Granted I’m a bitoger, and I initially sprung for bilsteins, so I’m probably a little pickier than most, but I pulled them off today and installed fox IFP 2.0s in the rear today.
the oem shocks saw tow duty and were useless with a load by 18,000 miles. The bilsteins went on and frankly, I felt they were a little soft to begin with, but they definitely helped so I stayed with them. They were certainly buttery under 40mph but basically had no rebound control over that. So at commute speeds, any dip or bump caused the rear of the truck to continually “pogo” up and around, to the point of feeling nauseous the last time I did a long interstate drive. I also noticed the truck seemed to be sitting close to level lately and wondered if it was the springs.
so at a little over 43k I swapped the foxes in. It’s a clear difference. The 5100s came off with some pressure in them, but probably about half of what they started with. First test drive on city streets, they felt a lot like an accord would. You could feel the moderate bumps but it was a single event, no bobbing, and something else, maybe secondary axle shake? Notable disappearance of brake dive and acceleration squat. i also noticed the factory rake is back again, with the rear slightly higher.
i think my 150 may be stiffer sprung - if I recall they said one of the packages on it was a stiffer suspension. Maybe it’s the fx4? But clearly as they wore in, the bilsteins were under-damped for the springs. Either that, or its possible they’ve backstepped in quality, as I saw rumored on another thread. I’ll also note that digressive valving, which is what the 5100s advertise, may be the opposite of what is needed for highway use and towing. The digressive valving softens when the shock has to respond faster, e.g., they loosen up on the highway… which you’d want on a fast dirt trail but maybe not for highway and certainly not with highway travel with a trailer and expansion joints.
anyway, for on-road handling and load carrying, I’m going to state that my initial impressions are fox > bilstein, and the longevity of these 5100s has not been like a set I had 10 years ago. If the foxes loosen up 10-15%, they should be near perfect for my preferences. If that happens, I could see doing the fronts sometime in the future. They are certainly more communicative of bumps and whatnot. Bilsteins were moving toward buick while the fox feels more like accord.
2018 f150 XL, stx, fx4. 200lb camper shell, hellwig rear sway on the softest setting, oem 20” wheels, usually 100lbs of gear in the bed.
-m
the oem shocks saw tow duty and were useless with a load by 18,000 miles. The bilsteins went on and frankly, I felt they were a little soft to begin with, but they definitely helped so I stayed with them. They were certainly buttery under 40mph but basically had no rebound control over that. So at commute speeds, any dip or bump caused the rear of the truck to continually “pogo” up and around, to the point of feeling nauseous the last time I did a long interstate drive. I also noticed the truck seemed to be sitting close to level lately and wondered if it was the springs.
so at a little over 43k I swapped the foxes in. It’s a clear difference. The 5100s came off with some pressure in them, but probably about half of what they started with. First test drive on city streets, they felt a lot like an accord would. You could feel the moderate bumps but it was a single event, no bobbing, and something else, maybe secondary axle shake? Notable disappearance of brake dive and acceleration squat. i also noticed the factory rake is back again, with the rear slightly higher.
i think my 150 may be stiffer sprung - if I recall they said one of the packages on it was a stiffer suspension. Maybe it’s the fx4? But clearly as they wore in, the bilsteins were under-damped for the springs. Either that, or its possible they’ve backstepped in quality, as I saw rumored on another thread. I’ll also note that digressive valving, which is what the 5100s advertise, may be the opposite of what is needed for highway use and towing. The digressive valving softens when the shock has to respond faster, e.g., they loosen up on the highway… which you’d want on a fast dirt trail but maybe not for highway and certainly not with highway travel with a trailer and expansion joints.
anyway, for on-road handling and load carrying, I’m going to state that my initial impressions are fox > bilstein, and the longevity of these 5100s has not been like a set I had 10 years ago. If the foxes loosen up 10-15%, they should be near perfect for my preferences. If that happens, I could see doing the fronts sometime in the future. They are certainly more communicative of bumps and whatnot. Bilsteins were moving toward buick while the fox feels more like accord.
2018 f150 XL, stx, fx4. 200lb camper shell, hellwig rear sway on the softest setting, oem 20” wheels, usually 100lbs of gear in the bed.
-m