Low cost, high quality coil overs? Didn’t think it was possible? Well think again! First Over All Shock Absorbers, or F-O-A, has developed a line of shocks and coil overs that are both high quality, and low cost. They are the same or better then the other major brands out there, for much less (almost half the price in some cases).

One of the ways F-O-A has lowered prices is by using a Patent Pending High Pressure Die Casting process in manufacturing a number of components in their shocks. This process of die casting the aluminum components cost much less then using wrought material. With this new process these shocks are much stronger then previously seen in cast aluminum parts.

For my testing I used their coil overs with remote reservoir and fitted those with Eibach springs. The guys at F-O-A set my shocks up with Light/Med compression and Light Rebound front, Light compression and Light rebound rear. Those are the settings they recommended for rigs that do a lot of rock crawling, yet still allows it to work well on the street and trail use. The shocks feature a 2.5 DOM body and machine in a large ACME thread, and a plated hardened chrome 7/8 shaft. The overall design of these shocks makes for a very heavy duty shock, which will take all the abuse of normal offroad driving all the way to hardcore rock crawling. All they needed when I got them was a 120psi charge of nitrogen, and they were ready to go.

The remote reservoir on these shocks use a floating piston to keep the oil and air separated. This ensures more consistent performance and aids in cooling, which is important to keep the performance of the shocks consistent over long periods of use.

On the Jeep’s old suspension setup, worn out coil springs and cheap shocks made for a very harsh ride off road. Dropping the front of the Jeep off a ledge, or a rock at even the slowest crawls resulted in the entire Jeep slamming down like the axle was bolted to the frame. With the coil overs all tuned in, drop offs from several feet were soft and hardly noticeable. On access roads and smoother trails, even at speed the Jeep drives like its on paved roads. All the little bumps and ruts that would have rattled my teeth loose before are no long noticeable! The coil overs absorb everything I could throw at them. From dirt roads to the biggest rocks my Jeep would make it over, the coil overs impressed me every step of the way. From crawling, to faster trail riding, they never seemed to fade in performance. It no long feels like I’m driving a dump truck offroad.

Even after 10+ hours on the trails, the drive back out to the trailer was just as smooth as when we started the day. Neither 100 degree heat, nor 200+ degree under hood temps seemed to affect the performance of the shocks.

The quality, function of the coil overs were all the same, or better then the big name, more expensive coil overs out there, with one major difference, COST! F-O-A has figured out how to deliver the same quality product, for much less then the other major coil over companies out there!

After several trail rides of testing, these shocks continue to amaze. For not much more than the price of a good set of coil springs and normal shocks, you would end up spending just about as much as a set of F-O-A coil overs. Although coil overs aren’t for everyone, with prices like these, they now are within the budgets of a lot more people then in the past.

F-O-A offers coil overs from 6-16 inch travel, and both reservoir and emulsion mix shocks. If you need something special, F-O-A can make custom length shocks, and they can also make the extra long reservoir hoses for custom mounting. They have numerous options for valving to suit any driving style and planned usage from street vehicles to rock crawlers to desert racers. Another nice thing about their shocks is that everything is made in the USA.

For more information on F-O-A Coil Overs and Shocks click on the link below.