Thuren vs. Carli

[ramv]

So Thuren is about 10% cheaper, and I have done business with Don before, I really like the second gen steering and track bar he built for me.

However, I have seen some concerns on here that the Carli stuff is better suited to Hemi/PW. I am primarily looking at springs and 2.5 Kings, not terribly concerned about other parts at this point.

So that being said, is there any reason why I wouldn't go with Thuren? Its a ton of money so I want to make the best decision. I am not hard core desert racing, but like Rickey Bobby I like to go fast. The stock bilsteins are proving to be well stock bilstein 4600s or so. (I got about 70k miles on my Chevy 2500 with stock bils and they were beyond done.)

[Colibri]

They have different tuning philosophies, but both have products that are well suited to our application.

With Carli you get what you get. You order 2.5’s from them and you get their 2.5 hemi valving.

With Thuren you get valving specific to your truck/driving style etc.

Carli valving generally runs around equivalent to Thuren stage 3 roughly. Good all around performance. Their spring rates tend to be a bit firmer than dons and their valving reflects that.

Don uses softer springs and valves the shocks accordingly. You’ll have a much broader range of possibilities with his shocks and springs.

Carli hard parts are very polished and hard to beat, but don is the guy for valving in my opinion.

One thing to note, if this is your first set of kings, they take a while to settle in. You’ll have to put some miles on them before they break in. Best thing you can do is throw a few hundred pounds in the bed and go flog the truck in the dirt.

Reserve judgment on the ride quality for a thousand miles or so either vendor you go with.

[DamageWagon]

I've dealt with both companies and form an ethical standpoint I'll never buy from Carli again. That said, they're both the top dogs and whoever you buy from you will likely be happy with. The only way you'd know there was anything better was if you rode in a Carli truck and rode in a Thuren truck and could compare the two. Be wise about what components you buy, there's several owners on here who have had difficult experiences getting things dialed in right.

[KevinABQ]

I know these are not cheap, but just how expensive are these sorts of upgrades?

[Reloaderguy]

My truck has not been easy to tune because of the modifications I have made. The truck cap, bed system, and spare tire carrier have totally changed the chassis handling characteristics. Had I ordered parts from Carli I would likely just be SOL. Thuren, on the other hand, has gone way beyond reasonable expectations to try to help me resolve the odd handling issues. Don is good people and a hell of a stand up guy.

[Ducky's Dad]

When I did my '05 about three years ago, I spoke with both Thuren and Carli about how my truck was set up and how I used it. I think I got good advice from both shops and wound up with a mix of parts from both. Rear spring packs on mine are Carli Hemis, plus a Carli steering damper (with a current recall that I have not dealt with yet). My shocks are Thuren Fox with Thuren's Boogie Bumps on the front and Firestone air bags on the rear. I have a Carli track bar and a set of control arms to go on soon (got a good deal from a guy upgrading his truck again). When I bought my stuff, Thuren was in the process of developing new spring packs, so if I were doing it today I might well use Thuren's packs. Planning to order a set of Thuren's adjustable shackles for the rear. My feeling is that Carli stuff is more for go-fast and Thuren will help more to customize your setup for your specific needs. I can drive to Carli's shop in less than an hour, and their parking lot usually has some really nice trucks in it, but they represent a lot of $$$. When I was done with that first phase of upgrades, there was a noticeable difference in ride quality and offroad handling. Could always get better, but I'm happy with the value I got from that combination.

[ramv]

Good deal, thanks guys. Good advice. Yes, first major shock upgrade for me (I did do Bilstein 7100s in my second gen which were amazing, but I was coming from white shocks.)

[OffroadTreks]

My truck has not been easy to tune because of the modifications I have made. The truck cap, bed system, and spare tire carrier have totally changed the chassis handling characteristics. Had I ordered parts from Carli I would likely just be SOL. Thuren, on the other hand, has gone way beyond reasonable expectations to try to help me resolve the odd handling issues. Don is good people and a hell of a stand up guy.

Your troubles have had me on edge a little bit, because I've mostly been watching what you do. I don't have a cap, but I have a rack that will carry a 120lb tent in the spring/summer/fall and carry a fullsize spare.

I've been considering actually selling my Thuren front coils and swapping to Carli. Mostly because I can just buy everything off the shelf and have it show up. The wait times for Kings from Thuren some of the guys have been experiencing is understandable, but discomforting. I mean I got nervous paying out 2 grand for a bumper and waiting to months. I can't imagine shelling out 3 grand and waiting 6-8 weeks.

One of my biggest concerns that I'm having with both is while Thuren has stages you can choose from, I'm not looking for a race setup.

We do a lot of washboard roads granted, but we also do A LOT of slower stuff out in the desert (Idaho) where we are crawling over fields of small rocks and it's endless little hits. When Reloadeguy has problems with soaking up hits from expansion joints on the freeway, I worry Kings won't help me on the stuff we drive over regularly that is annoying.

I guess the solution to these questions is to talk to the source though.

[IIIOIISTER]

I’ve went from Thuren coils and 2.0 King shocks to the Carli coils and King 2.5 Pintop. The shocks were obviously built for different applications but the Carli coils definitely feel harder than Thuren’s. I think both brands make high quality stuff but Thuren has more innovative parts than Carli such as his rear track bar kit and Boogie Rates bump stops.

[Ducky's Dad]

I guess the solution to these questions is to talk to the source though.

Yes, tell them what you are trying to accomplish, then listen. My truck is heavy. Two house batteries plus a G31 starter battery, big compressor, shell, roof rack with bag awning and 18 gallons of water tanks and four Maxtrax, big Pull-Pal, two big aluminum and steel tool boxes in the bed, 35" Toyos, Light bar with five big lights in front, four halogens in back, lots of recovery gear, 50 qt fridge in the back seat, etc. Even with all that, the advice from Thuren and Carli was to use Hemi packs in the rear with airbags, and I think they were right. Thuren advised that I keep the PW coils in front because they are about the same rate as his Hemi coils, but added Boogie Bumps for whoops in the desert. Would I rather have King 2.5s than the Thuren-tuned Fox 2.0 Remote shocks? Yeah, probably, but not for the difference in price. The Fox 2.0s work just fine.

[Reloaderguy]

We do a lot of washboard roads granted, but we also do A LOT of slower stuff out in the desert (Idaho) where we are crawling over fields of small rocks and it's endless little hits. When Reloadeguy has problems with soaking up hits from expansion joints on the freeway, I worry Kings won't help me on the stuff we drive over regularly that is annoying.

I guess the solution to these questions is to talk to the source though.

Washboards are not an issue. The factory suspensions was very chattery over long sections of washboards, the Thuren Kings are super smooth. Freeway expansion joints are not at all similar to washboards. FWIW, I can't reproduced the problem in Boise on any of the freeways, only metro areas of the I5 in Seattle, I15 in SLC, 405 in SoCal, etc.