Good shock oil?

I am rebuilding DR coilovers and billy 7100's, and I am trying to figure out what shock oil to use?

 

Is there different weight oils?

 

Thanks chris!

 

Just curious...

Chris - what fox oil do you use that is 10wt? I was using the blue and according to most sources blue is 5wt. The only other stuff my local shop had was red which is supposed to be 7wt.

I wasn't too happy with the fox blue (shock performance felt light and bouncy, though maybe it's related to something else) and so a buddy of mine who races said to go buy 7wt ATF. He said ATF and shock oil are both hydraulic oils and will work in coilovers and what have you. Ever hear of this?

 

ATF is very similar to shock oil, used it many times in a pinch. I wouldn't run it all the time though. I've always ran the fox blue or the king clear oil.

 

Is king 7wt?

 

Pretty sure it's 5wt just like fox's blue oil. The red 7wt that fox and swayaway make is really only for race use and needs to be changed a lot. Doesn't do well with lots of heat cycles.

 

Right I've heard that consensus too. Only reason I'm on a quest for 7wt is because I'm not diggin the ride at the moment and the only thing I haven't tried is to switch back from the fox 5wt to the Icon 7wt. I called Icon and they said their shocks are filled and tuned with 7wt ($55 a gallon). After realizing that ATF is 7wt also, I was thinking about giving that a shot. Some say there's a noticeable difference between 5wt and 7wt. I guess I'll have to give it a shot to find out.

 

I just read somewhere at king is 7wt? might be worth giving king a call to confirm

 

Yeah some where on DR I was reading that. I think I'll give them a call and see.

 

Exactly right, the red is for racing, meaning if you tear your shock down after every race its fine, if your just playing around just use the blue.


Same thing in motorcycles, in my play bikes I use the standard oil and only change it once per year, in my race bikes I change it after every race or two since it breaks down faster and honestly I cant really notice a night and day difference between the two oils, even the regular stuff doesnt seem to fade too badly when it heats up.

ATF is also often used (mobil1 ATF) I had a suspension guy in the past that would use nothing but that, but after I had a cartridge failure in my front forks I had them redone, shitty thing is i figured out my forks were bad just before a big nationals race with the big boys, had to use a friends bike and had to race a completely different class on a bone stock bike...I now use only suspension fluids in my forks, not ATF, not sure if it caused the failure, but dont want to find out either..

 

Bilstein 7wt oil..

 

where is the best place to buy the fox or king oil?