Just installed Feal 441 on my '94.

I got them with a standard configuration - 8 kg/mm front and 6 kg/mm rear and paired with Racing Beat hollow front and rear sway bars. Rear bar is set to soft. Shocks are set 10 clicks from softest setting out of 30 clicks available.

They are steel body monotube shocks with Swift spring and nice aluminum tophats. Build quality is very impressive, especially for the price ($1,350). Spring preload and ride height are adjustable separately.

I've put about 50 street miles on them so far and I'm very impressed. Valving seems very nice and car feels solid in turns and over bumps. I have a track day coming up on May 11th (Streets of Willow CW) so a full review is coming after that.

tl;dr - **** yeah, they are nice!

 

I heard good things about them on many other forums, but also heard that they are taiwan/knockoff dampers just custom valved and use quality (swift) springs. Dunno

 

They look very solid and ride way better than Tein Monoflex on my MSM. I don't care if they are knockoff, as long as they don't leak.

Forgot to give feedback on communication! Odi was very easy to communicate with and responded to emails promptly. I've placed my order on 12/24/13 and received them on 01/21/14. I think that is a very reasonable timeframe.

 

Dyno charts?

 

I've heard nothing but good things about Odi. They probably are exactly as you stated but I gather he can work some magic with those crappy shocks. I've been telling ThePass he should get his DGR's re-valved by him as a cheap fix.

 

Going to give him a call once I have the whole front half of my car back in an operating state good to hear there's some good impressions from his stuff.

-Ryan

 

I'm sure they're manufactured overseas, as the description states it's assembled in the USA. I personally don't see any issues with manufacturing overseas if you're QC in the states are up to par. If I recall correctly Feal is well praised over in the Subaru community.

 

I've asked Odi but he wouldn't provide them because it's his company's IP.

 

That's interesting, because on this page, he'll provide dynos.

rallyracingsuspension.com - Coilover Rebuilding

 

What? The concept of IP in general is ridiculous, but this is a whole other level. This is like turbo manufacturers not providing compressor maps or wing manufacturers not providing CFD results.

 

Yes because anyone capable of copying the valving couldnt just throw them on their shock dyno and measure it themselves...

 

I agree, but I don't care. They ride nice and I'm satisfied without looking at the dyno chart. For extra $100 you can get custom valving.

 

Custom valving with no proof of anything.. so worthless.

 

lol

 

 

This x1000

-Zach

 

Update - https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...2/#post1130459

 

You really should pay the $40 to have them dynoed, you know. For science and all.

As far as I can tell there's only three people that even have them for Miatas, and none can tell us anything about them apart from the official Works for Me™ seal of approval. Which is apparently going on $25/corner Chinese shocks these days in other corners of the internet, so I'm sure you can see where I'd hesitate to recommend that anyone spend $1500 on a set of shocks based on that.

 

I absolutely agree on seal of approval. I'm not going to have them dynoed because they are already on the car and it's my daily; downtime is always painful.

To give you an idea of my previous experience in Miata suspension, here is a list of different setups I've had on my Miatas over the years (sorted by my preference):

- KYB AGX with H&R springs and NA top hats
- KYB AGX with FCM coilovers, top hats and bumpstops
- Tein Basic with NB top hats
- Tokico Illumina with FM springs and FCM top hats and bumpstops
- FM Vmaxx classic with NB top hats
- Tein Mono Flex
- Feal 441
- SD Bilstein, 550/400 springs, ISC top hats and FCM bumpstops

Yes, SD Bilsteins are still my favorites, although they were unbearable for dual-duty use.

 

Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a clear opinion on Tein Basic vs Illumina vs V-Maxx from someone who's actually driven them and isn't a vendor before.

Would you attribute the harsh ride of the billies (I'm taking your comment to mean they were bad on the street, not bad on the track) just to the stiff springs or was it something to do with the valving? How did the ride compare to that of the similarly sprung (560/440ish, iirc?) Mono Flex?