P500 Walker Evans shocks for P500

[WalkerEvansRacing]

That price is $299 per shock?!?! No... They need to come up with something much better for me to spend that kind of cash. This is a strut, they can offer a lift, some choices with spring rate, etc. This costs more than the Rancho 2.5" lift struts I put on my F150. $249 for two and they're 10x bigger.

With these Honda Pioneer shocks you are not getting a STRUT or cheap ass emulsion shock. This is an American made top quality product built and assembled in our Riverside, CA facility where we do everything in this building except for anodizing. This is fully rebuildable and tunable shock unlike a Pioneer 500 stock shock or some of the other band aide shock fixes we have seen tried. There is a price for quality and performance and we do not cut corners on either quality or performance.

All of that aside we can't always duplicate how Pioneer 500 users drive their machines but we do listen to comments from this and other sites to see what customers are complaining about. This is exactly why we built this shock. We saw the need based on customer complaints and desires for a better shock. We admire those who have tried some of their own "fixes" and we wanted to take that to the next level.

We optimize suspension travel without sacrificing the durability that Honda designs into their products so if we can increase wheel travel and or ground clearance we will. We always try to stay true to the suspension motion ratios that are designed by Honda or any other OE because they were designed that way for a reason.

We are here to help make your ownership and ride quality of your Pioneer's a better experience period.

Happy trials!

 

[Deleted member 3748]

With these Honda Pioneer shocks you are not getting a STRUT or cheap ass emulsion shock. This is an American made top quality product built and assembled in our Riverside, CA facility where we do everything in this building except for anodizing. This is fully rebuildable and tunable shock unlike a Pioneer 500 stock shock or some of the other band aide shock fixes we have seen tried. There is a price for quality and performance and we do not cut corners on either quality or performance.

All of that aside we can't always duplicate how Pioneer 500 users drive their machines but we do listen to comments from this and other sites to see what customers are complaining about. This is exactly why we built this shock. We saw the need based on customer complaints and desires for a better shock. We admire those who have tried some of their own "fixes" and we wanted to take that to the next level.

We optimize suspension travel without sacrificing the durability that Honda designs into their products so if we can increase wheel travel and or ground clearance we will. We always try to stay true to the suspension motion ratios that are designed by Honda or any other OE because they were designed that way for a reason.

We are here to help make your ownership and ride quality of your Pioneer's a better experience period.

Happy trials!

Sorry you're unhappy with my message, but $600 for front shocks is almost 10% of the entire machine cost. I realize the market is getting prices like this for SxS accessories, but many of us bought the Pioneer because it was $6-7K. If we spent $20k on a RZR, $600 is reasonable.

 

[Chooglin]

Come on guys , after all the waiting and wanting , for someone to come out with a set of bolt on high quality shocks and then moan and groan about the price ?

W.E. finally step up and gave us what we've been asking for. If the price is out of your budget, there are other options.

Give them a break and be thankful they are listening and delivering what most everyone complains about with the p500

 

[Deleted member 3748]

Then maybe not quote me in the reply.

 

[solrus]

I think they should explore strategy of lower price but bulk sale.
WE people , are u ready to start group buy thread?? Knock off may be 50$ off each shock?

I own 4 runner and their forum has bunch of group buys from different manufactures.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[bucky]

I think the main thing here is - what do they do for the machine? How big of a difference do they make? We spend $600 for tires stating they make a big difference if these make as big or bigger difference would that make it worth the cost?

 

[solrus]

I like the rhino shock mod a lot

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[chrisC]

I think its well worth it. I never regretted spending the money for WE shocks.

 

[Jonnyho]

PicsView attachment 50881View attachment 50882View attachment 50883View attachment 50884

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

So do you prefer the 175 spring over the 250? I'm thinking of purchasing these and I want to make sure they are worth the money.

 

[JWB]

Come on guys , after all the waiting and wanting , for someone to come out with a set of bolt on high quality shocks and then moan and groan about the price ?

W.E. finally step up and gave us what we've been asking for. If the price is out of your budget, there are other options.

Give them a break and be thankful they are listening and delivering what most everyone complains about with the p500

I agree 110% Choog! You guys have to take into consideration the very limited market the P500 represents. Small production = big $$, so there's just no getting around the economics of building a high quality product for a very small market segment. If you guys want high quality shocks that just bolt on, support this AMERICAN company for putting/risking their money to make them, cuz that's what you asked for!
Shame it took so long, but I'm personally glad it did, cuz if they had these available a year ago, I'd be riding on them now, and would have never put the air ride set-up together. I wouldn't give up the air system- or the experience of building it, for anything else at this point, unless someone offers an affordable purpose built air-spring/shock at a reasonable price.

