ORI strut reviews

88bronzetrooper

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Location
Fort Mill
So currently in the process of linking my truck front and rear. I’m being pushed to run ORI’s all around. Anyone with any reviews of how well they drive. My truck will mainly be trail only. But I want to be able to do some street driving and some highway like ultimate adventure.
 
So currently in the process of linking my truck front and rear. I’m being pushed to run ORI’s all around. Anyone with any reviews of how well they drive. My truck will mainly be trail only. But I want to be able to do some street driving and some highway like ultimate adventure.


They are a good compromise but don’t compare to alternatives when considering price and performance.


Pros:

Packaging

They work well if you are never going to want to tune your shocks to get better than off the shelf performance.

They are nice because generally you don’t need limit straps, sway bar, or bump stops other than the ori.

Set upper and lower chamber pressures and roll on.

Cons:

Expensive compared to air shocks.

Don’t/can’t rebound fast enough.

Can’t change valving or preload without changing ride height.

If you lose one single o-ring, you essentially lose that corner.

For the similar price you could do air shocks with separate bumps and sway bar. Then have ability to at least change the valving.

Also similarish price could do coilovers and bumps and limit straps.


For me, it comes down to potential returns on my investment cost.
Personally I like having separate components that can be tuned individually, and each component does its job.

I value the performance return over the packaging value.

Everyone’s personal goals and situation may be different. I have friends I wheel with that love them, and generally don’t want anything different.
 
I run them and I like them. They're simple and like Mac said, easy to package. I set my pressures, turn the screw and I'm done. I wanted a comfy trail rider and that's what I got. I'm not a KOH potential or anything like that. I found a new set online from a guy who changed his mind so my cost was better than most. I've seen guys with coilovers beat their heads against the wall trying to figure them out and while very adjustable, I'm looking to hit the easy button. Maybe I'll change my mind later but for now they're exactly what I needed.
 
The only thing Scotty said that I would differ... they don't unload like air shocks do.

A friend runs them and his rig does awesome.

I would add that they are designed to run half up half down at ride height. If you want to run them shorter, and are ordering new, you need to tell them, and they can change the guts to accommodate that.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 
Ori’s are definitely more stable and ride better out of the box than air shocks. Absolute apples to oranges comparison.

I’ve only noticed their drawbacks in two scenarios.

1) Trying to go over 30 mph in chop/whoops etc.

2) on this weird trail that required some decent wheel speed, had some gnarly ledges, and momentum was required. The ori’s just wouldn’t droop quick enough.

The percentage of scenarios that you would likely notice the Achilles heel of ORI is likely very, very small.

After being inside them, I know what to look for when a rig with them act weird.

If I didn’t know the scenario that illustrates where they fall short, I would be completely happy and ignorant of such. Lol


Air shocks take just as much time tuning the valving as coilovers require to get what I call acceptable results. I’d say on 90% of those rigs, once tuned, air shocks ride 10x better than off the shelf coilovers.

90% of those tuned air shock rigs need at least one sway bar. Once you free up the valving to get them moving, body roll is silly.

Coilovers definitely take a lot of time to get them to 80%+ performance. Got to get the springs right, preload correct, then the dual rate stops, etc, before even starting on the valving.

Then once you get the valving close, usually need to go back and adjust the dual rate stops again.

Then valving a couple more times.

If your spring rates and preload are pretty much the same front and rear, and you set the dual rate stops similar f/r, there are times you can get away without a sway bar.

Once speed increases and you’ve got the valving worked out pretty good, most people want at least one sway bar. Slow speed technical stuff, it’s fine without it.

If the sprung mass is greatly different f/r coilovers will definitely need a sway bar(s).


All that said, tuned springs/coilovers/bumps/swaybars isn’t a fair comparison to ORI struts. Neither in cost or performance.
 
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Ori’s are definitely more stable and ride better out of the box than air shocks. Absolute apples to oranges comparison.

I’ve only noticed their drawbacks in two scenarios.

1) Trying to go over 30 mph in chop/whoops etc.

2) on this weird trail that required some decent wheel speed, had some gnarly ledges, and momentum was required. The ori’s just wouldn’t droop quick enough.

The percentage of scenarios that you would likely notice the Achilles heel of ORI is likely very, very small.

