FactionFab Coilovers Review: Are They Any Good?
If you are looking for Subaru coilovers, you may have heard of the name FactionFab. FactionFab produce coilovers for Subaru models at what may seem to be too-good-to-be-true prices.
So the question is, how good are they really?
In this post I’m going to cover FactionFab and their coilovers in detail, and see how good they really are.
Who Are FactionFab?
FactionFab was founded by Gregan, a lifelong fan of Subarus. They are based in Utah and specialize in making a wide range of parts from coilovers to big brake kits and steering wheels, primarily for Subarus and Ford F150s.
What’s nice to see if they offer quite a bit of technical detail about their products and how they are designed and made, which gives you more confidence in the fact that they have a decent idea of what they are doing and are trying to make good quality products.
This is not so common, especially in the budget range, where few details are usually given.
FunctionFab Coilover Kits
FunctionFab currently only make coilovers for Subaru models, which includes the BRZ and thus the FRS as well.
Their coilovers are designed to be a decent budget option which will give you good ride comfort and performance for under $1000.
FunctionFab currently offer 3 coilover options:
- F – A comfort street based version, the cheapest option
- FL – Designed for street use and going low
- FR – Designed for performance and handling
All of these have monotube dampers that give you 32 levels of dampening adjustment. Users report that the adjustments do actually make a noticeable difference, which is not always the case with lower priced kits where the adjustments don’t do much and are closer to 2 level (soft or stiff) as opposed to 32 level.
Depending on the model, they have various different spring, valving and oil thickness options which are geared more towards comfort or performance.
The ride height adjustment is done by the shock body on all models, which gives you full suspension travel at all ride heights and allows you to adjust the height independent of spring preload.
Parts used on the coilovers include Japanese made springs, NOK seals and steel tubing, and Italian synthetic damper oil. The coilovers are assembled in Taiwan, and judging by the look of the parts, it’s likely that BC does the manufacturing (however, I don’t have any proof of this).
While these coilovers are not rebuildable, you can buy replacement dampers which you just swap into your kit. That does make replacing blown dampers faster since you don’t have to send them in and wait for them to be rebuilt.
Let’s take a look at each of these in a bit more detail.
F Spec
The F Spec coilovers are designed with comfort in mind and are the cheapest option of the three.
They feature the softest spring rates and damper valving as well as lighter 5w damper oil to create a more comfortable ride suitable for street driving.
They also feature non camber adjustable rubber isolated top mounts which further reduce vibration and noise.
So while they will give you more responsive handling than stock suspension, they are designed to do so without sacrificing ride comfort. That makes these coilovers perfect for street cars and daily drivers which are unlikely to see track time.
FL Spec
The FL Spec coilovers are designed for more sporty street handling and for going low. They feature the widest ride height adjustment range of all the models, giving you up to 4 inches of lowering and close to OEM ride height at the top of the adjustment range.
They also feature slightly stiffer springs and valving than the F Spec kit, as well as camber adjustable rubber isolated top mounts.
These are the best “all-rounder” option and are a great balance between street comfort, low ride height and handling performance.
FR Spec
The FR Spec kit is the most performance oriented of the lot and features the most aggressive spring rates and valving as well as Pillowball camber adjustable strut mounts on the front.
These also feature thicker 20w damper oil which is better for managing the extra heat of performance driving as well as giving extra valving assistance.
These coilovers give the most responsive handling but the firmest ride, making them best for cars that will do regular track days or performance driving as opposed to daily drivers.
Are FactionFab Coilovers Any Good?
At this price range you’ll find that many coilovers are hit or miss in terms of quality. You get some brands like Riaction coilovers for instance, which are very good quality and have a great reputation.
Then you have a number of other brands which are not very good and often have problems or just offer generally poor performance and ride comfort.
When it comes to FactionFab coilovers, most of the reviews I can find about these coilovers have been positive.
Now, they haven’t been around for a long time like some of the other more established brands, so you won’t find as many reviews and comments about them like you would BC Racing, for instance.
Be that as it may, these coilovers seem to do a great job of providing decent ride comfort and handling performance for a low price.
Now, obviously, you have to be realistic and realise they aren’t going to have as much engineering behind them as a set of KWs, or have the customization options of Fortune Autos. After all, they are technically budget coilovers and won’t outperform more expensive kits.
But if you are looking for coilovers that are in the “budget” price range under $1000, they seem to be a decent option.
Just keep in mind also that I haven’t found any mention of a warranty on these coilovers, so if they do happen to fail, you are probably on your own there.
Reported Issues
While I haven’t found any reports of any serious issues with these coilovers, I did see a couple of reports about noises and squeaks coming from the coilovers. While this is somewhat common for coilovers, if this bothers you then you should probably go with a more proven setup.
One report I found claimed that after driving on these coilovers for some time, they began to feel rather inconsistent, giving the driver a different feeling on different days over the same road.
Now, that could just be one user’s experience with what could be a faulty set, we don’t know. But I thought it was fair to mention.
Another report stated that the quality of the hardware wasn’t the greatest, and that the top mount studs and nuts began to corrode rather quality. However, the rest of the coilovers were fine.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you have to be realistic with what you expect to get for the price you pay. These are “cheap” coilovers that are relatively new and don’t have a lot of user testing behind them.
With that said, the majority of reviews on these are overwhelmingly positive. So while it’s unlikely that they are going to outperform more proven and expensive kits, they do seem to be one of the better budget options that will probably last you a year on the safe side and will give you decent performance and comfort.
Just keep in mind that you don’t get any warranty, so if something goes wrong you are on your own.
Cars owned: Mk2 Golf with 1.8T swap, BMW E28 with M30B35 swap, BMW E36 328I Mtech, BMW 750IL, Nissan 300ZX, Honda Civic EF
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