Bilstein B6 shocks in lieu of Fortune Auto's 500 shocks? At least in rear?
 

Hey all,

Got to ride in a Z with Swift springs and Bilstein B6 shocks...I've also ridden on Fortune Auto 500 coilovers with their standard springs and the 9k/7k spring rates and like them a lot...but the Swift/Bilstein combo was definitely better in the ride comfort department....handling wise the coilovers seemed fantastic, especially on the highway, but I'm trying to find a middle ground suspension wise between the Swift/Bilstein combo and the Fortune Auto 500's.

So...I believe I read in these forums there was someone in here that has Fortune Autos on his car but he's running the Bilstein shocks in the rear....am wanting to do the same but keep my ride height where it's at...if I'm not mistaken the Fortune Auto shock was taller than the Bilstein once the ride height was set in the rears....is there a way to have the Bilstein B6 swapped out with FA 500 series shocks and make the height fitment work? Or...can Bilstein build (or rebuild if I bought some used) the B6's but set them to be taller so they match a specified height of the FA 500 shock?

Appreciate the help,

Saved

I do understand your question but don't have an exact answer for you. You should be able to go to the manufacturer's site and view specs pretty easily. One thing to bear in mind- ride height is determined by the springs you use, the shock is a much weaker device that is forced to accommodate it's environment, not vice - versa.

Thanks jhc....and I'm with you on understanding that....on the Fortune Auto 500 shocks you can twist the main support rod that the dampener travels up and down on to make the height of the shock longer or shorter to match the exact height happening in the spring bucket basically so that when the shock is installed none of the shock is under massive pre-load once the car is lowered and then driven on of course....when the shock is at the right height to match the spring height the shock then has the full travel available since the height of the shock isn't so short that once the car is lowered the car preloads the shock by a third or half let's say....so after you set the ride height by adjusting the height of the springs in the rear (divorced set up by the way....not using true coil style in the rear...divorced setup just means the spring and shock are separated...divorced from each other) you then have to make the shock match whatever height was chosen and then install the shock....I'm trying to see if Bilstein shocks have a way of being setup by a shop or by Bilstein to basically match the height that I went with...those Bilstein shocks are fantastic. :)

NP man. At this point I'm not clear what springs you're running or height, although you may be over-thinking this just a hair. A vague reference to 1 post you read here about front FA500's and Bilstein rears is more than random bc that poster likely either bought the car like that or was on a budget as most folks do not design mis-matches when upgrading suspension parts.
Not meaning to be difficult here. :)
I think you might want to evaluate your budget and your priorities. It's hard to justify expensive true adjustable coilovers, most street cars are fine with simple spring/shock mods. I run Eibach Pro's and Bilstein B8s for my street car and love them, the damping is spot-on. Body-roll/aka "handling" is a more a function of sway-bars/end links and bushings which was not a part of the original discussion. You seem to favor ride quality so that kinda rules out coilovers, no?