Accutune Ride Shocks - Off-road Review and Videos

[Broncobro04]

Alex with Hammer Built here again. If you haven’t seen my initial review, I recommend checking it out first (link below). For those who did, here’s an update after taking my Ride Shocks off-road and putting them to the test.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/accutune-ride-shocks-first-impression-and-review.105211/

Trail Testing
We started with some dirt roads that had a mix of holes, washboard, roots, and some off camber stuff. With the adjusters set just 1-2 clicks from fully open, the ride was plush and controlled. These were slower, more technical trails, like 5-10mph max.

Knowing we had some higher-speed trails ahead, I stiffened the adjusters slightly above my street setup. The next stretch was a curvy, sandy trail with some mild whoops. The shocks handled everything effortlessly. The overall handling inspired confidence. This was like a 25-35mph section.

Next test was in my favorite area in all of Florida. A long, wide-open sandy powerline trail with some good whoops and a jump spot that the Raptor guys love. I did a prerun to check for any new holes or water, etc. Everything looked good. Actually, I think the whoops got bigger…. Hell yeah!

Honestly though, I was scared to hit the jump at first , so I eased over it and then opened it up. With the adjusters dialed to full stiff, I hit about 55 mph through the whoops and freaking launched through the air. It was so sick. Made for a sweet video. I ended up hitting the jump spot a few times later too.

Performance Observations
While the shocks excelled in handling the milder whoops, I noticed the rear end bottomed out easier and more frequently than I anticipated during the more aggressive runs. To be fair, I was pushing the truck really hard, and the Ride Shocks still absolutely crushed the stock setup. But I felt like there was some untapped potential, so I reached out to Accutune.

The Culprit
Accutune told me that their early batches of Ride Shocks had a more aggressive tune designed for high-speed off-road use, which would’ve been perfect for my case. However, some early reviews noted that these were too stiff for on-road driving, so they dialed back the tuning for a more street compliant ride. The result was less performance in the high speed stuff. Nothing a revalve can’t fix, or just have them custom tuned when placing your order.

Currently, the shocks offer an incredible ride on the street and handle slow to moderate off road stuff extremely well. They can take on mild to moderate whoops effortlessly, but that’s about as far as the factory tune goes. Since I prefer more aggressive wheeling, I decided I’m going to send mine in for a revalve. The change in on road ride quality is a worthwhile trade off in my opinion, and I prefer a firmer ride on the road anyway.

Takeaways
I think the lesson here for you review seekers and guys on the fence about high end shocks is to set your expectations right. If you put race shocks on your truck, it’s going to ride like a race truck. Bypasses click, Uniballs and heim joints make noise. It’s just a part of it, it doesn’t mean that part sucks.

That said, these shocks are still an incredible upgrade, especially on road and in the more technical trails. They’ve already exceeded my expectations compared to the stock setup, and with the revalve, I’m confident they’ll be exactly what I need.

VIDEOS:

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[mike8675309]

Those are the shocks on my list for adding a lift and 37s to my rig. Nice update.

 

[Sherpa11]

off topic but what did you do to get the running headlights to be fully amber? I thought through for scan you could get the hash marks amber not the circular ring? thanks

 

[O-BRONCO-O]

off topic but what did you do to get the running headlights to be fully amber? I thought through for scan you could get the hash marks amber not the circular ring? thanks

From an older one of his posts, it looks like he installed Form Lighting headlights.

 

[ScLeCo]

Takeaways
I think the lesson here for you review seekers and guys on the fence about high end shocks is to set your expectations right. If you put race shocks on your truck, it’s going to ride like a race truck.

@Broncobro04 Who the fuck said these were "race shocks"? It sure as shit wasn't Ride themselves.
" offering an exceptionally smooth driving experience whether you’re commuting daily or navigating off-road terrain."

Nothing on their website says "race shocks" I set my expectations based on their actual words. Expectations did not equal reality.
Now I will say that Ride has been one of the best company's I've ever dealt with
as far as customer service.

