So I would really like input from the GL4X4 community on fox vs king coil overs.... I'm tired of reading debates on other sites and want info from people that run them in Michigan out at the dunes and trails. I'm getting down to the wire for ordering them.
neither has some fancy proprietary technology that the other doesnt... its a metal body, piston, stack of washers, and a bunch of fluid. size will be dependent on your application.
the bigger emphasis should be on the availability of parts and customer support.
what about corrosion resistance? It will see Michigan winter roads a few times when i go out snow wheeling.... What about as far as something that will be daily driven in the summer?
they are both aluminum bodies. even if they use different alloys, id guess over time the different will be negligible.
we arent out west, these guys arent right in our back yard. chances are youll want to revalve them a time or two and play with springs before being totally happy. i would choose a product that someone local to you supports, and is willing to work on unless you plan on tinkering yourself.
My fox coilovers rubbed through the coating pretty bad where the slider moves up and down. To me it seems they should have been a tighter fit to the body and out of a softer material
I love my Kings with the external adjuster on the remote res. It has something like 12 adjustments. You can tell a difference when you start playing with it from firm to soft.
I went with King since it seems like that's what everyone runs around here and it seems parts are easy to obtain if I should need them. I would think that FOX would be easy to find parts for at any popular trail as well. I did hear King had a much better customer service and tech support over Fox. I would not know from experience though.
If the valving and springs are correct, you’d not be able to tell a difference between the two I bet.
I was really thinking about going with Fox but there doesn't seem to be as many dealers around for them.... Looks like I might be leaning towards King now.
i know its not one of your choices but i have profender coilovers on the front of my blazer. They work well, seems like nice construction. They have the adjustable resevoirs with 11 settings. I purchased them from offroad anonymous in traverse city.
If you don't plan on tuning them, does it matter? Pick the one that matches your paint scheme. If you plan on tuning them, pick the one that you have support for. If you plan on tuning yourself, pick the one you want to work on. Or pick the cheapest one, both are good options.
yeah i looked into the pro fender brand... I'm sure they are a good quality but for the $515 each without springs puts me right into the king territory still.
When it broke I replaced the 500lb hypercoils with some 800's. I kept the truck another 7 months and traded it in on my f150. Dunno what happened to the truck.
You mean me? I think they were 2.0's. My ranger was a daily driver, I did some trails with that setup and it saw silver lake a couple years like that. I didn't run them like a prerunner, I knew it wasn't one.
If I were buying coilovers I would either call Accutune and have him give me a tuned set based on what I told him, or contact Phiil Liccardi who has traveled to the east coast a few times and see if he was coming back and set up a tuning session with him.
Can't go wrong with King or Fox, they're pretty much interchangeable from a performance standpoint. I haven't seen any shock coatings hold up to Michigan winter, especially a coilover that by design has parts rubbing on the finish. Find the best deal on either brand and run with it. I agree that Accutune would be a great starting point to bolt on and go.
A few have recommended Profenders, here's my feedback. I got a set a year or two after they started becoming well known in the U.S. after reading some good reviews on quality. I figured they were worth a try and have been running them for over 3 years now. They've worked well, but if I were to do it again I'd go Fox or King. The out of the box valving was absolutely 100% godawful and ridiculous. The shim stacks were so thick that I'm pretty sure the only shock movement I had was from fluid passing through the piston bleed holes. Not the end of the world since I planned to tune them myself, and all the extra shims allowed me to have extra for tuning, and I even machined a bunch down to different sizes to get them more progressive with smaller steps between shim sizes. After all that I still have a bag of spare shims that could fully outfit 4 more shocks. The 5/8" mounting bolts were a selling point for strength since most others are smaller 1/2", but properly set up that should be a total non-issue anyway. The larger bolts make it much harder to swap with any other shocks because now your mounting holes are oversized. The bodies on these shocks are ridiculously long. My 14" shocks are at least as long as most 16", which again requires different mounting compared to others on the market. The reservoir hoses use oddball threads that are impossible to find fittings or alternate hoses for. I wanted to get shorter hoses and 90° fittings for my rears and spent hours upon hours searching for parts. Only way to do it was triple conversion fittings. My shocks work well, I've had them apart 3 or 4 times for tuning, and haven't had to replace anything on them or had any real issues. A couple of the rod ends are getting a little loose, but not causing any problems yet. They shocks are doing their job and I have no intention of replacing them, but I've found some design annoyances that you'd be less likely to run into on the big brands like King, Fox, and Swayaway.
I went with ADS. Their support has been awesome, and I am happy with them. No leaks or anything over the last 6 months. Still need to tune them though.
I have had all and have been most pleased with my ADS. The coating ADS uses has held up the best to michigan weather and the foxs have done the worst only topped by my Fabtech's. The pic of the fox's below only saw snow once. I usually go through downsouth motormotorsposts for tunning advice and they know there stuff. There are also plenty of places around that can revalve for you like Griffen Fab Works.
From a performance standpont you really can't go wrong with Fox, ADS, or King. Its really more about the tunning.
I am building a wj so i would not consider that full size at all but it is kinda heavy.... I might go 2.5's if my budget allows when I get ready to order but I might stick with 2.0s.
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