Shocks: Ironman Foam Cell Pro vs Icon stage 1 vs ? (1 Viewer)

[DenverLX]

I am in the market for new shocks. I have a 99' LX with a OME 2.5" lift that was done by Slee 3 years ago. 285/75/17 Goodyear Duratrac's, No bumpers/sliders/drawers. My current OME shocks were alright for a while but now feel terrible. These horrible Denver roads bounce me around and rattle my truck and I feel like the truck is surfing on the highway. I do a few Colorado mountain pass offroad trails a year, but I drive significant distances on washboard/rocky roads every weekend. Besides that I pull my raft on a trailer up I-70 every weekend in the summer.

I am looking for new shocks that help with body roll in turns and nose diving when braking but also function nice off road and are not too harsh on these exceptionally s***ty Denver roads. I do not want to drop over a grand on fancy remote reservoir shocks like King/Slee/Fox/Icon 2/3/ext. But I dont want to go with OME again. Ive been doing a bunch of reading on the forums and the only shocks I see in my price range are the new Ironman Foam Cell Pro (Metal Tech about $750) or Icon stage 1 (Metal Tech $1000).

Any opinions? Any other options to consider? Please let me know if you have experience with either of these or if you recommend something else that cost under $1000. Thanks

 

[Manhattan]

There was a lot of discussion about this a couple months ago: Iron Man Pro Foam Review

I'll summarize:
Are IronMan Pro Foam Cells great? Yes
Are they better than IronMan Foam Cells? Yes
Under what conditions, does it make sense to choose one over the other? Crickets.

I have the IronMan 2" TBs, springs and Foam Cells with 33s, a Dissent Offroad bumper and winch. The ride is great! It's as comfortable as stock - a bit stiffer, less body roll, very little brake dive.

 

[DenverLX]

Thanks for the reply, I have read that thread but it seemed like only one person was super excited about the Foam Cell Pro's.

 

[TheForger]

Check out this page on Iron Man's website. They conducted some nice tests including real world. Not sure how bias the results may be considering they were testing their own products but nonetheless it's something to compare other shocks to.

Foam Cell Pro Testing

 

[chuckscap]

I'm in kind of the same boat. I have OME Nitro Sports on my LX470. I'm going to try Toyota OEMs on the front, they're sitting in my truck waiting for the weather to get better. I have an OME 1.5" lift, diff drop, SPC UCAs and BIOR sliders and skid plates, all together probably about 500 lbs over stock weight.

 

[Battleship]

I have the IronMan 2" TBs, springs and Foam Cells with 33s, a Dissent Offroad bumper and winch. The ride is great! It's as comfortable as stock - a bit stiffer, less body roll, very little brake dive.

Did you consider the IronMan nitrogen shocks at all? I think I will wind up with a setup similar to yours, and I'm expecting they will recommend those, but my preference is the Foam Cells. I'm wondering what your take was on that choice, if at all.

 

[Manhattan]

I have the luxury of being down the road from ACC. I told Brian I wanted ___ and he said "No you don't. You want___" and I said "That's what I meant." When I drove out of the shop with...
- IronMan torsion bars
- IronMan coil springs; 2” lift, 13B “Performance”; 0-440 lbs.
- IronMan Foam Cell FE shocks
- Rear sway bar ends lengthened 2”
- SPC UPCs
... i knew "I" had made the right call.

Okay, seriously... I really didn't give it much thought - what to install. I trust the guys at ACC. They know the truck and how I use it. They nailed it.

 

[Ali FJ80]

@DenverLX I cannot speak for the pro version but have regular Ironman Foam Cell shocks on my 100 and it drives very nice with about a 1.5" of lift. Since your in Denver your welcome to come by and drive it if you like to see how it feels.

 

[bucfl]

@DenverLX I cannot speak for the pro version but have regular Ironman Foam Cell shocks on my 100 and it drives very nice with about a 1.5" of lift. Since your in Denver your welcome to come by and drive it if you like to see how it feels.

Which lift did you go with? 1.5 is plenty for what we see.

 

[Ali FJ80]

achieved the lift with just spring spacers in the back and cranked torsion bars. have ome 865 to swap out in the rear but it rides so nice as is I may not use them and go with airbags in the rear for when we really load her up.

 

[abuck99]

Kind of a subjective comparison. To answer your question objectively someone would probably have had to used both ironman and the icons.

That said, from my perspective I'd save your money and look towards the foam cell pros. I don't see the justification for remote res. shocks unless your doing a majority of your driving off-road (I'm sure that's debateable) the Pro's are also rebuildable - although I don't know how much that costs vs outright replacement. Also they have a pretty good warranty.

My set up is light: just a winch & bumper. No other added weight like rear bumper, tire carrier, drawers, roof rack or tent. I just installed the Foam Cell Pros and TB's in the past 1000 miles. Very happy with the ride- smooth, and for sure much less body roll, no front end dive (granted anything would be an improvement over the sacked out original shocks that had 167k which had as much resistance as my bicycle pump) Replacing sway end links and bushes will also help body roll- that's a low cost easy job.

If you order through Ironman 4x4 America | Off-Roading Truck Equipment and Accessories shipping is free over $800, and flat $20 $799 and below. There is also a 5% discount. Or wait until metal tech is having a sale and save a few $ more. I think I paid under $700 for all 4 Pro's when they had their Feb sale.

Good luck.

 

[geologic]

Well I had the OME Nitro, now I bought the Foam Cell Pro, ride is amazing, see the review by Wngrog, his truck is the one I drove to test them, he has a Slee front & rear bumper and sliders with a nice tire size for fit on the 100 in the new BFG AT/KO2 it's a 305, his rig is an excellent balance of all on the 100, he also has a shorter heavy Slee rear spring which makes a nice stance, look up his threads on the Iron Man Foam Cell Pro and the tire size, enjoy either of the two you asked about, I don't see you going wrong with either but Nolans truck is an excellent drive

 

[Zando504]

So I've also heard a lot of good things about the new pro cell Ironman shocks. But not much on the Icon stage 1... Anyone have experience with the stage 1 Icon?

 

[Zando504]

Decided to do some "stage 1"

research...

 

[Ryan Carroll]

How do you like it? I am thinking that I will be in the market soon. Currently, all I have is rack, but after holidays (if Santa is good to me), I will have sliders and drawers as well. Then in the next year or so I will do both bumpers with all the fixings...

 

[Ryan Carroll]

I just hit 60k on my rig so I'm not in any hurry.

 

[abuck99]

Decided to do some "stage 1"View attachment 1370704 View attachment 1370705 View attachment 1370706 research...

Nice!

If you have done your post Nitro UCA install front end alignment, I'd be interested to know where the Caster numbers were set.

 

[Zando504]

 

[abuck99]

Thanks. I always was curious how much caster the Nitro's would provide. Looks pretty good. Do you know if there is any room left on the cam adjusters to give any more caster? Small bump on the top of the camber plate will be centered or rotated to one side.

 

[Kofoed]

....snip, But not much on the Icon stage 1... Anyone have experience with the stage 1 Icon?

For Icon's, I would suggest going to "stage 2" for the non-CDC reservoir shocks, because they have the "bump zone" as Icon calls it, that increases dampening by 20% for that last inch of compression travel. It is very effective IMO, especially for the front. I've not needed it for the rears, there is a lot of travel available.