They re-valved my shocks for FREE and they even paid for shipping both ways. I will re-evaluate and post another review when I've put some miles on them again.
But right out of the box they were way to stiff even on the softest setting rendering any adjust ability on the shocks useless. I had to go through the PITA of uninstalling the shocks, boxing them, and then re-installing.
Something for people to keep in mind. Yes they will work with you if you don't like them out of the box but it requires effort and some downtime. I am not shitting on Ride or their shocks. In fact I'm sticking with them, I felt it was worth it to go through the process of having them re-valved. Just know that I and others have not been 100% happy with them out of the box.
I'll just remind people reading this guys "review". He's selling a product
Take everything he's saying with more than a grain of salt maybe more like a fist full.

 

[Cobrafang]

@Broncobro04 Who the fuck said these were "race shocks"? It sure as shit wasn't Ride themselves.
" offering an exceptionally smooth driving experience whether you’re commuting daily or navigating off-road terrain."

Nothing on their website says "race shocks" I set my expectations based on their actual words. Expectations did not equal reality.
Now I will say that Ride has been one of the best company's I've ever dealt with
as far as customer service.

They re-valved my shocks for FREE and they even paid for shipping both ways. I will re-evaluate and post another review when I've put some miles on them again.
But right out of the box they were way to stiff even on the softest setting rendering any adjust ability on the shocks useless. I had to go through the PITA of uninstalling the shocks, boxing them, and then re-installing.
Something for people to keep in mind. Yes they will work with you if you don't like them out of the box but it requires effort and some downtime. I am not shitting on Ride or their shocks. In fact I'm sticking with them, I felt it was worth it to go through the process of having them re-valved. Just know that I and others have not been 100% happy with them out of the box.
I'll just remind people reading this guys "review". He's selling a product
Take everything he's saying with more than a grain of salt maybe more like a fist full.

I think he was making a metaphoric statement....meaning if you buy stiff shocks, your truck you going to get stiff ride....good info.

 

[Broncobro04]

@Broncobro04 Who the fuck said these were "race shocks"? It sure as shit wasn't Ride themselves.
" offering an exceptionally smooth driving experience whether you’re commuting daily or navigating off-road terrain."

Nothing on their website says "race shocks" I set my expectations based on their actual words. Expectations did not equal reality.
Now I will say that Ride has been one of the best company's I've ever dealt with
as far as customer service.

They re-valved my shocks for FREE and they even paid for shipping both ways. I will re-evaluate and post another review when I've put some miles on them again.
But right out of the box they were way to stiff even on the softest setting rendering any adjust ability on the shocks useless. I had to go through the PITA of uninstalling the shocks, boxing them, and then re-installing.
Something for people to keep in mind. Yes they will work with you if you don't like them out of the box but it requires effort and some downtime. I am not shitting on Ride or their shocks. In fact I'm sticking with them, I felt it was worth it to go through the process of having them re-valved. Just know that I and others have not been 100% happy with them out of the box.
I'll just remind people reading this guys "review". He's selling a product
Take everything he's saying with more than a grain of salt maybe more like a fist full.

Hang on man, there is no reason for you to come in here the way you did. This post wasn’t directed at you or calling you out. To answer your question, nobody said they were race shocks. My comment was a general fact about how there’s tradeoffs when modifying your vehicle.

Accutune themselves told me that the original tune, which it sounds like you had, was designed for higher speed offroading which caused a stiffer ride on the street. My shocks on the other hand, are from after they adjusted the tune for a more street compliant ride. That’s straight from Accutunes mouth.

As far as you questioning the legitimacy of this review, I was a bronco owner and off-roader long before I joined Hammer Built. This is not a sponsored post. And if you didn’t read the whole thing, I called out the fact that these fell short in certain areas, and my shocks are also going in for a revalve. That certainly doesn’t sound like a great sales tactic. The point of this post is to give users an idea of how these shocks are currently tuned and what they should expect as of now.

 

[mack092]

@Broncobro04 Who the fuck said these were "race shocks"? It sure as shit wasn't Ride themselves.
" offering an exceptionally smooth driving experience whether you’re commuting daily or navigating off-road terrain."

Nothing on their website says "race shocks" I set my expectations based on their actual words. Expectations did not equal reality.
Now I will say that Ride has been one of the best company's I've ever dealt with
as far as customer service.

