Bilstein 6112's question regarding durability

[Daohaus]

Hi everyone,

New to the T4R world coming from a 3rd gen TRD Pro Taco. I recently picked up an Off Road Premium and looking to do a lift for the truck. I emailed a local company that sells Icon's and Kings inquiring if they could get a kit similar to the ones offered by Rogue Offoard Bilstein Package he was pretty matter of fact about it saying that they look good but he would never take it offroad. I don't plan to go major rock crawling with my truck and it'll probably spend 90% of it's life pounding the pavement.

Are Bilsteins that bad?

 

[Xhado]

6112s are not in the class of Icon/King, but they're just fine for the average off-roader.

 

[cheeser]

Have had my 6112s for over a year on easy to mid level trails...have been very happy with them. I don’t plan on the high speed runs where a King would prove helpful...but didn’t need to pay their price either.

Icons and Kings have their place, but I’d bet the majority of users don’t need to make that jump.

 

[EddieV4runnin]

Well they’re in the business of selling kings and Icons hone: no surprise there as to what they would recommend.

I’m running 6112s with 700lbs springs up front and 5160s with Icon 2 inch springs in the rear. Haven’t had any issues with them in the 15k I’ve had them on. Only downside to them is having to remove and disassemble them every time you want to adjust them. I didn’t go with Icon’s or Kang’s because I don’t “bomb” through the desert as often as I would like. I’ve hit some shit pretty hard on the road and on the trail and haven't seen any damage to them. With all the money I saved by buying the Bilsteins I bought myself some nice control arms, steel bumper, and AT tires.

 

[MrGainzz]

Your local company is not telling you the truth as Bilstein makes one of the most reliable,durable and popular kits on the market and 90% of off road enthusiasts have run or still have them on their rigs.
They just want to sell you their Icon and King kits so that they can make more profits.


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[Daohaus]

Thanks for the input, I understand that if he's the reseller of icon and Kings he's going to push them but to make it sound like the shock is going to collapse on you is a bit extreme.

The aforementioned suspension are definitely a cut above the rest no don't about it. But I'm not sure I want to drop that kind of coin if I'm not fully utilizing them to what they're designed to do.

There's definitely a lot of choices in this realm than there are for the tacos that's for sure.



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[Jeremy556]

As someone who has run Icon shocks for a long time on my 4runner, I would say Bilstiens 6112s would be far MORE reliable. They don't offer the tuning ability, but unless you are running high speed desert, thats not that important. You also don't get the high maintenance of race shocks.

 

[borfoo3]

I ran the 6112 for a while before moving to KING. The 6112 has a wider bore than the 5100, and rides very well for what it is. They have been reliable with me, and still live on my buddy's FJ.

KING is a different league both price and performance wise.

Icon and KING shouldn't be in the same sentence either.. More like Fox/ Radflo/ KING

 

[Daohaus]

I ran the 6112 for a while before moving to KING. The 6112 has a wider bore than the 5100, and rides very well for what it is. They have been reliable with me, and still live on my buddy's FJ.

KING is a different league both price and performance wise.

Icon and KING shouldn't be in the same sentence either.. More like Fox/ Radflo/ KING

Did you go to kings because you needs changed?

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[JSparky]

6112s are not in the class of Icon/King, but they're just fine for the average off-roader.

I'd agree they're not in the same class, I'd also say it's not necessarily a good or bad thing, they're just different.

As someone who has run Icon shocks for a long time on my 4runner, I would say Bilstiens 6112s would be far MORE reliable. They don't offer the tuning ability, but unless you are running high speed desert, thats not that important. You also don't get the high maintenance of race shocks.

Ditto. I'd suggest reading up on the differences. The Bilstein 6112 is more or less a high-performance factory replacement, uses rubber bushings and is meant to be driven until it fails. Not sure what the mileage estimate is but I'm assuming around 50-100k, depending entirely on conditions and usage. They're good for a "set it and forget it" solution, with some general settings in ride height available. Even with adjusters, not all shock characteristics can be changed without uninstalling and tearing down the shock, so keep that in mind.

Race shocks, like the Icon, King, or any other brand, are individually tunable (i.e. more control over suspension dynamics), can be finely adjusted for ride-height depending on specific vehicle load, but also require routine maintenance. Schedules vary and you can look it up, but figure on un-installing them for rebuilds at least every 20-50k miles.

In this sense the Bilstein might represent a lot of value, especially since you're not in the salt belt.

Some more information regarding what your intended load weight and expected terrain is will help others steer you towards a specific setup. If I wasn't changing my loads around so much I'd probably go with Bilsteins, and I may swap my old man's Fox 2.5's out with some Bilie's cause he's tired of the maintenance. That's us though. All depends on usage. Hope that helps.

 

[borfoo3]

Did you go to kings because you needs changed?

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Yes, exactly. Both my truck and my off-road driving needs grew, literally and figuratively.

The added heft from mods and our style of fast desert off-roading demanded more suspension than the Bilstein 6112/ 5160 could provide. On a stock-ish weight truck, they did very well.

 

[JAXJeremy]

I'm new to the world of Toyota suspension mods, but not to offroading..I own a solid axle '92 Bronco that I've been wheeling for years..the shocks on that rig are Bilstein 5125's.. These were installed the same time as my SA, over 13 years ago..I've beat the crap out them on all manner of terrain and the Bronco is not a light vehicle either, weighing in at nearly 6K lbs.

In any case, the Bilsteins have never failed me (plenty of other things have)..Not familiar with the Icon's or Kings, but I'd buy Bilsteins again in a heartbeat I've definitely got my $$ worth out of them..