 

[JWB]

I think the main thing here is - what do they do for the machine? How big of a difference do they make? We spend $600 for tires stating they make a big difference if these make as big or bigger difference would that make it worth the cost?

I have not ridden a machine with the W.E. shocks, but considering that the stock (shocks?) screen door dampers with ridiculously stiff coil springs are the baseline, the improvement in ride, control, traction, and parts protection (including people parts) from hard bottoming episodes would be easily as valuable as the tire change, and even more so when you take into consideration that suspension improvement will make your tire upgrade even more effective. You can't imagine the difference until you've ridden a P500 with good shocks! Only then could you see how abysmal the stockers really are. Just do the fronts first- that makes the biggest improvement- if all four were rated at 100% improvement, I'd say that the fronts alone are 85-90% of that, or maybe even higher- I'm sure one of the guys will comment.

 

[Chooglin]

I never regretted doing the Rhino shock mod , the ride is such an improvement. I could only imagine what the W.E. shocks would feel like.

If I decide to keep this machine , I will most likely get the W.E. for the front and move my proggresive shocks to the rear.

 

[trigger]

I never regretted doing the Rhino shock mod , the ride is such an improvement. I could only imagine what the W.E. shocks would feel like.

If I decide to keep this machine , I will most likely get the W.E. for the front and move my proggresive shocks to the rear.

I guess I'm not a suspension guy cuz I just don't get it. Adding shocks won't give me any more range of motion right? So it will either have to be stiff to keep me from bottoming out or a soft ride that would bottom out easily? How much fine tuning can there be to a shock that travels 5" or 6"? Not being argumentative, just don't understand how it would help that much for the money.

 

[HUCK]

Only $ 1300.00 for all four ! What a deal ! If in doubt , look at the price of the set for a pioneer 1000 . Just saying .....

 

[Chooglin]

They allow you to adjust how quickly or how slowly the spring will compress . If I'm not mistaken, the W.E. shocks gives us 1.00" more of travel.

I understand what you are saying though , the A-arms are so short on these and very little travel. I don't think they will feel as good as , say a larger machine , but I bet they would be a big improvement over stock!

 

[JWB]

I guess I'm not a suspension guy cuz I just don't get it. Adding shocks won't give me any more range of motion right? So it will either have to be stiff to keep me from bottoming out or a soft ride that would bottom out easily? How much fine tuning can there be to a shock that travels 5" or 6"? Not being argumentative, just don't understand how it would help that much for the money.

Maybe this will help. What we call 'shocks' on our machines are actually two separate components combined into one unit. Part 1- spring. Part 2- damper, or 'shock' . First, let's just imagine that there is nothing but the spring on your machine. The spring part, ideally, is designed to carry, or balance the intended load that will be placed on it. Too much spring- the machine would be very stiff, and would have maximum ground clearance, but if you picked it up 4' off the ground and dropped it, the suspension would bottom out, hard, and then throw the machine back into the air like you dropped it on a trampoline. So you might think- well obviously I need stronger springs because the friggen thing still bottoms out, but then the machine would be crazy stiff- and still bottom out- sound familiar? So now you install the correct springs and the machine has a much nicer ride, but will bottom out easily, and still throw the machine into the air when it does bottom out. So now we add the shock to the spring- which more correctly, is actually a damper. The 'shock' controls how quickly the spring is allowed to compress, and decompress. With a properly sized spring, that is correctly carrying the machine, and a properly valved shock (damper) the machine can ride very smoothly, and resist bottoming out by smoothly slowing down the rate of compression of the spring, and keep the spring from throwing the machine up in the air on rebound- decompression- by slowing down a springs tendency to explosively decompress. This shock 'tuning' can be incredibly complex, but when it's right, you can have a comfortable ride that doesn't bottom out normally, but when it does it won't rattle your teeth, and then try to throw you over the hood on the rebound giving you seatbelt bruises- sound familiar? So, in a nutshell, and the simple version, the spring does nothing but carry the load at the intended height. The shock controls everything else. If you want to read a really, really good article about shocks and what 'fine tuning' can mean to overall performance, check this out: Autocross to Win (DGs Autocross Secrets) - Shocks

 

[Chooglin]

