How do Ride Shocks compare to Fox & King?

We've been getting a lot of questions about Ride Shocks and how they compare to Fox and King, so we put this article together to help answer some questions. Links below for complete article & video. Please post up any questions you have, enjoy!

View complete article [here]​

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Love my Fox 2.5 performance elites

 

Asking this question since I see some members ask questions like "best-coilovers-for-on-road-performance"

Do you think you can share with public what is the factory spring rate? So people may compare with these?



If these spring rates are higher than the factory spring rate is there an option to increase the spring length + reduce the spring rate to keep the factory comfort? And to avoid binding is it an option to reduce the compress length of the shock and increase the extended length?




(I think 4Runner specs might be slightly different)

I think many want to keep the factory ride comfort (especially those who own 4Runner Limiteds) while lifting their vehicles.

Asking on behalf of few members since I see this on road comfort topic and apologies in advance if its a dumb question as I have no fk'n clue on suspension tech.

 

Not a dumb question.

I think its easy to compare spring rates since most of the time the springs have their rates labeled. Its become very common to discuss and share which springs others are using to try and match their ride quality. However, this is a small piece of the puzzle. Springs hold the total sprung weight of the vehicle, while the shock design and internal valving control ride quality. For example, the same spring on a variety of different coilovers will NOT ride the same. The spring rate may be correct for the unsprung weight, but the shock design, reservoir or not, piston design etc will all play a major role in the overall ride quality. Spring rate options are also very limited for aftermarket coilovers. We are limited by physical space, spring rate capabilities and aftermarket support. Universal fit coilovers with a dual rate setup can get much more accurate with spring rates.

Along with spring rates, if your vehicle needed a heavier rate since you have a steel bumper, winch, maybe a dual battery setup, swapping in a heavier spring will certainly help hold up the weight better, but now the valving is not up to the task to control that new weight & spring. This is also really common.

Keeping factory ride comfort is tough. I totally get what you mean, but if that were the case there are several things you would sacrifice to achieve this.

-Tires | you will need to keep factory style tires that are soft and meant for daily driving comfort. Most want to get bigger tires for off-roading or for looks. Different tire designs and load rating can play a big role with ride quality. We see it all the time. Tires are the first thing that will absorb the terrain and shocks are second. Depending on the type of off-roading you want to do, street tires can be very risky off-road since they are not designed to take the abuse like an off-road tire is. Slicing tires can be a big issue. To solve this, an off-road tire would be ideal, but by design they have a thicker sidewall and do not offer the comfort a street tire has.

-Lift height & control | stock suspension doesn't do that well off-road, unless you want to go slow. For most cases, stock shocks are not designed to go off-road so they can be too soft and cause you to bottom out often. To fix this, you would need stiffer valving in the shocks (assuming spring rates are fine). This will help with off-road control, but then ride more firm on the street. Some shocks have compression adjusters to help with this scenario. Keep the shocks as soft as possible for daily driving, then stiffen up for off-road. This is a great option for those looking to do it all.

As you can see, there is always going to be a trade off. We've really tried to cater to the average person who wants to drive their 4Runner on the street daily, but also go off-road without destroying their vehicle. I can confirm our 4Runner with stock tires rides a lot softer than when we have BFG A/Ts on it. Nothing bad about the tires, its just how it is. Personally, I want the confidence of an off-road tire. I've changed far too many 40" tires on the trail due to sidewall slashes.

Anyway, sorry for the long response, hopefully that sheds some light into what we think about when tuning shocks and helping customers get the best suspension possible.

 

Absolutely fantastic explanation @AccuTune Offroad. I bet this info would help members what questions and what to request from you when they buy lift kits. I bet the weight slip would definitely help you to tune exactly what customers need.

As for me I think I'm incline to Ride shocks when I'm ready for my next lift. Tech article is really awesome and thank you for putting that out.

 

Generally, the spring holds the vehicle up at a given height and the damper (shock/strut) controls how the vehicle responds to the terrain.

Generally, the spring controls height, the damper controls the motion.

People should use the right spring for the weight and "ride height" of the vehicle, then tune the damper to control the ride for the terrain and conditions they expect, understanding road and off road and everything in between will be a compromise.

A lot of people don't understand this.

 

I am pretty sure this is what I have going on in the rear. I went with Bilstein B12 springs rated for 400# constant load, but just regular 5100's. It tends to get bouncy in whoops. I have 6112's in front, and am totally satisfied with them. I just wish they made something comparable for the rear, or a 5100 valved for the extra weight. I don't want to mix brands, and the 8112's are so expensive!

I might just have to bite the bullet and have you guys custom valve something for me next time around.

 

what about icon?

 

Are you asking about us comparing Icon shocks?

Unfortunately the list of other brand shocks we could compare is very long so we can't get to them all. Maybe some day we can expand to other brands, but for now we will stick to Fox, King, Ride.

 

Yeah in curious how icon stacks up in there. Seems like if people are going to dish our a fair bit of money the usual suspects are King, Icon and Fox.