ICON vs KING (My Experience) (4 Viewers)

[ToyotaIsLife]

ICON Piston VS King Piston:

KING Piston: Linear design with tuneable free bleed holes, can be made either linear or progressive depending on the shim stack configuration and free bleed hole screws.

ICON Piston: Digressive piston, designed with a lifted outeredge to give preload to the shim stacks, preloading the shim stacks is how the digressive damping is acheived, adding more preload means a more digressive curve and visce versa. A digressive curve means more force/damping is generated during low shaft velocitys and less force is generated in high shaft velocities.

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ICON Shock Internals(2.5 Coilover):

KING Shock Internals(2.5 Coilover):

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ICON Shim Stack VS KING Shim Stack:

ICON Shim stack: Starts with a smaller diamter then goes larger and smaller depending on the tune, much more complicated still did not get the hang of it. Dont understand how it works 100% yet.

KING Shim Stack: Pyrimim Stack which starts with a large diamter shim then goes smaller which creates progresive damping, most come with a flutter stack on compression to make it more progressive (flutter stack makes the first shim bend more which extends the softs zone, basicly makes the shock damping curve softer in the beginning)

 

[AllLC]

Man you are serious about your truck! I wish you had a 100! I’ve been looking at Kings for my 99. Great write up, thanks for taking the time.

 

[Reckless]

ICON Pros:

1. Digressive valving provides a much more controlled feel, much less body roll. It also is much less likely to bottom out on big hits.

2. All the ICON shocks I have tried have provided more then enough lift (0-3.5 inch). The shocks have many extra preload threads to compensate for added weight and are built as long as possible of the shelf, this is a big bonus for me.

3. Similar to the previous pro, ICON coilovers always MAX out the CV angle, meaning they provide as much travel as possible when paired with Uniball upper control arms off the shelf.

ICON Cons:

1. Digressive valving suffers when it comes to small bump compliance resulting in a choppy ride. This is a major problem if the terrain you frequently traverse has washboard roads, or small uneven bumps.

*(In some situations this can be tuned out or reduced by deleting the sway bar, dropping the tire pressure significantly or revalving it but in my experience it did not do any good, I have tried many many times to get it tuned out however softening up the low end is no good because the digressive valving is meant to be controlled in that part of the stroke, you will end up screwing up the performance big time )*

2. More complex design, shims are very hard to swap out since they do not sell any of those online (to my knowledge, I have searched everywhere), and the shims are not stacked in order. Very hard to keep track of the valving. I had to contact my local vendor to get it revalved which is a pain in the ass since he is always busy and charges big time.

3. Does not treat orders as custom, this is a big No no for me, every application is different, every truck is different you cannot have a shock that is one size fits all. That does not make any sense. However if you try to get in contact you can get them to change certain elements of the shock. Similar to king their is a certain build time(2-8 weeks depending on seasonal demand).
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Under cons I can give up #2 and #3. I prefer not to give up #1 but I don't think I can give up digressive valving. Speaking theoretically, I don't think progressive/linear can mimic digressive. Digressive seems to be the perfect choice for an aggressive driver. Progressive/linear sound dull to drive (reminds me of AHC). Sure it will improve small bump compliance but giving up less body roll and the big whoops sound super boring to me.

KING Cons:

1. Progressive valving in some situations can cause more body roll, and is less stable in very big hits.

This sounds awful. Sure ride is more smooth but at what cost? I don't think you can win at high speed without going digressive.

 

[Moby]

This is an excellent thread, with lots of very accurate data. I particularly agree with your assessment to use the softest springs possible for the height you need, and the characteristics of progressive dampening. I have found that even with progressive I've been able to get the valving right to control bottoming out, both medium and high shaft speed, without having to go to stiffer springs (which didn't actually address the problem either). Keep at it with the shim work, it'll get there.

 

[Reckless]

This is an excellent thread, with lots of very accurate data. I particularly agree with your assessment to use the softest springs possible for the height you need

+1 This caught my attention as I didn't see anyone else make this recommendation when I was buying coilovers. I ended up staying with stock springs as I couldn't find anything softer. Stock springs did require me to level my ride. I liked having the rake for braking especially with the RW KO2 combo.