king vs. icon vs. fox racing coilovers

I was on the fence, get Icons again or go King on my 3rd gen. Now that Icon no longer services their own products(shocks), has steered me away from even considering Icons again.

 

Kings it is.

 

Well crap, how does one get them serviced? Authorized dealers?

 

I think I started to really split hairs on this. When I asked a shop wouldn't the progressive King be less likely to bottom out as the Icon I got a flat out, "No". Lots of variables and I think I really started to nuke the crap out of it. So I'm happy that I'm simply getting an upgrade- on that note NO HATE on the 5100s, damn good shock for what market segment and price range they fit, damn good.

 

I believe they have a whole bunch of shops that are authorized to work on them. In a certain perspective it makes it easier as you don't have to ship to only one location.

 

Yeah thats not a con for me, with most compact cars its not an option to rebuild at home anyhow. A pro for King is it sounded like one could rebuild/revalve in one's garage pretty easily, the Icons, not so much. I don't intend on doing either anyhow, I wanted more a buy and cry once experience vs something I have to tweak a number of times or send out for valving to dial in- my Tein Flex with EDFC spoiled me- why I was willing to pony up for the CDC upgrade on the fronts, didn't have the balls to pony up for how expensive it would be to do the rears though...

 

Hmm well that is dumb. I have never rebuilt Icons but if they can't rebuild their own shock that is kinda sad

Again havent rebuilt Icons but I thought they are the same to rebuild as King/SAW/FOX. At one point they had an oddball fill valve but I am pretty sure its a standard schrader now, and should just be normal tools to rebuild. I can confirm King, Fox, and SAW are super easy to rebuild

 

I'm sure guys can revalve icon stuff just as easy. I know between dsm and king they both put out some good articles as I think king fully supports guys wanting to service stuff on their own. I think icon likely just has some more proprietary parts that might cost slightly more, but if I service my kings I would order from king so it's no different. One of my goals is to try out servicing my shocks when the time comes. I think I will likely have a second set to throw on the truck to help with their life and to give me more time to clean up the one that needs service instead of rushing to get it back on.

 

When did this happen? I bet Icon customers are pissed.

 

I think last year maybe? I know it's been a minute that they announced it.

 

They(Icon) still did service shocks few months back. So between now and then it has changed.

 

When I bought my ext travel Icon 2.5's they produced such a stiff ride that I sent them to DSM to be re valved softer at lower speeds and it worked. It was $40 shipping each way and $70 a shock to be re valved. Ballpark figure anyways. I'm a lot happier now. But that's correct. A lot of variables.

 

Hoping the CDC saves me from this, supposedly comes valved softer than without.

 

Initial 1st Gen Icon impressions:
Coming from 5100 w/ Old Man EMU 880 (maybe 881)s as I wanted a nice compliant ride- second perch resulting in about 2.5+ lift in the front.
Rears: 5125s and Wheelers 3 leaf AAL
- Old ride: Fronts were great, soaking up all kinds of stuff- I used additional wheel travel via the lift to allow for a softer setup- my suspension would compress easily-- this also felt awesome off road when not totally bombing down the roads but going a good 40mph+ and the wheelers bump stops saved my ass here and there, but it was becoming clear I needed something a little more robust, thus I felt progressive/linear would be the ticket. Rears: I didn't have a lift at the time so DSM recommended my rears be 5125s as those were the right length. The 5125s are valved for something way heavier, my front and back were totally out of balance- front would soak up a speed bump, rear would go kicking up like a pissed off bull. Put about 400lbs+ in the back and it felt fantastic. IMO 5125s are a great choice for you guys carrying weight in the back. For my setup I should have just sprung the couple hundred more and swapped out to 5100s, would have probably been a lot more balanced and content.

New setup: Icon with CDCV front, Icon 2.0 rear.
- Ride: Mixed feelings on this- took it to a section of businesses near by that has a mess of driveways and jacked up slabs that IMO is the concrete equivalent of a typical maintained fire-road and thats where I get a grin, the Icons soak it up just amazingly. Finally the front and rear are more balanced matching each other, though the rear is still a bit stiffer than I wanted.

Going over speed bumps- the rear got better from the 5125s, but the fronts even on the soft CDCV settings are rough. But keeping in mind how it feels in that business area, it looks like Icon might have done some really cool valving- the piston speed on an upward curve like a ditch vs the piston speed on a bell curve like a speed bump- its almost like it was progressive even thought its not? If this is what the FJ guys are feeling but even more-so due to the "bump zone" they have, I definitely see what they are raving about. When off-roading I hope makes the fireroads really smooth like my old setup, where the suspension has the luxury of consuming wheel travel, and then when you start hitting really hard stuff it actually toughens up. Hopefully I'll get off road soon. Also the CDCVs are pretty cool, can definitely feel a difference cranking them around, my take on using them is opposite of what the Raptor guys were saying, I plan on having them cranked soft for daily driving, harsher when off road to hopefully hit the wheelers super bumps less- probably flawed on this idea- maybe likely will just keep them on soft all the time- with what Sicyota spent to revalve I guess they paid for themselves to offer me softer than standard Icon valving right out of the gate.

Overall a lot stiffer than my buddies LX470 SUV Icon setup, so just goes to show variances between different platforms with the same brand. I LOVE how boaty his setup feels.

Oh and a lot less nose dive and sway- two good pros though I didn't mind it to begin with, not one of those guys that wants a truck to feel like a sports sedan, would rather it feel like a boat and suck up rough stuff like a Caddy than handle like a car.

 

setting "4" is compared to OEM stiffness. @ setting "S" you have the confidence that you no longer need to avoid Curb islands in parking lots at any speed. I've not tried though.

 

Other than the wait is there any reason not to get Fox?

 

How bad is the weight for fox? I think King right now is somewhere around 4-6 weeks.

 

IDK DownSouth just said the wait is really long. They were pushing Kings which ultimately I would prefer but no big reason for reservoirs for the stuff I do

 

In regards to first gens, the reviews made them sound very stiff, and also got the impression support was bad- maybe too busy keeping OEMs like Ford happy. On other platforms they sound amazing, and I got to drive a stock v8 Raptor this last weekend and bravo Fox, just amazing.

- update to my review, the Icons have broken in more since taking them to Azuza Canyon here in SoCal. Overall was really happy with their performance, I was romping pretty hard and driving though spots that for sure would have maxed out the 5100 setup, but with these Icons it ate it up. Let the other half drive, managed to take an unseen rut so hard the steel rim bent, but to Icon's credit the shock isn't leaking oil, dampening still feels matched to the other side. What I didn't like is over the small stuff at slow speed, it was really rough- but I suppose a worth while compromise to be able to go high speed over stuff I couldn't before.

 

Is there a reason why you want fox besides being cheaper? I personally love kings, but that's jut me.