Anyone hear from Shaikh from FCM lately
 

Like the title says... few phone calls with messages and few emails over the past couple weeks and have had no answer to anything. I have cash in hand looking for a quality suspension but after this I'm having second thoughts. I know he could be busy but cant sell without answering customers. Maybe I will do my turbo build this year instead as I'm unsure of what other suspension to go with.

bit more spendy than fcm, before everyone asks well what is the car used for, Its probably a 50% autocross with rough track and 50 % nice day driver. I have kyb adjustables with intrax springs and its rough. Feels like my car bounces through the corners. On a smoother track it was ok but i mainly race on the rougher one (due to be closer) Looking for under 2k Whether I have to build my own kit or buy all together. Want all new parts. Was looking at the vmaxx xxtreme coilover kit but have mixed feelings. Really hate to blow little over a 1k and have a suspension I dont like

from everything you say, I'd definitely recommend the xidas

also when I sent them an email a long time ago, it took forever and a half to get a response. he's a busy man

Stick to your arbitrary budget and get something that might work OK, or break it by a few hundred bucks and get the best OTS Miata shocks available.

Hard decisions ITT :party:

I'll just leave this right here.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1374804525

Well also doesn't help I rode in a miata with a fcm setup on the rough track and it was amazing. I know reviews are great but just hard to spend 2k plus on a suspension I haven't ridden in.

Especially during the race season. Every year around this time these type of threads pop up, and not just about FCM. Many of the companies that make the awesome parts for our cars are in fact small, even though they carry a large presence.

I did just that, and I don't regret it. They are really that good. My car is almost boring to drive on the street now because it's that hard to upset.

The guys who are good enough to make a successful business out of selling specialty miata parts are all in the middle of their high intensity period right now.

When he's not in the middle of the season, Shaikh is as good a businessman as they come. I recall my FCM install, I had a question, and I sent him an email, hoping he would get back to me in 24-48 hours. Within 3 minutes of sending the email, he called me ON THE PHONE and answered my question. During the ordering process, I was deployed overseas and we emailed for about 2-3 weeks initially. He explained the process, he asked me questions about my driving habits / car/ use / even my own weight, and had all the information he needed to start work. 3 months later when I was ready to order, it was about this time of year, he told me that it would take awhile because of the busy season, and I think he might have been training a second employee at the time too - at the time, he personally did the revalving himself - and probably still does. I was still deployed, and I wasn't in a rush.

After the install, the car was completely changed, and I hated it - for a good solid week. It just felt way too hard and unliveable - I'm not sure what it was, but by the end of that first good solid week it seemed like the suspension became "broken in" or something, kinda like a good pair of work boots or a baseball glove, and it's been delightful ever since.

FWIW, my car is 99.5% daily driver, 0.5% autocross.

Part of the reason I went with xidas or fcms is because I was ordering in march of 2012 and wanted them before july of 2013. From knowing one of his previously sponsored drivers the best time to call is midnight to 2am local cali time because he'll still be working in the shop, lol. I do kick myself a bit for not doing more research and realizing that Guy Ankeny Penske singles only cost a couple hundred more than Xida singles (with billet mounts), but it seems Guy is only offering doubles and triples now.

I've got FCM and really like it. But XIDA CS is about the same money. They are both excellent (FCM from personal experience, XIDA from well-respected grapevine). If you are in a hurry during the busy season, pretty sure Emilio can ship XIDAs today.

Shaikh was on his first holiday in a decade or so for about 2 months and just got back, FWIW.

Well I have time was thinking order it now and have it for next year, but after recently picking up a turbo and manifold the turbo build is calling my name

No Xida, no care. Seriously, lol @ owning a Miata with Xida/AST shocks.

I sent email last week and Shaikh called me last night. I was a little woried about the delay, but had heard rumors that he was taking a deserved break. An auto-reply email stating that he'd be back later would have been nice, but whatever. I let someone down every day.

RE: Xida vs FCM, I vacillated over this. I don't doubt that the Xidas are much higher performance parts. If I raced the Miata, or even if it were just a weekend toy, then Xidas would be an easy choice. But, I DD the thing about 500 miles/week over all kinds of crappy roads that probably don't even exist in southern Cal. Only Washington state gets more days with rain than we get here. Properly valved Billies just seemed better suited to the task.

It's not a question of ride quality; for all I know Xidas would ride better. OTOH, my observation over the years is that full-race hardware that is designed for maximum possible performance and minimum weight tends to have compromises in other areas. Lifespan in particular. Maybe Xida is an exception, I have no idea, but last night I bought an FCM suspension and Shaikh said it should be ready mid to late August.

I'll probably always wonder what it would have been like if I had chosen the witty blond over the thoughtful brunet.

I think the Xida valving is optimized for track, whereas FCM is really good at optimizing for real world roads.

This based on direct personal experience with the same spring rates on both in the same care setup or, conjecture?

Based on the Xida dyno plots and testing I helped Shaikh with.