After being inside them, I know what to look for when a rig with them act weird.

If I didn’t know the scenario that illustrates where they fall short, I would be completely happy and ignorant of such. Lol


Air shocks take just as much time tuning the valving as coilovers require to get what I call acceptable results. I’d say on 90% of those rigs, once tuned, air shocks ride 10x better than off the shelf coilovers.

90% of those tuned air shock rigs need at least one sway bar. Once you free up the valving to get them moving, body roll is silly.

Coilovers definitely take a lot of time to get them to 80%+ performance. Got to get the springs right, preload correct, then the dual rate stops, etc, before even starting on the valving.

Then once you get the valving close, usually need to go back and adjust the dual rate stops again.

Then valving a couple more times.

If your spring rates and preload are pretty much the same front and rear, and you set the dual rate stops similar f/r, there are times you can get away without a sway bar.

Once speed increases and you’ve got the valving worked out pretty good, most people want at least one sway bar. Slow speed technical stuff, it’s fine without it.

If the sprung mass is greatly different f/r coilovers will definitely need a sway bar(s).


All that said, tuned springs/coilovers/bumps/swaybars isn’t a fair comparison to ORI struts. Neither in cost or performance.


Always wanted to learn the ins and outs of tuning a shock/coiover setup. I've read plenty about it, but haven't had the opportunity to do it.
 
Wow thanks for the great replies. Mac I really appreciate the shock running info. Being a race mechanic on sports cars I get the wanting to tune it to exactly perfect. But knowing me it will be a set it and run. I want something that is realitivly easy to set up. The packaging aspect of the ORI’s for sure has me drawn to them. The worry I have for them and air shocks is the on road characteristics. Now this rig will be probably 80% trail but I want to be able to drive to like URE or take the daughter for ice cream and maybe do some week long adventuring. I have always heard the issues with air shocks over heating and fading out. I’m worried this could be a problem with the ORI’s as well.
 
Wow thanks for the great replies. Mac I really appreciate the shock running info. Being a race mechanic on sports cars I get the wanting to tune it to exactly perfect. But knowing me it will be a set it and run. I want something that is realitivly easy to set up. The packaging aspect of the ORI’s for sure has me drawn to them. The worry I have for them and air shocks is the on road characteristics. Now this rig will be probably 80% trail but I want to be able to drive to like URE or take the daughter for ice cream and maybe do some week long adventuring. I have always heard the issues with air shocks over heating and fading out. I’m worried this could be a problem with the ORI’s as well.


Air shocks just extend and get stiffer when hot, aka pogo.

Coilovers fade when the oil gets hot, but don’t pogo.

In design an ori won’t pogo when hot bc you have two chambers working against one another.

You don’t really work any shock hard enough on the street to get any of the 3 hot enough to notice a change.
 
How long does it take for an ORI to get too hot and not work correctly? Lets say I'm running the middle rock garden at Harlan and doing pretty well, I'm rushing the rocks, absorbing but slightly bouncing over them. I guess maybe 10-15 minutes working my way through. Would that over heat them or are we talking desert like running?
I think I'm swaying towards the ORI's from all that I've read here so far.
 
How long does it take for an ORI to get too hot and not work correctly? Lets say I'm running the middle rock garden at Harlan and doing pretty well, I'm rushing the rocks, absorbing but slightly bouncing over them. I guess maybe 10-15 minutes working my way through. Would that over heat them or are we talking desert like running?
I think I'm swaying towards the ORI's from all that I've read here so far.

To guess a time amount would be difficult bc it varies with so much of that specific scenario.

Shocks take kinetic energy (travel) and transfer that to thermal energy( heat in oil) before they can dissipate that.

So the more travel the shock is doing, aka the more you are working the oil, the hotter it will get. On most shocks that are velocity sensitive, the faster the shock piston moves through the oil, and the more dampening the shock does, the more heat the oil is absorbing.

So on the streets, a few bumps here and there, but most of the time, the shock piston isn’t moving very much, while decent airflow around the shock body.

Now opposite of that, would be trying to do 40-60mph across 2’ y’all whoops.

Think: using all the travel available with the piston moving 20”/second. That can cook the shocks in a matter of minutes.


Most shock oils don’t really start breaking down until above 250°. “Fade” starts around 175-215 depending on the specific oil.