They re-valved my shocks for FREE and they even paid for shipping both ways. I will re-evaluate and post another review when I've put some miles on them again.
But right out of the box they were way to stiff even on the softest setting rendering any adjust ability on the shocks useless. I had to go through the PITA of uninstalling the shocks, boxing them, and then re-installing.
Something for people to keep in mind. Yes they will work with you if you don't like them out of the box but it requires effort and some downtime. I am not shitting on Ride or their shocks. In fact I'm sticking with them, I felt it was worth it to go through the process of having them re-valved. Just know that I and others have not been 100% happy with them out of the box.
I'll just remind people reading this guys "review". He's selling a product
Take everything he's saying with more than a grain of salt maybe more like a fist full.

Well said!!

 

[Snacktime]

@Broncobro04 did you get a 20% discount? Your post seems like you took the brand ambassador deal more than buying them for what they are. FYI I really like accutune but to cheap to blow the money.

 

[Broncobro04]

@Broncobro04 did you get a 20% discount? Your post seems like you took the brand ambassador deal more than buying them for what they are. FYI I really like accutune but to cheap to blow the money.

No. I got my shocks before the brand ambassadorship was a thing. I bought these shocks because 1. Accutune and 2. I was shopping for coilovers when these came out so I emailed them back and forth to gather info and ask questions and they sounded like what I was looking for.

 

[ScLeCo]

Hang on man, there is no reason for you to come in here the way you did. This post wasn’t directed at you or calling you out. To answer your question, nobody said they were race shocks. My comment was a general fact about how there’s tradeoffs when modifying your vehicle.

Accutune themselves told me that the original tune, which it sounds like you had, was designed for higher speed offroading which caused a stiffer ride on the street. My shocks on the other hand, are from after they adjusted the tune for a more street compliant ride. That’s straight from Accutunes mouth.

As far as you questioning the legitimacy of this review, I was a bronco owner and off-roader long before I joined Hammer Built. This is not a sponsored post. And if you didn’t read the whole thing, I called out the fact that these fell short in certain areas, and my shocks are also going in for a revalve. That certainly doesn’t sound like a great sales tactic. The point of this post is to give users an idea of how these shocks are currently tuned and what they should expect as of now.

Ok. Sorry my bad.
I guess that "race shocks" comment at the end struck a nerve.
The reason I got these was that they were marketed as NOT being race shocks.
I was talked out of the 3.0 FOX and into these because I told them I wasn't doing any high speed desert running and that I wanted a street and rock friendly set up. I was pretty annoyed when they showed up valved for high speed offroad performance.

 

[BroncoStorm]

Still looking for a Bronco in NorCal area with the Ride setup to put head to head with my set up.
So far, these Bilstein 8112’s have been leagues above anything I’ve ridden in on and off road due to the 5 valving zones.

No need to revalve these bad boys.
- Triple piston design for 3 compression and 2 rebound zones
- 2-stage telescopic internal compression stopper
- 60mm piston & 60mm remote reservoir
- Adjustable height

Anyone going to KOH?

 

[killaz05]

Hey Alex, I remember meeting you at Ol' Florida. I have been looking for more places in FL to ride. The East Coast just doesn't have much. One day I will have to meeting up with the North Florida Bronco group.

I didn't realize before you were running the stock Bilstein suspension when I saw your Bronco before. The new setup looks great and much more capable. One day I will take the plunge and change out the suspension on the Bronco.

 

[Broncobro04]

Ok. Sorry my bad.
I guess that "race shocks" comment at the end struck a nerve.
The reason I got these was that they were marketed as NOT being race shocks.
I was talked out of the 3.0 FOX and into these because I told them I wasn't doing any high speed desert running and that I wanted a street and rock friendly set up. I was pretty annoyed when they showed up valved for high speed offroad performance.

I hope they fit your use better with the revalve. It sounds like you got the shocks I wanted, and I got the ones you wanted. It does suck having to swap shocks out multiple times but honestly, it’ll be worth it.

 

[Broncobro04]

Hey Alex, I remember meeting you at Ol' Florida. I have been looking for more places in FL to ride. The East Coast just doesn't have much. One day I will have to meeting up with the North Florida Bronco group.

I didn't realize before you were running the stock Bilstein suspension when I saw your Bronco before. The new setup looks great and much more capable. One day I will take the plunge and change out the suspension on the Bronco.

Man it sucks that everything is getting shut down! These videos were from Ocala which is really the only place I enjoy anymore. And there isn’t a whole lot to do there besides camp

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