Mark_604

Ok, so maybe someone can clarify something for me here. Let's use a pair of Icon 2.5 coilovers as an example. I think they come with around 2"-2.25" of lift out of the box.

I've been researching a lot and it seems like often times when someone installs a coilover they complain the ride is too harsh, and the culprit is there's too much preload on the springs causing the shock to run out of travel when hitting a bump.

So my question is, if you didn't care about how much lift a coilover gave you and purely wanted the best offroad performance and ride comfort, what would the optimal setting be in terms of ride height?

Would being set at only 1" higher than stock out perform it being set at 2.5" of lift when hitting some rough terrain? Do you gain any extra travel by not having them cranked up higher?

It just seems odd that you buy an off-road suspension and they set it up with so much preload that it rides like a dump truck.

Can someone clarify?

STingray1300

The problem isn't in the preload. It's the upper control arms. When you raise the front end of the truck via coilover leveling, the UCAs now are at a more extreme angle (down). To fix this you will need to get some aftermarket UCAs. The longer upper ball joint brings the UCA back to the angle it should be. You probably also notice a "clang" when going over a bump (?), this is the stock UCA hitting your coil spring.

I bought Icon UCAs myself and couldn't be happier.

Mark_604

I never did get the clang noise, and no evidence of anything touching my UCA. When I talked to Fox they told me the thud I felt when coming down from a speed bump was because the shock was running out of travel. Why send them to me that way it seems odd that they set the shock so it's not capable of going over a speed bump. I've since lowered them 0.75" and the problem was gone

dmonahan1

The reason they send them cranked up like that because most guys have their trucks leveled to squeeze bigger tires. Now the shocks are adjustable to provide a leveled stance without a spacer but you do give up performance. Some things you just have to compromise unfortunately.

Lockelamora

iTrader: (1)

Myself and another member (NAD is his name I think) on here both had the speed bump issue with the fox coilover. I had the 2.0's, not their 2.5's though. The Icon's you mention I have now, and they do not do that. I am not sure what you have now, but I saw a big performance difference going from a 2.0 to a 2.5.

Another thing to mention, most of these coilovers take a few thousand miles to break in, so someone writing a review a few days or even weeks after installation haven't really even broken in their coils, and that's why their ride is harsher. I noticed around 8k on my Fox and the drive really started getting smooth on main roads. My Icons have about 5k on them now, but have been run much harder and they are really starting to feel nice also.

WarSurfer

Optimum setting is just a tad above where your control arms are level.

Click the LT/MT link in my signature for a more detailed description on how coilovers/bypass shocks and UCAs/LCAs function.


edit: why isn't my signature showing?

WarSurfer

test


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