Blind shock tests

I will say that we did the first test the day after driving 26 hours straight from Canada, and were scoping out the area and figuring out production all at the same time.

We will go back and test more shocks, and we will improve some things for the next series for sure!

 

King video is up.. interested to see what the final verdict is

 

thank god, because I just popped on a set of kings locally in stock before this video dropped, because now I know I wont be able to get them for months! hahahah

 

Great series and seems like there were a couple of surprises (don't want to ruin it for people that haven't watched).

What I'd be interested in hearing is:

1. What a suspension tuner might change on each one to improve the performance based on what you learned
2. How what you learned might change on the average truck outfitted for moderate exploring -- say a front bumper and winch, and a load of about 600 pounds (rack, RTT, camping gear, provisions).
3. Based on your experience, what your pick would be for a good balance between reliability and performance. It seems there were already some possible issues on a couple of the brands.

I'm wondering if there would be a performance difference on a truck with a bit of added weight without changing anything, either worse or better. What this series did a good job of answering is which high-end suspension works best with no modifications on a truck with little to no mods, but I would argue that most of those folks would not be going for the higher-end 2.5 setups.

 

Thank you. Great series. Just watched them all.

was going to go with fox 2.5….but now I’m leaning towards icons.

 

Agreed - great series. Thanks both of you for putting it together. I think there are a ton of other less costly ways to extend this series:
- Q&A based on questions from here, YT and wherever else where you can make an educated guess how variations will perform
- panel with Accutune and others that are similar to go more in depth around tuning options and recommendations
- revalve these 4 … and do it again.

great stuff! I have Chevy 63s and 14” 7100s in the rear … 5100s up front - so clearly not an apples-apples but this gives me great info as I think about front options.

 

I think if they did revalve them they would all ride pretty much the same, with the exception of the 8112’s considering they have the internal bump zones.

When you get down to it they are all pretty much the same thing. Sure there is slight differences but for the most part they are some metal with oil and seals. People have their favorites but I liked this series a lot because it takes out the part where people buy something then want to feel good about their purchase so they tell you it’s the best.

The one thing that has me confused with this whole series is wtf happened with the fox shocks. I’ve ridden in a few different vehicles that have them and I always thought the ride was a little more plush than my kings, and they seemed to handle bigger hits better than my kings but this series didn’t line up with that at all. Only thing I can think of is other modifications we do have a big impact on how the shocks will perform

 

@WormSquirts any chance on a video about Ironman Foam cells? Some people think they are cheap products since they’re always on “sale.” I think they perform better than people think.
I’m not biased or anything

 

What makes you think this? Have you ridden in a vehicle with these shocks before & after revalving them?

Shocks are shocks yes, but the shocks being reviewed in this video have some pretty significant differences. Would actually be nice to see specific part numbers for each shock.

I have more to share on this video series, but wasn't sure if there was a final conclusion video going out today to summarize the whole project or not.

 

Final conclusion video will be out today, same time

 

I’m not saying revalving vs stock valving, I meant if Ian revalved all 5 shocks and ran the video back, they will all perform around the same since he is probably going to use the same valving strategy for all of the brands.

 

As I understand it revalving changes the intensity of the dampening but may not affect the dampening curve. You can also revalve just portions of the dampening and depending on the shock do low speed, high speed, and maybe even in between differently. It won't change things like linear, progressive, digressive, etc.

Saying the shocks are basically the same is a bit like saying every piston engine of the same displacement is going to have basically the same output and torque curve.

 

Would be interested in another series looking at 5100s, 6112s, OME NitroChargers, Fox 2.0, Eibach Stage 1 or Stage 2, Ironman, etc... products for us villagers.

 

Some random thoughts.

A comment paraphrased from the video is very telling, different speed or off road conditions could make a huge difference.

Performance in whoops will be a function of wheelbase and frequency as much as shock/spring combos

Another comment paraphrased from from the series. - 90% of off roaders don't need any of these

Still astonished that there is no weight being carried. No armour. Major oversight.

