Icon Vehicle Dynamics

I purchased the icon stage 2 suspension less than a year ago for my 2018 tacoma. After a couple months I noticed one of them leaking. I cleaned the dirt off, and it collected lots of dirt again so obviously its leaking. I go back to the auto garage that ordered it and installed it for me to inquire. Come to find out the warranty is as follows: You have to send it back to them, where they rebuilt it, and they determine if you abused it or not at that point they decide if they are going to charge you for the rebuilt or take care of it. In the meantime you have no vehicle to drive for 7 days while they make this determination.
Am I the only one who thinks this is way less than par? They don't even give you a loaner shock so you can get by until they do the rebuilt and determination?

 

Are you running larger tires? you could always throw on your stock suspension.

 

They want to make sure you didn’t jump your truck and say the shocks failed afterwards.

Icon’s warranty and service policies are on their website. Hate to say it but you should have read a little more before hand if you don’t find that their policy fits your needs. Also with COVID turn around times could be slower and shipping times reduced. Plus holiday madness.

Also, just like with Fox, they recommend you rebuild them every 10k miles if you’re a weekend warrior depending on your driving.

 

I’ll add, I’m assuming this is a rear shock, not a coilover. We’re you running Icons shock guards or a shock boot on them? Gravel, rocks, debris easily gets picked up by the tires and thrown into the piston shafts on rear shocks. These nicks cause the seals to fail.

 

Yes I am...I made the bad mistake of not getting my old suspension back from the garage that replaced them, but the tires wouldn't work anyway with the old suspension.

 

This is why I always tell people to keep their stock suspension after they upgrade. No point in selling it for $100 when its going to cost you a week or 2 of no truck because you need to send one of your aftermarket shocks out to be rebuilt.

But thats how shock warranty works with higher end struts. The parts are just worth too much for the company to send you a new one with no guarantee that you will send back the old one, and no way to prove the shock failed from abuse and not a defect.

If you got a cheaper brand like rancho, they will just send you a new one because it only costs them $5 to build anyways.

 

Yes, it is the rear shock...not shock guards...wasn't even aware of them. Wow, it seems most who get this kind of set up do go off road and use their trucks, so it would seem like if this is a problem those guards would actually come with the package.

 

interesting...rebuild every 10,000 miles. I had stock ones on my earlier tacoma (2016) and never had to rebuilt anything and they worked great through heavy off road use. I was hoping on getting an upgrade on my suspension from the stock after spending 2200.00...but it seems these may fail more and take more upkeep. Thanks for your response.

 

I'm sure that Mario Andretti expected every component on his car to be unconditionally warranted.

If you want to play, you have to pay. Play too hard and it can get expensive.

BTW, doing a post mortem (i.e. rebuilding) gives the manufacturer a chance to find out what broke and how they might be able to improve a product.

 

Thats like comparing a brand new BMW to a 1998 camry. Sure the camry will never break, but the new BMW will be much better to drive, but will cost more in upkeep and require more maintenance.

 

Stock shocks and offerings from Old Man Emu and Dobinson will last 60,000+ miles, but “race” shocks from Icon, Fox, King, etc need more love. Shock oil degrades, lower mount bushings start to squeak and seals fail on high end shocks after 1-2 years/10-20,000 miles. Tight tolerances in complex damper assemblies require more maintenance than basic shocks. Same goes with dirt bikes and mountain bikes where significant maintenance is measured in hours, with major overhauls needed at least once a season.

 

Last I checked, ICON suggests a 15k rebuild for vehicles regularly abused offroad and 40k for “weekend warriors”. When I asked their definition of regularly abused offroad, it included the vehicle leaving the ground....often. Lol.

OP, it is regular policy for a manufacturer of a rebuildable shock to ask for the shock back to rebuild it under warranty. If you called them 3 years later about a leaky shock, they’d also suggest a rebuild instead of a replacement, has nothing to do with warranty or not. If you’re bummed about downtime in between, Sorry not sorry but that’s just the way it is. Buy the cheapest shock you can find on rock auto and install it for the time being if you want to keep using your truck.

 

All this happened about 10 months ago? What did you end up doing?

As for the warranty service, how is this different from any other big-ticket vehicle part? Think A/C compressor, ABS pump, differential, etc. They could offer some kind of flat-fee swap / core-exchange program, but that would be contingent on them having an identical shock in stock and may well take longer than 7 days.

 

A little extreme....I'm no racer, I do get off road but don't rally my truck and push it at all. To have a 2100.00 suspension system fail after a couple months is no bueno. Especially when the stock system last for 60,000 miles plus with the same "Abuse" with no problems whatsoever.

The difference is if those things fail, I take it to the installer where they replace the part AND labor. With this shock, I get to wait a week for the shock to be sent back to the factory for analyst while I have no transportation until they can rebuilt or see what needs to be done. Sure, they can send me the rebuild parts, where I have to pay labor to get it rebuilt here, then it may get done faster. As far as what did I end up doing 10 months ago.... I actually have been driving it with the the leak. I just cant be without a car for that long. Yes, I could rent one I suppose, for 80 bucks a day.

 

This is great info! Yes, I fall in the camp of dependability over comfort/performance anytime! I may have just got the wrong set up. when you are out in the backcountry by yourself a couple hundred miles away from the nearest road I want a dependable truck, I'll take the bumps on my ass over stuck out in the middle of nowhere on my ass any day! Although to me performance means it gets me to where I want to go AND back without issues. Whats a good set up to still give you the ability to use 33" tires with a 3" lift without the fancy "Race" shocks that need upkeep and maintenance every 10,000 miles?

 

The difference is if those things fail, I take it to the installer where they replace the part AND labor. With this shock, I get to wait a week for the shock to be sent back to the factory for analyst while I have no transportation until they can rebuilt or see what needs to be done. Sure, they can send me the rebuild parts, where I have to pay labor to get it rebuilt here, then it may get done faster. As far as what did I end up doing 10 months ago.... I actually have been driving it with the the leak. I just cant be without a car for that long. Yes, I could rent one I suppose, for 80 bucks a day.

 

I think your just saying this for dramatic effect, but where the hell do you live where you are "a couple hundred miles" from the nearest road? shit, Nebraska is only 400 miles across..

** a couple hundred miles is by standard definition 200 miles

 

Here is the most convenient simple solution to your problem: Stop calling the shop that sold you the kit and did the install, that is a waste of your time, call Icon directly instead, they will help you because their customer service is great. Buy a shock for 25$ from rock auto, unbolt the 1 nut and 1 nut and bolt that hold your icon shock in place and bolt in the rock auto budget shock so you can keep driving your truck. Icon will fix your shock for you because it is completely unreasonable for them to just send you a new shock instead of rebuilding your rebuildable shock.

 

I'd take the dependable camry any day!!!

 

put your stocks back on with spacers... i would service as a pair or all 4 since your there...