Great honest review on the high end King shocks vs Bilsten 5100! Here are a few key points to help you and your viewers to understand shocks and the purpose of why this part is even on your car or truck: • Shocks, regardless of cost, are designed to dampen the harmonic vibrations the suspension goes through when it encounter a bump and begins to bounce up and down. • A spring system, coil or leaf, will now be compressed and it will release this energy back into the vehicle as it rebounds. • If you imagine the vehicle going down a surface as smooth as a bowling alley, when a vertical bump has been introduced into the system, the tire and suspension system will continue to bounce up and down until all the energy is dispated and dampened. • A sock, which has internal gas or hydraulics, causes more friction and will dampen out this natural oscillations quickly and return the suspension to its normal state! This is the whole purpose of a shock! • The ride quality has more to do with the spring rate more than the actual shock. They are both interlinked but the springs have more effect. • That said, the King shock has a much larger reservoir for the fluid used, either gas or hydraulic fluid and in desert running/racing, it cycles the shock much harder than street or mild off road use and benefits from the larger fluid capacity to prevent overheat & failure. • So unless you will be cycling your offroad shocks like desert running at speed continuously for long periods of time, it is just a waste of money to buy those shocks! But of course, if you want the bling factor and can spend the money, it is all your choice! • There may be some minor comfort that comes with the King shocks as their performance envelope is much larger than a convential shock or a performance monotube shock like the Bilstein 5100. However, the price you pay is huge compared to the incremental gain for comfort. If you plot the price vs comfort on a XY graph with price on the horizontal X axis and comfort on the vertical Y axis, you will find the curve flattens out and increase very minimally as price increases with very little additional gains in comfort! Hope this helps.

Bilstein 5100’s are plenty. Anything better than stock is an upgrade in my book.

Thank you for being so honest and forthcoming. That’s really valuable! This video was really helpful to me. I’m stoked that you got to live your dream by having King suspension on your dream truck!

Overlanding is about reliability when you really shave it down to the bare bones. You don’t want to break in the middle of nowhere. Both shock brands are reliable for overlanding. Kings will shine in the whoops and you can adjust the dampening. But I think the only thing to mention is Kings are rebuildable and can be revalved where as the 5100/6112 are not. Awesome video Mike!!!

I have Bilstein 6112/5160 lift kit on my 2022 TRD Sport. It’s been a great ride for almost a year. Looking to upgrade to either Fox or Kings set up. Thanks for the review.

I put King suspension on my 2023 5th generation 4Runner big big difference, it is true what you say at slow speeds really couldn't tell any difference but at high speed definitely even medium speed you can tell the difference and also on the pavement. Why did Kings 2.5 with reservoir with adjustment. Install myself, could fit 285-7017 on the truck. BF Goodrich all terrain ko2 I think... I think my miles per gallon has suffered a little bit,. Total cost around 6000,, like the man on this video who has the truck I just wanted to splurge and do it right.. now I have to save up for a few other things I want to do but at least suspension is done until rebuild, by the way I just did get some protectors for my front coilovers looks like they're going to be a pain in the ass to put on. You're talking complete disassembly of the front coil over. Thanks for the video

I appreciate your honest opinion Mike.

Thanks for your opinion man! I’m thinking in the future of getting the Bilsteins lift kit set up. I don’t do much intense off-roading but I do want a better ride and extra clearance for the long run

I recently just put an Icon 2.5 front and Icon rears, add a leaf- I’ve had Icon UCA’s for a while- I put 100k on my Bilsteins (6112 & 5100). It was time for replacement. Icon Performance is better on faster offroad, very very stable. The Icons are still stiff on the road but I have a 3” lift. I paid $2680 installed, mind I already had UCA’s- it’s technically a stage 3 kit minus reservoirs as those I determined were not necessary for over landing. I can rebuild the Icons/service, add reservoirs etc. I will say they are an upgrade in handling compared to the 6112’s I think part of it is the look, like your Kings, they are bling,but performance , need, and price dictates the choice- also most of will not beat the crap out of our expensive Tacomas therefore we probably won’t push our suspension to the limits they are designed for- thanks for the honest review.

Well said Mike. I have tested several different types of shocks through the years and for what we do, adjustability is important.

thanks for the honest video, I run 5100s all around for my few times a year getaways and its enough, if I ever have the time to have more trips then I'll consider something more expensive

The multimatic DSSV suspension on my ZR2 has been awesome. Big difference from the stock suspension I had on my other 4x4 Colorado as far as comfort. I agree on what you said though, clearance & tire size is more important on these trails. Skid plates & sliders too.

Great video Mike

I have the 6112/5160 and they've been great on and offroad. Granted they're not Kings or Fox, and I do get curious about those, but if you really think about it its way too dangerous too be mobbing down trails too fast. I've had some close calls with UTV's that come fast out of nowhere. A lot of people get hurt in UTV's with expensive suspension because they dotn realize how fast they're going. Stay safe fellow offroaders and dont risk your families safety. If you drive calmly and at a reasonable speed, something like 6112/5160 or 5100's is all you really need.

When I get a Tacoma I want to start with the bulletin upgrade just about everything then circle back to the suspension for the king

I had the eibach stage 2 coils with dirt king uppers they felt good but felt the shocks bottom out fast and now I have kings 2.5 with resi and tc upper and night n day difference especially high speed

Awesome info ! I got the fox 2.0 because they are rebuildable . But come to find out it’s almost the same price as new ones to rebuild 🤷🏻‍♂️ so once it’s time I’ll probably just go bilstein 5100 or 6112 instead of rebuilding the fox 🦊

Hi Mike. Love your channel. In in socal, where did u get your suspension installed?

i love my kings

I have the exact same setup. Is your zerk fitting from the upc really close to one of your brake lines on the front passenger?

hey mike, have you or are currently running aftermarket bumpstops?

Coming from 5100 now to kings. Definitely night and day difference lol

what size tires are you able to put with that lift kit? Without having to modify anything else?

My rear adjuster towards front

What shop did the install?

No way this just posted 😂

Whoo, first!

The Kings come with a tune and depending on that tune they’ll behave differently

How are kings cool looking? Nah, you knew to spend all that money for the powder blue color on your springs. Its the only way you'd feel like a baller

Get to the point