Is a custom tune on coil overs worth it?

[alex_5_7]

I'm looking into purchasing my first set of coil overs (Kings from Filthy Motorsports) and I'm unsure if custom tuning is beneficial for my application. I don't do any rock crawling at all... I pretty much stick to the fire roads or local trails here in So Cal and the occasional open desert 30-45 mph cruising. So all I really want is for it to soak up pot holes and such at relatively low speeds. Any tips?

BTW the reason I'm asking here is I received vague information from Ben over at Filthy Motorsports lol must have been busy, idk..

 

[olyelr]

If I was to be sinking that kind of coin down on a tuned suspension system, I’d be damn sure I felt fully comfortable as to what I was getting from the company I was purchasing from.

Myself, I would call up Thuren Fabrication and see if Don makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Heard nothing but great things about him/them.

But, chances are just getting the “generic” Kings for your truck will work just fine for your intended use.

 

[joshuaeb09]

Custom valving is all about making them that much better for your specific uses. A set of off the shelf king's are going to be a massively noticeable change to the ride just by the nature of 2.5" bodies with reservoirs, but having the valving tuned will really dial them in for your specific needs. The nice thing about kings is that you can order them off the shelf and then later have them re-valved by a place like Accutune. If your needs change, like a bumper/winch or change in use, then it's not that big of a deal to have them re-sprung and/or re-valved.

 

[olyelr]

Custom valving is all about making them that much better for your specific uses. A set of off the shelf king's are going to be a massively noticeable change to the ride just by the nature of 2.5" bodies with reservoirs, but having the valving tuned will really dial them in for your specific needs. The nice thing about kings is that you can order them off the shelf and then later have them re-valved by a place like Accutune. If your needs change, like a bumper/winch or change in use, then it's not that big of a deal to have them re-sprung and/or re-valved.

Meh, I wouldn’t necessarily say its not a big deal...I mean just the cost alone of getting them custom tuned is something to think about, plus the fact that they have to be taken out of the truck, possibly shipped off, and possibly having your truck sitting limbo (if you dont have another set of shocks to use). Could be quite a bit of a PITA.

 

[JB1]

@ram1500rsm has experience with this

 

[joshuaeb09]

Meh, I wouldn’t necessarily say its not a big deal...I mean just the cost alone of getting them custom tuned is something to think about, plus the fact that they have to be taken out of the truck, possibly shipped off, and possibly having your truck sitting limbo (if you dont have another set of shocks to use). Could be quite a bit of a PITA.

If you're going the route of C/O's rebuilds are already a given so having a set of backups or being ready to be stuck on jackstands during the rebuild should already be factored in IMO. Unless you're prepared to do the rebuild yourself they're going to get shipped off or go to a shop where most of the times they ship them off depending on who you have available locally. When talking relative costs the cost of a rebuild/re-valve isn't too significant compared to the cost of the C/O's vs something like standard billstein/rancho/etc shocks. Not saying it's not an expense, but relative to the C/O's it's not a big deal.

 

[ram1500rsm]

I'm looking into purchasing my first set of coil overs (Kings from Filthy Motorsports) and I'm unsure if custom tuning is beneficial for my application. I don't do any rock crawling at all... I pretty much stick to the fire roads or local trails here in So Cal and the occasional open desert 30-45 mph cruising. So all I really want is for it to soak up pot holes and such at relatively low speeds. Any tips?

BTW the reason I'm asking here is I received vague information from Ben over at Filthy Motorsports lol must have been busy, idk..View attachment 212325

Where in Socal are you ?
I'm in Trabuco Canyon,CA and hopefully we'll start hitting the bumps in Ocotillo wells or Joshua Tree soon. Darn Covid crap ruined everything this year. I go out with a small group of Toyota Tacoma owners sometimes and those fackers love to go fast, or with my old Jeep Wrangler group and they go very slow, but they do more rock crawling and i only take the truck on the easy trails they run. You have to have rock sliders at the very least on what they call "easy" trails around big bear, Joshua tree, 29 palms etc.
For example, This is my local Jeep group, i ran this trail with these dudes, didn't have sliders then, it was alsmost a hard lesson to go out without rock sliders lol

There are areas in this trail where you can nail 40-70mph easy with the Kings even at 34psi. This is where i did my Kings break-in


Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

by RAM RSM, on Flickr


In any case, i went initially with the King OE because i snatched a set a little over a year ago with a nice Black Friday discount i think 20-25% off retail price from SDHQ Motorsports. Beat the crap out the shocks in that period and did a full rebuilt this year by Accutune with new valving, new rear pistons (the OE rear King pistons are not linear so they changed that), tuned for more aggressive terrain etc, and the difference is noticeable and fully worth it for me and the way I drive the truck offroad.

As Joshua indicated the OE is a massive change over the stock or anything else you can get in the conventional non race world. When it comes to hitting the offroad trails and charging washes at speed in the desert revalve and tuning will give you more control from the Kings OE specs and more resistance to bottoming out around big potholes, faster whoops, dips etc.
If you're crusing now at 40mph in the open desert you can do the same with Kings at 70 mph with one hand while holding a coffee cup in the other without spilling it and keep that speed for hours without risk of fading or overheating, damaging your shock shaft/pistons or other suspension components. It's that crazy good. with the OE valving you get a transition fom rough to smooth at around 40mph or so in the desert woops for example, the revalving can make that transition at less speed so you get to experience the plushness on rough terrain with less speed.

If you're thinking to have them tuned, (i'd highly suggest you to get them valved and tuned from the get go, it'll be cheaper in the long run to do it right initially if you want more aggresively tuned shocks for more desert bashing), I'd recommend you Accutune offroad. They're in Carson,CA for me they're an hour away plus they're on my way to work so i can drop them and pick them up as needed and i avoid shipping charges that way, though i think shipping is free for new shocks. They will open them up and put new valving and tune for you before you take posession and i think tuning is free. Call or email for pricing. They could prob match or best Filthy if Filthy is giving you a good price. Ask For Tyler, i've been working with him to get another set of Kings for my rear since i have longer coil springs now so 'm looking to have the same lenght specs as the Dirt King rear long travel bypasses. Don't know if my name will ring a bell or not, but you can say Dario sent you their way given the good experience i've had with their shock work and customer service.

Have fun and let me know if you need anymore details regarding Kings. I've a bunch of notes about them in my built thread in my sig. check it out. Everything you wanted to know about installing them, how to adjust them, how much abuse they will wishtand etc etc.