Go with ICON's for city driving. They're softer at slower speeds but firm up the faster you go on bumpy terrain. Call them and learn about the different coils for your use. Get passenger tires and forget the A/T's. A thinner sidewall will help with ride comfort. Bilstein 5100 is not a top of line comfort shock. It's a tremendously good every day shock for on and off road use and you can expect to have compromise. They're a lot better than Toyota OEM shocks but not a good as KING, ICON, FOX etc… Then again the way a shock feels is all dependent on the driver.
I thought icons were digressive shocks..? That makes them stiffer at slow speeds but softer as you speed up. Doesn't make them very suitable for city driving. I felt every single pothole when I was running the v2's in the rear. Swapped out for 5100's recently, wayyyy better.
EDIT: did some research after I posted that, check this out. by DC Tundra on Tundratalk,
"ICON uses a 1026 Nitro steel shaft, while everyone else uses a 1050 steel hardened chrome shaft. What's the best ? Camburge, Bilstein, FOX, and King some of the biggest shock manufacturers all use hardened chrome shafts in their shocks. Some of those shocks cost $1200-$2400 each where money is no object and countless hours and money have been spent by race teams, that should tell you something right there. All these companies have tested the very same material ICON uses years ago and choose to use 1050 hard chromes steel.
Then lets talk dampening and how ICON is supposedly "leading the way in technology with there dampening" with their "new" technology .
Progressive valve stack : King, FOX, Camburge, Bilstein, all use a progressive valve stack on a standard piston. As the (shock) shaft speed increases, the valving gets stiffer. A linear design shock has a piston that is designed to start out with low resistance and continue to build as the speed of the shaft movement increases in a linear fashion. This type of shock has very little low-speed control, but very much high-speed control.
Digressive valving piston : ICON on the other hand, uses a digressive valving & pistons. Basically the exact opposite. As shaft speed increases, the valving gets softer. A digressive designed shock has a considerable amount of low-speed control and builds resistance as the shaft speed increases to a predetermined point where the rate digresses and stays the same as the speed increases. This type of design has good low-speed control and does not build ultra-high resistance with the high speedsassociated with bumps and holes.
ICON believes that their digressive valving/piston works the best for off-road. If that's the case, why don't any of the other LEADING manufactures use this as well. Digressive valving/pistons work great for sports cars and superduties, where you're looking for on road feel and a smooth ride on 8" lift leaf springs that dont flex on a truck that already has a harsh ride. Look at any trophy truck, class 1 car or any shocks built by Camburge, KING, FOX or Bilstein, that has thousands of hours in testing and racing and you will see why they run a linear progressive valving/piston."