Agree with the suggestion of accelerometer data/graphs for us data nerds especially since a lot of the seat of the pants comments and experience with these shocks had the drivers tipped off to what they were running.

Stock leafs?

 

Final conclusion:
https://youtu.be/sJEkSmewcQE

 

Progressive vs linear vs digressive is mostly a function of piston design. You couldn't really take a linear piston and tune it as digressive, but you could take a digressive piston and tune it to be linear. Flow rate and port shape also play a big part, but a lot of times they are just different ways to accomplish the same goal. Adding and removing bleed has just as much impact as changing shims.

But in the end, if we tuned all the shocks on the same terrain with the same goals, they would all come out performing pretty similar, to the point it would be hard to tell them apart. Then it would be more down to reliability, ease of service, etc. Unfortunately a long term reliability review is outside of the scope of what we can do in a two week period for a series like this.

 

Of course there is going to be some differences but are we not splitting hairs here? Actually that might be a very interesting series, tune all the shocks the same and see if there is a noticeable difference. I’m no shock wizard by any means but I don’t think they would have an easy time guess which shock is what.

Well it looks like @WormSquirts already answered for me while I was typing haha

 

And the stock OR Bills for a frame of reference.

 

Minority input but I would've done more on road testing like acceleration squat, slalom, brake dive, and test it with the sway bar on and off. But otherwise cool idea to compare.

 

Really cool concept, and major props to finding the time to do all of this. I think they did a good job capturing a variety of terrain and showing what a Tacoma can do with aftermarket suspension. I think in general it can be really difficult to compare two products from two brands, let alone 5 brands. It's also very difficult to show ride quality. Without the commentating you wouldn’t know anything, so we are relying on someones feedback and opinions.

Not trying to hate on the video series at all, but here are just some thoughts I had after watching them which may help clear up some impulse reactions from the viewers.

-I didn’t see the specific part numbers that were used (maybe I missed it), this would have been nice to see to confirm these were in fact an “apples to apples” comparison (if that was the intention). Extended travel vs stock length, compression adjusters, IFP coilovers, zone control etc. Also a price point for these shock kits would have been nice to see since that is also a huge aspect to someone’s decision to buy certain shocks. I was hoping this would be discussed more in the conclusion video.

-I found it interesting that the first video/suspension test was not done using stock suspension. Most people I think would be going from stock to aftermarket suspension, so using shock brand #1 (Which happened to be Fox) as a baseline seemed a little odd. Could have been cool to show how much faster you can run off-road, smoother on road, with better shocks compared to stock. (shoulda, woulda, coulda: been interesting to see a different order of shocks compared, or toss back in Fox at the end to see if the opinion changed)

-Fox baseline, first video, looked like it was the first time on the course and didn’t have specific speed requirements for certain sections, so they were unsure how fast they could hit the whoops. This is when the truck goes air born “lets not do that again” too funny, been there done that . I think a lot was learned from this first video which made it an easy target for the remaining videos.

-Maybe it’s more popular than we think, but I didn’t understand why the sway bar was removed. Up for debate I suppose, but not something everyone would do to their truck and will have an affect on handling.

-I'm curious to know how many people are upgrading suspension on their new Tacoma, removing sway bar and keeping it bone stock with no additional accessories? This video is tailored to that specific person.

At the end of the day ride quality is subjective to each person, which usually is decided from your own personal experiences. Some have never had high end suspension, and shock brand A may be totally awesome compared to stock. Others have experienced a wide variety of suspension which can lead to being even more critical on their experiences and expectations. Same goes with off-road driving experience and style.

Some comments here asked about tuning and even in the video different valving is discussed. Certainly can be done on some, depending on who you buy them from. For what its worth, our most popular Fox/King options are different than what’s shown in these videos. Performance Elite Series shocks is also the new style that will take over FRS and have a different piston/valving design. All in all, really cool idea. Nice job!