Time for suspension....and to beat a dead horse...

[stephan07]

Everyone always tell me ...if you have the money go Kings.....Yet when I build up both a King suspension vs Icon stage 5, 6, or even 7non tubulars....the Icons are more expensive even when I add the accessories to the kings........

About to put an order in for my xmas present to Filthy motorspors.......and trying to decide.....I'm mostly an overlander/weekend warrior with some rock crawling up in Northern New England and Canada as well as a fair amount of beach time on Cape Cod....Prob a trip to Maob and Northern Rim coming up this spring. .....Have a SSO slimline number with Warn winch....around 150 pounds upfront there and full RCI alum skids and Sliders......Its not my daily driver.....I'm sure I could even get away with Stage 2 Icon, yet I love the look of the King and the setup is around 3800.. before installation..

happy holidays to everyone, and I am sure either are probably fine, just when I build up he Icons they are a bit more expensive than the Kings....

 

[(none)]

$3800?? You can piece together an Icon stage 2 for about $2k... There is no need to pay for a bunch of crap you'll never use. Skip the reservoirs, keep the stock links, just get shocks, springs and UCAs, maybe a rear track bar and be done with it.

 

[Agent_Outside]

King is a better product, the fact that Icon Black Friday 20% off still cost more than Kings blows my mind.

Plus there’s that whole thing with how the company Icon came about....

King, hands down. As soon as ski season is over I’m ordering from Filthy Motorsports as well (especially since they are a few miles from me)

 

[LawnDart]

Icon is popular because of their stage kits. It takes some of the guess work out of things.

Consumers hate paralysis by analysis. But watch anything involving rock crawling and desert racing and it’s almost entirely King shocks in the winners circle.

 

[wfo9]

King is a better product, the fact that Icon Black Friday 20% off still cost more than Kings blows my mind.

Plus there’s that whole thing with how the company Icon came about....

King, hands down. As soon as ski season is over I’m ordering from Filthy Motorsports as well (especially since they are a few miles from me)

I have to disagree on this. I own both.. ICON is great and probably a better choice for the avg bear. King is fantastic too.. but a bit over-hyped in some ways. But it does depend on your priorities... there are pros and cons to each and some hidden cost with Kings. Example. Try to buy kings with 700lb springs... You can end up doing a lot of user tuning and labor with Kings. Removing from the truck to adjust... It's just not that clear cut IMHO. If you are a desert racer.. then King is obviously a better choice.. but is that really you. Both good... just be realistic about your use case. The three main players King, Icon, Fox each have pros and cons for a factory type setup. I would however avoid the stage kits. They include unnecessary garbage.

You really have to experience each to know for sure and don't trust the internet (including me) you have to see for yourself. Good news is... you will most likely be happy with any of them, so maybe flip coin.

 

[Inv4drZm]

King is a better product, the fact that Icon Black Friday 20% off still cost more than Kings blows my mind.

Plus there’s that whole thing with how the company Icon came about....

King, hands down. As soon as ski season is over I’m ordering from Filthy Motorsports as well (especially since they are a few miles from me)

They are basically the same product. From Icon's website "Led by head engineer and SCORE champion driver Dylan Evans, ICON Vehicle Dynamics has the unique qualities to design and build the highest quality suspension components and test them in both real world applications as well as race conditions." Go ahead and buy whichever color you want or whichever is cheapest.

I've had 60k miles on my Icons, my brother has had even more, an I know another member that had 90k on theirs no leaks. And we've all actually wheeled them. I would expect the same from Kings. My brother has talked extensively with Icon and King regarding a 3" rear shock setup and Icon's customer service has so far been better.

Why even bring up the Icon controversy, they are a completely different company now. Low blow.

 

[Vulgarian]

King-Icon, Ford-Chevy, Coke-Pepsi, Blue-Red, Augmented-Natural; the list goes on. The bold claims that one is better than another based on anything less than science is pure BS - and there is a ton of that on this site. They're both great. Pick the one your tribe will be impressed with and be happy.

 

[Judd94]

Best thing I ever read on here was that if at all possible, try to find a 4Runner with each setup you want and ride in it. Some people hate what they’ve invested in and wish they had gone different routes. Looking cool but hating it isn’t really cool.

 

[flyboysgt]

King is a better product, the fact that Icon Black Friday 20% off still cost more than Kings blows my mind.



Plus there’s that whole thing with how the company Icon came about....



