Radflo vs. Icon (1 Viewer)

[BetoLC]

I know Icons are popular on Mud but a shop i am talking to suggested that for a truck doing dual duty as a DD and on the trail I should instead consider Radflos and Total Chaos links & arms
- their argument was that they have seen problems with spring rates and softness of the Icon ride with users not being able to find a setup that didn't wander on-road
- also said bushings and seals last longer than with Icons and brought up that Icon rear-link failure I have seen mentioned a couple of times (obv there are a lot of Icon links that haven't failed!)
- plus the Radflos are custom built for each order

TBH I had thought Icon's were the easiest decision of any of the mods so now reeling a bit (I also don't want to offend anybody running Icon so hesitated to even post this)

My search for Radflo on Mud only found stuff from a long time ago. Doesn't seem to have been part of any build or discussion for a while
- which is odd to me, Mud threads are all Icon and OME with a few Kings thrown in for good measure...

Does any body have any experience or opinion on Radflo vs. Icon?

thanks very much

 

[Angelo1]

Interesting, as my local shop hates Radflo, apparently they are a constant issue. They are a serious off-road shop and fabricator who primarily deal with Fox and King because do reliability and robustness. They are known for building custom rigs for King of Hammers. They aren’t fans of ICON if you live in a humid climate but are great in arid climates. I love my ICOnS but live in South and starting to see rust develop on the shock treads and nuts. I will eventually go King

 

[BetoLC]

that's interesting. This is for Pacific Northwest so not so much "humid" as "wet"...

 

[silverhorse]

From what I understand radflo is a smaller company but I hadn't heard much bad about them however I personally would not run anything of icons... ive seen too much of their stuff break. And their customer service doesn't seem to be very good unless of course you have your own YouTube channel

Then it seems to be much better

 

[Moby]

I ran Radflos for ~8 years on my GX. IPF, no remote reservoirs. I also tore them down and re-valved them myself once, so I've seen the insides compared to a Bilstein 7100 (no comparison on the quality at all, Radflo). I had zero issues with them. They are very high quality and went ~60K miles with no replacement parts or maintenance other than occasionally checking the charge pressure (and I replaced the charge valves to Schrader because the needle port is difficult to deal with but apparently leaks down less).

What I did have difficult with was the company itself. The place that I bought them from specialized in 4R and GX and got the valving very close to what I wanted first try. But they went out of business and I had to deal with the company direct. They were adamant that I did not need a valving change but stiffer springs. I was pretty sure I needed more mid shaft speed compression valving. But despite the fact that I do have experience tuning shocks I figured they were the experts and bought new springs. No change at all to what I was experiencing. I went back and they grudgingly agreed to send me a stiffer mid speed shim.

Now, I wouldn't be as irritated about this if they hadn't been so difficult to deal with. But in the end I got what I wanted. A perfectly dialed suspension for my usage, and it lasted longer than I expected a shock like this to (under moderate usage conditions in all sorts of weather).

 

[pchLC]

I had radflo on my 4runner. They were awesome! Progressive vs digressive is no contest and I’d definitely get them again.

 

[Moby]

Accutune has two good articles on different valving approaches and Icon's digressive tuning approach (read these in order):

Digressive vs Linear vs Progressive Pistons & Shock Valving | AccuTune Off-Road
Icon Vehicle Dynamics - 2.0 Digressive Piston Review | AccuTune Off-Road

As well as other good tech. If I go with Fox, which I'm leaning towards if I can get their IBP/DSC in a 2.5" to fit the front, I'll likely use these guys.

 

[Reckless]

i would have thought digressive would be the most desirable. Good to know bilsteins are digressive as well.

Accutune had my favorite explanations. They were fox dealers when I called years ago.

 

[Angelo1]

Fox makes a great suspension system but I’m not sold on them as they ride really soft from the times I’ve been in a 4x4 with them. Example: my buddies new quad cab Raptor has the new FOX live system and my kids hated it compared to our LC withe ICON 3.0. They felt it rode bouncy with sinking sensation driving down the freeway. My youngest who falls asleep within a 5mins of being in our LC could not do it in his Raptor on the 1hr road trip. I know this is anecdotal but I felt it as well in other off-road vehicles with Fox. I am sure you can have it dialed in to a bit stiffer and it could be the way vehicles like the Raptor wanted them set at for sand dunes.

 

[Moby]

It's not the brand, it's the tuning.