Opinions on ICON Stage 3 (0"-2.75" lift) Coilovers

I read about one case of a shock that had a leak but from what I gathered....it was rebuilt as new by ICON.

 

I know of more than one, actually it happened to somebody I went riding with a few weeks ago. I haven't heard a case of it though where the shock wasn't turned so it wasn't contacting the shock mount or had the shock mount cut though

 

I run Icon. Haven't had an issue. Installed mid November. No leaks, ride great. Have lots of friends that run Kings. Saw a brand new set of kings leaking out of the remote reservoir tube where it threads into the body of the shock. Must have gotten by the QC that day.

 

Click the ICON link in my signature and do some reading.

 

Wow....that's pretty incredible. I bet that they notch their own shock hats now...sounds like a common problem. Having to worry about good customer service (or lack of) is making me rethink this. Thanks for your input.

 

So it sounds like it was an issue with the rear shocks with the remote reservoirs, not the front coilovers. Sucks they wouldn't help out with fixing the issue and gave him the bird. Looks to me like they didn't want to redesign the top of their shock to clear the bucket.

 

Not only did they bomb on the R&D of their product, but they also didn't contact a single customer to let them know of the problem after they discovered it. They just quietly updated their installation instructions to now include grinding-off a part of the upper shock mount. So those whose shocks did not happen to leak during the warranty period will not know of this problem until it happens after the warranty expires (it's only a matter of time), at which point ICON will tell them to pound sand.

Plus, by now asking customers to grind off parts of their upper shock mount towers, this is no longer a "bolt on" product, which is what was advertised and sold to me. ICON should have offered to buy back all these rear shocks from people that did not want to cut their truck. But good luck with that idea...

Oh, and my ICON 2.5 coilover was leaking straight from the factory, and ICON's service during that warranty claim was absolutely atroscious. That's two leaking shocks in the first 9 months.

Don't even consider ICON. Kings or FOX if you want the fancy stuff.

Truth be told, if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn't buy any of these brands. Get cheap Bilsteins that you can buy anywhere and simply replace when the time comes (zero downtime on your truck). If you don't have a local shop that can rebuild ICON/KING/FOX/etc., you're going to be without a truck for at least two weeks any time a shock needs to be rebuilt, plus will incur shipping costs for the rebuild. A new bilstein 5100 is cheaper than mailing & rebuilding any one of my shocks, and will probably do just fine for all I ask of my ICONs.

 

Exactly. And their 2.5 rear shocks are designed differently, in a way that won't have this problem. They are just taking the cheapest and easiest way out: make the customer do more work and cut their truck.

 

I've had two sets of icons. Mid travel and long travel. No issues with either. I've probably emailed them 20+ questions over the last few months. I've never waited longer than 24 hours for a response.

Next couple of weeks I'm swapping to king to see what all the fuss is about.

 

They did respond well to all technical questions I had, I'll give them that. That's pre-sales.

Getting an email response during a warranty claim is not something I've managed to make happen. Nor a single callback after hearing a couple dozen "I'll do X and call you right back" promises. Literally, not ONCE. Not even after I explained in detail how frustrating it is to be told "I'll call you back" and never hear a peep. They just don't give a shit.

The funniest thing is that had they bothered to put just a tiny bit of effort into my problems (actually, their problems that I happened to be stuck with), I'd probably be singing them praises instead of shitting on them right now.

 

Oh yeah thankfully I haven't dealt with that yet. Just general questions on setting things up. Different options etc.

I'm really excited to try the other side. Since it's a completely different shock style.

 

I would be too. I threw around the idea of a swap from ICONS to King and the local Jeep guys told me I wouldn't notice a difference due to my very limited experience with off-road vehicles, so it may be more subtle than what I would expect (ie. "drives like a Cadillac"), but I'd still be very interested in trying it out.

 

I'll post my thoughts once it's all together. I feel like how different icon and king are it'll be noticeable. Are you still running icons?

I'm also doing a long travel rear to compare to mid travel rear. Something I couldn't find many reviews for either.

 

Yeah, I'm still on ICONs. When my rear started leaking I was two weeks away from leaving for my Death Valley trip and didn't have time to send it in for a rebuild, so I actually bought another (third) rear 2.0 w/ RR shock from an ICON Vendor. Really hated spending more money towards an ICON product, but that was the best option. So now that my original rear 2.0 got rebuilt, I have it as a spare.

Going to soon stock up on rebuild kits/oil with the intention of doing my own rebuilds going forward. If I ever do switch out suspension, it'll be towards something cheap and easily discarable/replaceable.

 

I really wanted King or Icon shocks but you brought up a good point. Bilstein's are cheap and easy to replace. I don't do anything insane so they should be fine for what I need. King and Icon would just be for the bling factor

 

I've had an Icon stage 3 kit installed for about a year now with no issues so far. I don't do much off-roading so its overkill for me but I'm happy with the ride and the amount of lift I got with the kit. I've seen on the forum that some people have had rust issues but I haven't had any. I spray mine with Boeshield T-9 Waterproof Lubrication occasionally which is supposed to displace moisture and dries to a clean, waxy, waterproof film.

 

I have them. Regarding ride, I love them, on and off-road.

That being said, even though I know it could happen to any brand - it bugs me 9 months and 10K into them I have a front leaking. And pulling the coilover and sending it in for a rebuild is a pain. I like them, but I am not entirely sure I would buy them again. I would love to drive a truck with Kings to see if I notice a difference.

 

I run stage 3 as well and have had no issues with them so far. I am actually pretty happy with the product that I received and the ride quality in town and in the mountains, but I only have about 5k miles on them.

That being said, lately I have heard a lot of negative customer service issues. I bought my set before they came out with the installation update for the rear shock mounts and if wasn't for me following on here I would have had no idea. I have read good and bad things about Icon, King, and fox. Some guys that swear by some and hate all the rest. Customer service is a big thing for me, especially when you start looking at spending a couple thousand bucks on something. I'm in the same boat as the post before me, I like them but not entirely sure I would buy them again.

 

It's been rehashed quite a bit in the Suspension forum.