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Icon suspension reviews


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Has anyone put an Icon suspension system in their truck yet? If so, what stage did you get? Im thinking about possibly purchasing these in the future but can't find any forums on here about people who already have them and what their reviews are.

 

I know Bilstein 5100's are good and that 6112's will be awesome whenever they come out. Ive read quite a bit up on the fox setup also. Just really only looking for input on the Icon suspension and how it rides compared to other brands and whatever else.

 

Thanks for any input!

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I don't recall seeing a member posting about Icon. Try the search function and read thru the hits you get. King and Fox are the most discussed on this forum. If you don't find anything here, try Google.

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I have Icon Stage one on my 2015 GMC ALl-terrain. I absolutely love it. The reason I went with the Icons was because I had them on my last truck(toyota) and was so happy with them. Also, there seem to be many issues with the fox 2.0's. The Icons are 2.5, so you may pay a bit more than Fox, but worth it imo. It is literally night/day as compared with the horrid Rancho suspension that came stock on the all-terrain model. They gave a 2" lift out of the box, and now my truck is set at exactly the right height. I got them installed by ORW in Escondido, ca. Great setup for the casual off-roader. I did not go for the higher stages, because I am on-road majority of the time, and only offroad for camping and going to snow/mountains with family. I can not say enough good things about them, no issues what so ever. For more in-depth reviews, go to the Toyota forums, they are so much more popular on Toyotas, not sure why more people dont use them on GM trucks!!!

 

Good luck, Mike

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I got the ICON "Extended Travel" front coilovers that require a new upper arm: http://iconvehicledynamics.com/shop/chevy-gmc-1500-coilovers-shocks/17-2007-up-gm-silveradosierra-1500-extended-travel-front-coilover-shock-kit.html .

 

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They're about 1-1.5" longer than stock (hard to measure exactly off the truck):

 

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They're certainly long enough you don't want to stuff them in there with the stock arms. I got Cognito arms as I wanted balljoints instead of the uniball and they look a bit beefier than the ICON arms.

 

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Out of the box they gave about 2" of lift. I eventually adjusted them up to about 2.5" by turning the perch a couple turns. They can be adjusted on the vehicle without fear of the collar slipping on the threads since they use a solid collar with a set screw. I used their wrench and a small tube as a breaker bar to give me a little more leverage. It's not easy but not that hard either.

 

These particular shocks increase your suspension travel about 2" from stock sized 5100's.

 

Like Mike above I can't say enough good things about them. The ride and handling are simply fantastic. The handling on the street is much more "sportscar-like" as transitional body roll, brake dive, etc are dramatically reduced. They provide a much more solid (less bouncy/floaty) ride than the 5100's in handling maneuvers or towing.

 

And yet over bumps they are much softer. They soak up bumps amazingly well. The difference between these and the 5100's needs to be exerienced to be believed. I drive at speeds offroad now that would have been nearly suicidal in prior vehicles. They're digressively valved, as are Bilsteins, but being a much larger, higher quality shock they seem to do both much better--be extremely firm controlling body motions for solid handling, while being soft for sharp wheel movements over bumps.

 

I had already replace the rear 5100's with 5165s with 255/70 valving and thought those were enough of an improvement I didn't get ICONS for the rear. The 5165 is a good shock and the combo works well with the ICONs on front, but I'm sure there would be a noticeable improvement--especially going all the way to the ICON 2.5s so I am keeping that in mind for the future.

 

 

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The tie rods are fine at that level, the next limiting factor in travel is the lower ball joints. I would not add any additional spacers with these shocks (even if you have the upper arms) for that reason, I checked. As usual, if you want more than 2.5" or so of lift you really need a real kit such as the Zone, BDS, 4" that drops the diff, LCA mounts and gives you a new spindle. With one of those kits you could use these shocks with a spacer and have an excellent combo.

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Thanks for your guys's input. I think I'm definitely going to bite the bullet and purchase these in the future. They seems amazing. I was going to go with fox 2.0's but after reading all the reviews about them not being set with the 2inch level like they say straight out of the box, being a pain in the ass to adjust, and fox not having the greatest customer service, I'm going to go with icons.

 

And thanks mike for the info on the Toyota forums. Seems like thats all they use and love it!

 

Thanks, Evan

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I did cut them off. I don't know if I needed to or not--mock everything up and check the range of travel, etc--I just figured while the arms were off I might as well get rid of them. With a proper length shock limiting your extension travel (instead of balljoint bind) they serve no purpose.

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hey guys getting ready to buy the icon standard travel coilovers my truck has the aluminum control arms i don't see any exclusions for these shocks for steel or aluminum do you think there would be any problems running these with the aluminum arms thanks

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Thanks mike I could not find anything on there website that said anything either way just placed my order can't wait to get them thanks again.

 

Let us know how they turn out!

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