Icon vs king

[TheCremePuff]

I am in the market for new suspension and I am looking at ICON stage 5 or anything similar. I currently have bilstiein 3" lift Before I make the order I wanted to try to get some input from anyone running them. My 4runner is a V6 4x4 currently on 35's and will be installing front and rear bumpers when they come in.

 

[montijo505]

I am in the market for new suspension and I am looking at ICON stage 5 or anything similar. I currently have bilstiein 3" lift Before I make the order I wanted to try to get some input from anyone running them. My 4runner is a V6 4x4 currently on 35's and will be installing front and rear bumpers when they come in.

No complaints with my Icon setup, have the 2.5 fronts and 2.5 rears with resis w/ adjusters. Have a steel front bumper, steel skid plates and a hitch mounted spare tire carrier (RigD) with fold down table. Nice ride, much better than my previous bilstein setup.

I've never run kings, don't have the scratch lol. That said, people either swear by them or are indifferent, no real middle ground.

Only recommendation is get 700lb springs right away if you plan on adding steel down the road. I need to upgrade my fronts as I have a bit of body roll turning that I think the heavier springs will eliminate. Could just also be the lack of a front sway bar.

Good luck.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Bumbo]

Both are solid companies but I think there are certain applications where one might excel over the other.

I would read up a bit on digressive vs progressive valving as that is likely the primary difference between the two and decide for yourself based on the type of driving you do.

I have a Bilstein 6112, which has digressive valving like the ICON… For the most part I am generally pretty happy with it, but I am a desert rat, and there have been ample instances where I have just blown though the entire compression stage like there was nothing there. I feel progressive valving would have solved that problem.

At the bare minimum, if I was going to run a digressive shock again, I would not buy one without compression adjusters just so I can have some more control over what is going on.

With all the research I have done… I am learning towards Fox for 2 reasons if I was going to go “All out”… 1) its progressive valving, 2) their DSC adjusters have independent control over high speed and low speed compression. That said, would be pretty happy with King shocks too. Tends to be the choice many desert goers.

 

[Inv4drZm]

I have Icon 2.5" front/rear for quite a long time, been perfectly happy with them. I've seen a lot of people swap from Icon to King when they wear out but I think that's just to change things up.

I'm getting King's for my next setup because its easier to order custom length shocks from them. That and I'm not going with adjusters on the resi's. Saves me $700. I have compression adjuster on my front Icons and have never really used them and I can easily revalve the shocks if I wanted.

As far as digressive vs progressive I wouldn't worry about it, they both do the same thing.

 

[Fern]

If you can swing the Kings, I’d go with those.

 

[freak4life]

I do not know enough personally to give you any advise, I am beginning the build on my 2018 O-R and found a shop here in Phoenix that I trust. The owner is very knowledgeable with Toyotas. I asked him about four well known lift's: Old Man Emu, King, Fox and Icon. He said all are well made, He said Icon's provide more opportunity for him on the mark ups but he does not prefer them, he does install them a lot though, you know, whatever the customer wants. So while OME is well respected, I am using their rear leaf spring, I ended up going with Fox. I do not want as big of tires/wheels as you are going with. Your rides looks very nice and I am looking forward to seeing it when completed.

 

[JONBOY345]

As far as digressive vs progressive I wouldn't worry about it, they both do the same thing.

Huh? They most definitely do not do the same thing..

Digressive vs Linear vs Progressive Pistons & Shock Valving | AccuTune Off-Road

The terrain you'll be driving on the most makes a huge difference in which shock valving makes the most sense.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Huh? They most definitely do not do the same thing..

Digressive vs Linear vs Progressive Pistons & Shock Valving | AccuTune Off-Road

The terrain you'll be driving on the most makes a huge difference in which shock valving makes the most sense.

They do the same thing in that as the shaft velocity increases so does the damping force.

Nobody with a 4th gen pushes their vehicles hard enough for it to really matter what the shock dyno graph looks like. Why does nobody change the valving on their 4runner shocks or swap out shocks brands because they don't like how it rides? Because they all work. They can all be tuned to work well no matter what type of driving you do. Not to mention the difference in vehicle weights, tires, tire pressure; ideally each shock would be tuned individually for each application if you were real serious about performance.

Because the accutune article lists Fox and King shocks as linear and not progressive like the rest of the people on the internet lead you to believe, digressive vs progressive shouldn't even be mentioned in a thread like this.

Instead, why not compare prices, material construction, or other differences. To me that makes up a larger difference.

 

[LOSTR4]

I have ICONs and they have been terrific! I have 50k miles on them and had to rebuild them after 45k miles...when it comes down to it, they do the same thing with different colors...though, Kings are more purpose-built to your needs...when off-roading...

Things to consider, if you're a mall cruiser, drive 90% of your life on pavement and want to merely be capable, or if you just want the look and "novelty" of having resi-shocks...reconsider your money to be better spent. The ONLY reason one may need resi-shocks is if you beat your truck up in mud, rock obstacle, and overlanding adventures...if you do not, just get some better single tube (internal-reservoir) shocks and save your money...high-speed terrain massaging these (either ICON or King) will be your best friend...slow crawling and mall-crawling will not enable you to require these...spending money on mere looks and not using it for their intent is obviously your own choice...and that's freaking awesome if you can...but it IS a waste of money if not used for their specific purpose...okay, "rant" over...

 

[Dreamloud4Runner]

ICON is my first suspension build. I got stage two ICON with 2.5 front and 3 in spring rear and delta UCA and boy I tell you this they sure take a beating. I went 65 MPH on a loose gravel road with small to medium bumps and they sure did it well. No body roll and and handling is so much better than stock. I was so confident in the lift that I took the rig to a harder trail and it performed so well and made the trail so easy. Well I get what I paid for right. I love it and no regret.