Fortune Auto Coilovers for 2025 Maverick Lobo - Prototype Development

[roblobo]

After taking delivery of my 2025 Lobo 702A, I dropped it off to the R&D department of Fortune Auto. Over the course of a week, they took measurements and scans, noting any differences between the 22-24 platform, of which there were a few. They developed a prototype coilover kit using their 500 series hardware.

I'll be providing feedback and working with them to get the kit dialed in for future production.

Initial impressions are excellent, with reduced body roll while maintaining a firm and sporty, but not punishing ride. Of 24 dampening settings, it's currently set to 6 clicks from full soft in front and 8 from full soft in the rear. It's running 4k springs up front and 9k in the rear. Ride height has been lowered to the point of an even gap between the fender and tire front and back, and has plenty of remaining adjustment up or down.

The only con so far is increased NVH from the front strut towers and camber plates, as is sometimes the case with aftermarket suspension. I'm working with them to try various solutions to help bring the NVH back down to OEM levels.

More to come!

Before:

After:

I noticed the default spring spring rate on there site is 5k up front, do you know if the 4k is a better not as harsh of a ride? Also , do you you have the upgraded springs (hyperco/swift) , or default? I live in Michigan , so are roses are junk here.

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[HotRod Junkie]

I noticed the default spring spring rate on there site is 5k up front, do you know if the 4k is a better not as harsh of a ride? Also , do you you have the upgraded springs (hyperco/swift) , or default? I live in Michigan , so are roses are junk here.

I'm with you... the softer the ride , the better!


Curious to the performance of these

 

[wdninja]

Any update on your alignment?

The alignment was more challenging than expected, for a few reasons:

1. It doesn't appear that Ford has released the alignment specs for the 2025 models. Multiple shops with multiple alignment systems couldn't get any updates for the 2025-specific models like the Lobo and Tremor. So, had to use the 2024 specs and hope for the best. I didn't want to have to go to a Ford dealer for an alignment.
2. I already had Eibach front camber bolts and rear camber arms. Caster and toe are good front and rear. Rear camber is pretty dialed in with the adjustable arms. Front camber, even with the camber bolts, is challenging to get any closer to 0 than -2 degrees. I'm fine with that much negative camber up front, but just note that even using Eibach camber bolts doesn't give you that much more adjustment than the factory bolts. There are other brands with potentially larger diameter lockout washers that may allow more adjustment.
3. The lockout washer for the Eibach camber bolts measured in at 15mm, whereas the hole in the Fortune Auto strut bracket was 14mm. I decided it would be easier to trim the washer down until it fit, and that worked, but like I mentioned, didn't give a lot of adjustment over the stock hardware.

I've driven it about 500 miles since the alignment and it feels good. I can't speak to tire wear yet, but I'll be rotating the square setup every 5,000 miles or so.

 

[wdninja]

I noticed the default spring spring rate on there site is 5k up front, do you know if the 4k is a better not as harsh of a ride? Also , do you you have the upgraded springs (hyperco/swift) , or default? I live in Michigan , so are roses are junk here.

I've only had the 4K springs up front on my prototype setup, so I don't have a comparison. I can't imagine 5K would be all that much harsher, so long as you're on the softer side of the rebound/damping adjustment.

I'm running the default springs, we wanted to start there before testing any upgraded options.

 

[roblobo]

The alignment was more challenging than expected, for a few reasons:

1. It doesn't appear that Ford has released the alignment specs for the 2025 models. Multiple shops with multiple alignment systems couldn't get any updates for the 2025-specific models like the Lobo and Tremor. So, had to use the 2024 specs and hope for the best. I didn't want to have to go to a Ford dealer for an alignment.
2. I already had Eibach front camber bolts and rear camber arms. Caster and toe are good front and rear. Rear camber is pretty dialed in with the adjustable arms. Front camber, even with the camber bolts, is challenging to get any closer to 0 than -2 degrees. I'm fine with that much negative camber up front, but just note that even using Eibach camber bolts doesn't give you that much more adjustment than the factory bolts. There are other brands with potentially larger diameter lockout washers that may allow more adjustment.
3. The lockout washer for the Eibach camber bolts measured in at 15mm, whereas the hole in the Fortune Auto strut bracket was 14mm. I decided it would be easier to trim the washer down until it fit, and that worked, but like I mentioned, didn't give a lot of adjustment over the stock hardware.

I've driven it about 500 miles since the alignment and it feels good. I can't speak to tire wear yet, but I'll be rotating the square setup every 5,000 miles or so.

Thank you for the update, I appreciate it.

 

[roblobo]

I was emailing fortune and they replied that they do have adjustable camber plates on the coil overs. Maybe they switched back to adjustable.

 

[wdninja]

I was emailing fortune and they replied that they do have adjustable camber plates on the coil overs. Maybe they switched back to adjustable.

I’ll reach back out to my contact to get the latest update on offerings and configuration options.

Without the strut tower opening being large enough to access the additional adjustment the plates give you, coupled with the insane amount of NVH they bring, it doesn’t seem like a great default configuration for the Maverick application.

 

[roblobo]

I’ll reach back out to my contact to get the latest update on offerings and configuration options.

Without the strut tower opening being large enough to access the additional adjustment the plates give you, coupled with the insane amount of NVH they bring, it doesn’t seem like a great default configuration for the Maverick application.

Yeah, let me know what he says. Thanks.

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