King, hands down. As soon as ski season is over I’m ordering from Filthy Motorsports as well (especially since they are a few miles from me)

Where is this 20% off Icon deal at?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jetboy]

FWIW - I have never driven a King setup. I have driven ICON and FOX 2.5 back to back. IMO the valving of the ICON is better for most people. It's softer. You have to really be pushing it before FOX shocks start to show the benefit of the firmer valving. And I mean like jumping kinda speeds. If you're into that - go for the Kings. You can blow through the ICONs - but it's pretty amazing how hard you can push them before you do considering how well they do with the intermediate stuff. If I were buying today with equal pricing across the board - I'd probably buy ICON.

And I'd skip the remote reservoir. They've been nothing but a big pain in the ass to mount, keep from bouncing around, and keep clear of the tires. Fox brackets mine came with didn't work at all, so I made my own setup. My next move is going to be to put long hoses and just put them up on top of the fenders inside the hood. Skip them and save your $.

 

[LawnDart]

Top 3 are actually King, Fox, Billstein.

Billstein just doesn't advertise their racing shocks as much. That and they're a major OEM supplier.

 

[wootalien]

curly fries or waffle fries?

 

[tacoyota]

Icon is not in the same tier as Kings sorry. Just research your valving and spring preference. If price and all other factors are the same across the board...I would choose race proven shocks. Icons are great and perfect for majority of folks application. Ive just seen Kings/Fox holdup better against leaks and rust better than Icon. All of these coilover systems have to be rebuilt after awhile regardless so pick your price and color LOL! (From the desert racing scene)

 

[PeoplecallmeIan]

I went with Icon because you can piece together a full suspension upgrade. I'm probably going to end up with a stage 7 eventually with their S2 secondary shocks. It's a bit of overkill but I really like going fast on the whoops.

 

[LawnDart]

Icon is not in the same tier as Kings sorry. Just research your valving and spring preference. If price and all other factors are the same across the board...I would choose race proven shocks. Icons are great and perfect for majority of folks application. Ive just seen Kings/Fox holdup better against leaks and rust better than Icon. All of these coilover systems have to be rebuilt after awhile regardless so pick your price and color LOL! (From the desert racing scene)

Not sure if people saw these a few days ago, or saw this crash during the best in the desert series:

King actually showed the whole process of rebuilding that same shock, and it was actually not a big deal. That's mindblowing that that shock was rebuilt and back on a vehicle.

 

[tacoyota]

^Just need some mothers aluminum cleaner, it'll buff out! LOL

 

[pheelmeh]

I've had both King and Icon - both with external resis with the works.

I'll tell you that not many people on this forum will push either to the limits...and if you are capable of doing so, you should be sponsored and not caring about what it costs.

My personal take = the Kings were harsh. The ICONs ride like butter. It's a little unfair that the Icons i have currently are adjustable while the Kings were not. Either way i have nothing negative to say about King or Icon - they both do what they say they'll do and perform like champions off road.

People are right though - the ICONs are pricier for sure. I got the Icon's on discount and for what I paid for just the front 2.5 ICONs....I paid a hair more to get 2.5 Kings up front, 2.5 King Rears, with Total Chaos UCAs

 

[kjthoma5]

I have a set of OME BP-51s on my 4runner and absolutely love them. Having both rebound and compression adjustability is nice, and the package is cheaper than Icon or King (albeit just slightly). ARB customer service is excellent and the handling is on par with a friend's Icon stage 7, if not slightly better.

 

[tacoyota]

I have a set of OME BP-51s on my 4runner and absolutely love them. Having both rebound and compression adjustability is nice, and the package is cheaper than Icon or King (albeit just slightly). ARB customer service is excellent and the handling is on par with a friend's Icon stage 7, if not slightly better.

I always wondered about this setup...seems very good and promising.

 

[sn_85]

I can't speak from personal experience but after speaking with a few vendors I went Icon's over Kings. Both said Icon's had better on-road manners but also said that if you wanted the best off-road performance that they'd recommend Kings. My 4R is my daily driver so while I wanted improved off-road performance I do realize that 90% of the time my truck is on pavement thus I went with Icon. I'm not doing any extreme rock crawling or desert running so I don't necessarily need the best but realize the Icon's will be more than capable for what I want to do off-road and provide a nice on-road ride. TBH I could have flipped a coin between the two and I'm sure I'd be happy with either setup. I went with a piece meal setup with Front & Rear remote rez with CDC, Delta Joint UCA, and Icon rear springs. I can get the lower links later. With the BF sales it did come in slightly cheaper than King F&R w/ adjusters and everything else the same.