Anyone have any experience with Carli Suspensions? Installed the Pin Top 2.5 on my F250 (did installation myself) and am experiencing what I can best describe as shock/spring "rebounding or bouncing". It is most severe going over highway expansion joints around 70 mph and provides a good amount of jolting to the ride. I've been told by people that have driven behind me that the tailpipe is actually bouncing up and down as well. I'm running all tire pressures to Carli specs and have had them rebalanced. I also took it to a suspension shop that deals with Carli to do the alignment and they said everything looked good and all trucks ride different, which wasn't much help. I'm not too impressed and may go back to stock with just some fox 2.0 shocks. Anyone have any experience they can provide?

Is it bad going over speed bumps etc?

Are you experiencing "porpoise-ing" just going down the road?

I looked up porpoising to make sure we were referring to the same thing. One site describes it as "front to rear bounce; the front hits a bump, then the rear hits the bump, and they both bounce independently of each other, creating an oscillating motion". I think this best describes what I am experiencing. It is noticeable on speeds bumps that aren't very rounded or subtle.

My experience with Carli - most grossly overrated suspension on the market. I have the Backcountry kit on my 2019 and it's not even close to what all the hype is on them. The ride is terrible and I feel every bit of road chatter out there. They are good at eating up the big stuff, suck and normal driving.

You are more than likely experiencing a little proposing because the pintops are the softest shock they have. They are made for driving 50 mph through whoops and chewing them up. They probably do that well. For a daily driver, not so much.

Some 5100s will firm it right up.

What wheelbase truck do you have? The crew cab with the long wheelbase is really bad about hitting the natural periods in the road around 70-75mph. Mine was much worse before I put on my Carli kit. After I got mine all tunes in with my pressures and such I don't notice it much at all anymore. I can't speak to the pintop kit since I don't have it. I have the coilover/bypass kit. Pressures in the shocks are what they recommended and haven't had to mess with the bypass shocks much at all. I'm also running the full spring replacement in the rear, so might be set up a little different than you as well.

Tire pressures and sizes do make quite a bit of difference as well. With my 37x20in and set up with everything I have on my truck I run 53-57 psi in the front, and 45-50 psi in the rear. From what I have seen there really is a big difference moving down to a 17ish in rim. Their systems use the tires to help get the smaller bump loads down. Would be too soft for the big stuff if the shocks were tuned for the small stuff.


They are normally pretty good about responding to emails and questions, or they were several years ago when I was setting up my truck.

Also if you are in the Houston area WPS was the only Carli dealer. I dont know how much they really know. Maybe they are better now. But they put one of my bypass socks in the rear on backwards, eneded up wearing hole in the side of one airbags. Was pretty annoyed at that.

Appreciate all the input. Sounds like I need to take a closer look at the shock pressures. I've got a short wheelbase, did the full rear spring replacement as well and am running 35x12.50's 45 psi front/40psi rear. I am still running the factory 18" wheels. Is there ride quality issue with running a 12.50 tire on a 8" rim? The tire shop that installed them said it wouldn't be a problem...

It may have been stated, but what shocks are you running. I have a 19 ram mega cab, not ford, but similar suspension. I wanted 2" leveling, not 2.5 so I went with thuren springs. Carli advised against the king shocks since I'm not looking for high speed off-road. I have the Fox 2.0 shocks from Carli and Carli sway bar with the thuren springs. The adjustable trac bar is still in the garage. I love the ride and it was a huge improvement over what was a generally decent ride. I tried the 5100s on my old 13 and they made the ride rougher so not doing that again. Overall I'd give my system an A+

I've got the King 2.5" shock package. Carli said the Fox's were for on road use only and were pretty adamant about not taking them offroad, even just gravel roads or driving around the farm.

You might try upping your tire pressure a little. With the 18in wheels you should be able to have a better ride than me with my 20in wheels. I'm wondering if you are just a little soft. And with a lot of sidewall the motion could be in the tires which the shocks won't really help with. Especially if you have a bumper replacement or anything else heavy on the truck. To set mine, I upped the pressure to what was on the tire, took some chalk and covered the tread, then drove a little. Would look at the chalk area and reduce the tire pressure if the outer portion of the tire was not getting rubbed off the same as the center portion. Kept repeating this until the chalk disappeared evenly. This will also help with tire wear, should help keep it even across the tread.

The shocks take a special high pressure Guage so I wouldn't mess with them unless you know what you are doing. Plus you don't want to lose your nitrogen charge and not have a way to charge them back up. 4wheel parts will do it, but their prices are absolutely outrageous. I have my shocks around 175 to 200psi, forgot exactly what it is, but it is at what they recommended.

rbag08 said:

---

I've got the King 2.5" shock package. Carli said the Fox's were for on road use only and were pretty adamant about not taking them offroad, even just gravel roads or driving around the farm.

---

Well that's silly. I'm off-road most days but I take it easy. I think your shocks are the problem

Yeah you might have gotten upsold some. The fox's are good shocks fora daily. The kings being a little bit bigger diameter should be giving you a bit better damping that's smoother over the big stuff and a bit better performance over time since the larger shocks shouldn't heat up as fast. I wouldn't nessisaily just downgrade shock diameter to make it stiffer. That's not nessisarily how it works.

Where are you located?

I'm in Houston

I'm by no means an expert on shocks, but would the King's shim stack and pressure be able to be modified to match the fox's for improved highway performance?

yes, can change the shims and all of that to stiffen everything up, but there must be something else going on. I wouldn't think that your pin top system would be any softer than my system.

I wouldnt know how to tell after but carli didnt have different labels for the front and the rear shocks? Im guessing the front had remote res. and the rears were piggybacked so you couldnt swap their positions.



I dont know where you are in Houston but I am as well. im curious what the truck is actually doing.

Your reservoir pressures shouldn't have much effect on your ride unless they're way out of range. The nitrogen pressure is just to move fluid in the shock when it extends, not to support vehicle weight.

It looks like the Carli Pin Top are King Shocks. See if Carli will share the shim stack and spring rates with you. Next, go weigh your truck front and rear. Finally, call Ben at Filthy Motorsports with the above information. He should be able to tell you if something is way off on spring rate or shock valving.

I'm in the heights area. I would be interested in doing a comparison between the two systems. Feel free to shoot me an email to exchange contact info and set something up. rbag08@zohomail.com