Truth About Ironman Foam Cell Pro | In-depth Technical Review & Comparison

Is foam cell technology a good idea? Is the Ironman Foam Cell Pro kit a good value? How does it compare to Bilstein 5100, Bilstein 6112, Old Man Emu, Dobinson IMS? Should you spend more and get high end racing shocks like King, Fox, Icon, Radflo or Dobinson MRR?

Link to related videos mentioned:

0:00 Intro
0:37 Foam Cell Real Benefits
5:35 Ironman FCP Pros
13:10 Ironman FCP Cons
14:54 Ironman FCP vs Competition

[IronmanxAmerica]

Fair, balanced, and really well presented. Keep up the good work, Kai. The Ironman Team enjoys your videos and appreciates the work you're doing to educate people.

[cbh]

This channel is focusing on topics that really warranted deep-diving into. Suspension mechanics/dynamics has many hurdles for comprehension, not limited to the veiled tech for damper internals that is largely not talked about and treated as a subjective feel type of thing. Hats off to you man. Pondering things like these is why I'm a mechanical engineer.

[IAMTRASHMAN]

I’ve been running Foam Cell Pros on my 4Runner for almost two years and 25k miles on my 4Runner and haven’t had a single issue. Fantastic suspension.

[JohnnyChimpo]

I’m not sure what you do for a living currently (mechanic I’d imagine)… but if you made one video a week, this channel would have 1million followers. Nobody else out there is doing videos this comprehensive and viewer-friendly. Your videos are a whole other level of informative, and in a way that is utterly seamless and easy to absorb and digest. Amazing job as always… but seriously.. maybe consider diving in on your channel a bit more. You’ve got the potential to do this full time, 100%.

[mixflip]

I just watched the Italian guys video who used Ironman shocks to drive completely around the world. North America, South America, Europe, Persia, Africa, India, Russia, China and Australia…. His shocks performed flawlessly with no leaks or repairs needed. Ironman even took his shocks and springs off his vehicle to show off at trade shows.

That’s a seriously good endorsement just from using them around the world.

A mechanical engineer’s opinion is icing on the cake!!!

[soonenough]

As a fellow mechanical engineer, I really appreciate the unbiased, logical, fact-based approach here. Excellent content! I’ll be watching more of your videos 👍

[ADanNeedsAName]

I think you've made a good case for me to go for the Ironman over the Bilstein 6112s I was considering. Thanks Kai.

[Khub]

Your videos pack more in more info than I could find searching forums all day. Seriously awesome bro.

[shermellow]

5 years and 68, 000 miles yet still going on my FCP on my 2018 Tacoma. Not a single issue on the and they still look brand new!. Plus as Kai mentioned Ironman reguarly offers15-25% discounts year round nearly on their website so i got them for a very solid discounted price.Go team Ironman 4x4!

[Zavalik]

I use regular foam cell shocks in my truck (Ironman foamcell)... during an offroad trip in the middle of brazilian desert, I had to help fixing a break issue in my friend's car which was using a regular OEM shock... as I got closer the shock was really hot. It wasn't possible to touch it. In comparison, mines were cool at touch... you could rest your hand on it. Of course, after some 10s or more you would fill a discomfort... but the point is: my friend's car you could barely touch it, and shocks were no longer working as good as it was cold. But mines were fine.

[Champaign]

I've had the fcp's on my 3rd gen taco for 1.5 years now and very satisfied with their performance. Better ride quality than stock & handle the moderate trails in Colorado with ease. Their low maintenance yet full rebuild ability really appealled to me. The lime green color isn't the greatest but when parked near my Kawasaki, they look like they belong together...lol. Thanks for the detailed vid Kai, excellent job.

[UrbanOpsOffRoad]

As always! Dropping facts instead of biased info. Keep up the good work Kai!

[Absolute_Unit]

I really hope you never get tired of making videos this in-depth. I almost wish I discovered this channel in 2 years so I could have more of your videos to binge watch at once. Thank you!

[tacomax]

Great vid. I have been running the foam cell pro kit on my Tacoma for 25k miles. No complaints/issues so far. Lots of long days on washboard roads and high heat out in the desert and not a single problem 👍

[joereyna]

This has become my favorite channel. So much detailed information and research has gone into each vid. Great content

[cenccenc]

I just put these on my 2010 fj cruiser, and love them. Replaced bilstien 5100 on front and 5160 remot resevor on back. I kept my icon overland progressive springs on back, but went with iron man medium load coil overs on front. I do mostly overlanding in the Patagonia, with hours of washboard roads. The bilstien were down right dangerous after an hour or two as the shocks faded and so did my control. The foam cell pros eliminated the fish tailing of my FJ. Also, I did not want to have to send my shocks away to rebuild, which at that point I was probably cost more than jist buying new shocks.

[Turtle]

I’ve been running foam cell pro shocks in the rear of my Nissan patrol for about 5yrs and 80, 000km, the only issue I’ve had it the sheer size of the shock body means I had to trim the bump stop pad on the diff housing and the shock body still rubs on the panhard bracket at full bump. Still an excellent shock. Thanks for the very informative video.

[danpauls]

Thanks for the great discussion about the Ironman FCP suspension kit - I'm strongly considering it for my '23 4Runner w/ KDSS. I haven't read any installation instructions for the coil overs, but I suspect that your solution to the plethora of set screws is actually what Ironman intended - since the coil over is adjustable in place, having several ensures that one will be accessible as the adjusting collar is rotated. I've been a mechanical engineer since 1982 and I really appreciate your in-depth technical discussions and demonstrations - a great contrast to other content on YouTube that is unsupported by actual facts.

[randomuser]

Comparing vs Dobinsons! I recently installed their IMS on my Prado for the dunes of the UAE, very happy with them so far

[TheLateTes]

I really appreciated that down and dirty comparison at the end against similarly priced as well as higher and lower price points.