I took a new job had to relocate, buy a house etc etc). I guess it's more of a I want to change from MM to either Griggs or KB because I can.
 

01yellercobra

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What do you honestly thing you will gain by going with "real true coilovers" over your MM setup?

I ask because all but KW have extremely low spring rates and soft valving. If you are on Konis or Bils it will be a downgrade. Most of these kits are for looks and do little for handling. Let's also not forget about the 3 bolt CC plates that come with them or should I say camber plates because from what I can tell some don't have a caster adjustment.
A friend of mine just ordered some viking coilovers and I was surprised how how soft of a spring was recommended. They were more drag oriented. I don't remember what the rates ended up being, but I do remember considering them on the soft side still.
 

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