Fox or Icon? Gauge interest.

[mplaramie]

I have a Icon Stage 2 kit on my 23 Laramie 1500 now and they are great. Super nice and stay planted with no dive or roll. Also have the BDS 3" kit with Fox 2.5 DSC that I've been itching to try.

First question, will it be worth going to the BDS/Fox set up vs the Icon? I want to have the ability to soften the ride on town roads (45 mph or less) while keeping all the performance characteristics of the Icons. I think the DSC would be great for that?????

Second question, if I take the Icon kit off, is there a strong market for them? I have the Icon Stage 2 w/ tubular UCA and extra set of rear spring and shocks. All have less than 2k miles with NO offroad. Would hope to get at least $2500 for all.

Third question, should I just stay with the Icon and sell the BDS/Fox kit? The BDS/Fox kit is still in the boxes.

Hope this makes sense. Any feedback, thoughts, suggestions, etc is welcomed.

 

[H2OMAN]

This is a lot to bite off. Icons are great or they wouldn't have a chunk of market. They have great racing teams and so their products get top of the line racing tech. Their kit comes with the rear coils and UCA's. So you could easily stay with them. Also, you could sell them easily as well. If you go with the Fox kit I'd keep the rear coils and the UCA's. You can't do better. The Foz 2.5 PE's can be setup for street and off road with a couple of clicks on the DSC adjusters. No one offers more adjustability at the moment. They remove all body roll and float on the harshest terrain. They are both great products and I don't have a horse in the race so ultimately it's up to you. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice. Good luck.

 

[boogielander]

coming from experience, I'd say icon has some QC issues.
Most recent is after we installed customer's brand new icon shocks they started to leak a month later. Icon warrantied it but customer wasn't happy about the down time.
There are also reports of icon's pin top sheering off while on trail. Most recent victim I've heard is a Ford Bronco 6th gen.

Also there's a speed bump between the shop I work at and the alignment shop we use, and I use that for shock performance testing. Icon rides rough going through that bump while Fox 2.5 soaks it up like it's nothing.

just from what i've seen/ heard in the industry.

 

[Gotsboost]

Love my icon set up. 0 issues and I push the truck pretty hard. That said I have heard of the issues with them.

 

[go-ram]

coming from experience, I'd say icon has some QC issues.
Most recent is after we installed customer's brand new icon shocks they started to leak a month later. Icon warrantied it but customer wasn't happy about the down time.
There are also reports of icon's pin top sheering off while on trail. Most recent victim I've heard is a Ford Bronco 6th gen.

Also there's a speed bump between the shop I work at and the alignment shop we use, and I use that for shock performance testing. Icon rides rough going through that bump while Fox 2.5 soaks it up like it's nothing.

just from what i've seen/ heard in the industry.

.
A friend of mine had Icon shocks on his 2015 Ram 4x4, they were a constant problem for him. He eventually ditched the Icons. His 2020 Rebel has Bilsteins, those have been trouble-free. Sean Holman on Truck Show Podcast nearly always recommends Bilstein - he's an extremely knowledgeable offroader.
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[H2OMAN]

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A friend of mine had Icon shocks on his 2015 Ram 4x4, they were a constant problem for him. He eventually ditched the Icons. His 2020 Rebel has Bilsteins, those have been trouble-free. Sean Holman on Truck Show Podcast nearly always recommends Bilstein - he's an extremely knowledgeable offroader.
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Since they're both digressive they should ride very similar. Bilstein, grade for grade, should probably be less expensive as well.

 

[boogielander]

.
A friend of mine had Icon shocks on his 2015 Ram 4x4, they were a constant problem for him. He eventually ditched the Icons. His 2020 Rebel has Bilsteins, those have been trouble-free. Sean Holman on Truck Show Podcast nearly always recommends Bilstein - he's an extremely knowledgeable offroader.
.

lots of people swear by Bilsteins. They were my first ever lift shocks when I started out back in 2017. I didn't know much about the science and difference between race shock brands like Fox and King vs Bilstein and since I've had good experience with Bil on my street cars I went with them.

Served me fine on pavement until I start hitting trails every weekend and start going faster on dirt in 2020. That's when the Bils exploded on me. Since then I only put King or Fox on my rigs and never looked back.

Point is, if it's 99% on pavement and not doing any high speed trails then Bil is going to be just fine. But if you are constantly hitting trails and look for high speed when you see dirt road, then save up and go for King of Fox 2.5 variants. Those 2.0 shocks will not last, doesn't matter what brand it is.

One analogy I make all the time is things are made for different levels of crowd:
You have Toyota and Lexus, great beginner platform where it's reliable and affordable enough. They can do a bit of everything and with aftermarket support you can spend two vehicles' worth of money to do a purpose build to excel in one area. But why would you do that when you can graduate to a extra capable rig right out of box, like Jeeps? Or if you want to go faster on dirt while participating in overlanding, why not go with Ram that does better in both categories?
Same thing as shocks. Bilsteins are great beginner shocks. They are cheap enough and readily available from a reputable brand. Great for if you don't know how far you're gonna go with this new hobby/ activity or what type of wheeling you like. Once you reach the performance limit of these shocks, it's time to step up to the next level, the true offroad shocks. Or you can go back down on your driving and wheeling so you don't hit the performance limit that often.

Different products are designed for different tasks/ levels. But icon... they are just a marketing company that happens to make shocks and other stuff.