Maybe this will help. What we call 'shocks' on our machines are actually two separate components combined into one unit. Part 1- spring. Part 2- damper, or 'shock' . First, let's just imagine that there is nothing but the spring on your machine. The spring part, ideally, is designed to carry, or balance the intended load that will be placed on it. Too much spring- the machine would be very stiff, and would have maximum ground clearance, but if you picked it up 4' off the ground and dropped it, the suspension would bottom out, hard, and then throw the machine back into the air like you dropped it on a trampoline. So you might think- well obviously I need stronger springs because the friggen thing still bottoms out, but then the machine would be crazy stiff- and still bottom out- sound familiar? So now you install the correct springs and the machine has a much nicer ride, but will bottom out easily, and still throw the machine into the air when it does bottom out. So now we add the shock to the spring- which more correctly, is actually a damper. The 'shock' controls how quickly the spring is allowed to compress, and decompress. With a properly sized spring, that is correctly carrying the machine, and a properly valved shock (damper) the machine can ride very smoothly, and resist bottoming out by smoothly slowing down the rate of compression of the spring, and keep the spring from throwing the machine up in the air on rebound- decompression- by slowing down a springs tendency to explosively decompress. This shock 'tuning' can be incredibly complex, but when it's right, you can have a comfortable ride that doesn't bottom out normally, but when it does it won't rattle your teeth, and then try to throw you over the hood on the rebound giving you seatbelt bruises- sound familiar? So, in a nutshell, and the simple version, the spring does nothing but carry the load at the intended height. The shock controls everything else. If you want to read a really, really good article about shocks and what 'fine tuning' can mean to overall performance, check this out: Autocross to Win (DGs Autocross Secrets) - Shocks

This is a much better explanation than my short version.

 

[Jonnyho]

Thanks JWB! Great explanation......With all that said, I'm getting some cause they look cool too!

 

[chrisC]

I agree that the front shocks make up 80% + of the P5's ride. Just replacing the front helps a lot!

After having WE shocks on the front of mine for 10 months......
my opinion is that 250lb springs are too stiff for the front.
The 425HD progressives (with 110-160lb spring rate) that some guys here have on the front ,are fine,and give a correct ride height with little, if any, bottoming out.
The WE shocks has adjustable compression control which adjusts with just a turn of a button to prevent bottoming out. I'm finding that you have to ride very aggressive to need to turn that 16 position adjustment up to position 5 or 6 . A softer spring should allow for more movement at lower speeds and improve ride even more ,while allowing you to adjust compression adjustment for terrain. Right now the faster i go the more that those WE's soak it up. I want to soften the low speed ride even more.

however,
even with those 250lb springs the ride is worlds apart from stock

@solrus changed his WE shocks to 175lb springs. Maybe he'll comment

 

[trigger]

Maybe this will help. What we call 'shocks' on our machines are actually two separate components combined into one unit. Part 1- spring. Part 2- damper, or 'shock' . First, let's just imagine that there is nothing but the spring on your machine. The spring part, ideally, is designed to carry, or balance the intended load that will be placed on it. Too much spring- the machine would be very stiff, and would have maximum ground clearance, but if you picked it up 4' off the ground and dropped it, the suspension would bottom out, hard, and then throw the machine back into the air like you dropped it on a trampoline. So you might think- well obviously I need stronger springs because the friggen thing still bottoms out, but then the machine would be crazy stiff- and still bottom out- sound familiar? So now you install the correct springs and the machine has a much nicer ride, but will bottom out easily, and still throw the machine into the air when it does bottom out. So now we add the shock to the spring- which more correctly, is actually a damper. The 'shock' controls how quickly the spring is allowed to compress, and decompress. With a properly sized spring, that is correctly carrying the machine, and a properly valved shock (damper) the machine can ride very smoothly, and resist bottoming out by smoothly slowing down the rate of compression of the spring, and keep the spring from throwing the machine up in the air on rebound- decompression- by slowing down a springs tendency to explosively decompress. This shock 'tuning' can be incredibly complex, but when it's right, you can have a comfortable ride that doesn't bottom out normally, but when it does it won't rattle your teeth, and then try to throw you over the hood on the rebound giving you seatbelt bruises- sound familiar? So, in a nutshell, and the simple version, the spring does nothing but carry the load at the intended height. The shock controls everything else. If you want to read a really, really good article about shocks and what 'fine tuning' can mean to overall performance, check this out: Autocross to Win (DGs Autocross Secrets) - Shocks

Well I read it and it sounds like we're searching for the ideal curve. Essentially soft at the top but able to stiffen up at the bottom under load. I still don't understand it all but I am convinced that there is something better than what we currently have. Thanks JWB.