The hotter the oil, the thinner the viscosity, aka shock fade.

Air shocks extend when hot as the volume of n2/oil doesn’t change, but the temp increases the psi inside the shock. This increases the force applied trying to push the air shock shaft out of the body.

You see it as the ride height getting taller, and it “feels” more stiff.


Most of the time trail riding on the east coast, you won’t get the shocks hot enough to notice any of this.

You may get them warm to the touch (100-125°) if you are really working them, but that’s not really hot enough to change very much, other than the oil getting marginally thinner.

As far as ori’s. They have two n2 chambers that create opposition forces.

The upper chamber is the “spring force”,
The lower chamber opposes that.

So they both heat up the same, they generally increase the same-ish. Not technically the same, as the chambers aren’t the same size, but close enough that you notice that ori don’t behave like air shocks and pogo when hot.

I think the best thing for an ori would be to get them warm, and get the fluid thinner out a little.

Tuning the valving is like trying to find the location of a circle,

You know it exists, but you don’t know where.

Inside that circle, is the shock/suspension performing at 80%+ . That’s desirable.

Intersecting that circle, is a series of lines.

Each line represents slow, medium, and high speed compression and rebound valving, plus free bleed.

So you increase/ decrease each of these and note where they intersect each side of the circle.

Same with tuning a carb/guitar/piano, anything. Take it farther in each extreme, note better or worse. This plots a direction, but you don’t know magnitude, then keep going in that direction until you note a change, then reverse.

The more you tune, the more “points” you have that help plot the imaginary circle.

I need a drawing to help explain that one lol.
 
How long does it take for an ORI to get too hot and not work correctly? Lets say I'm running the middle rock garden at Harlan and doing pretty well, I'm rushing the rocks, absorbing but slightly bouncing over them. I guess maybe 10-15 minutes working my way through. Would that over heat them or are we talking desert like running?
I think I'm swaying towards the ORI's from all that I've read here so far.

That’s not going to cook them. They’ll be fine for that.
 
I run them and I like them. They're simple and like Mac said, easy to package. I set my pressures, turn the screw and I'm done. I wanted a comfy trail rider and that's what I got. I'm not a KOH potential or anything like that. I found a new set online from a guy who changed his mind so my cost was better than most. I've seen guys with coilovers beat their heads against the wall trying to figure them out and while very adjustable, I'm looking to hit the easy button. Maybe I'll change my mind later but for now they're exactly what I needed.

So are you running them at all four corners? What kind of weight is your rig?
 
I’m running them front and rear 4 linked with pretty low AS. I’m just now finishing up the build so my first wheeling trip is labor day weekend. I have a couple hundred road miles on them and they ride super smooth and super stable. Running 5.5” of chrome front and rear 14/16” struts.

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ORIs feel to me like oversprung coilovers.

Pros : Hold the body very well, very little sway, great stability feeling. No need for a sway bar.
Cons : They are too stiff for anything over crawling speeds.

I think they are massively complex, expensive and it's harder to work on them yourself VS coilovers. As you can tell, I don't really like them.
 
This is my opinion and experience.
ORIs are inferior to 90% of the properly tuned coilovers and 70% of the properly tuned air shocks.
However, that said ORIs are superior to 85% of the existing coilovers in use and 95% of the existing air shocks in use.

In other words other solutions are better if they are setup perfectly. But in real application the accpetable application range of ORis is much more forgiving..
 
Most of us are just trail riding, maybe some hill climbs, and if you’re like my crew you really haul the mail in a place like Harlan to get from one place to the next. If you’re not racing up a timed hill challenge or head to head on a course, I think ORIs fill the need very well and package nicely.

If you need the rig to do one thing very well and to fine tune for an exact need consider other options. If you want it to do good on all things, ORIs will probably do just fine.

@D2320M loves his, and is about to redo the rear as well with them now.
 
Most of us are just trail riding, maybe some hill climbs, and if you’re like my crew you really haul the mail in a place like Harlan to get from one place to the next. If you’re not racing up a timed hill challenge or head to head on a course, I think ORIs fill the need very well and package nicely.

If you need the rig to do one thing very well and to fine tune for an exact need consider other options. If you want it to do good on all things, ORIs will probably do just fine.

@D2320M loves his, and is about to redo the rear as well with them now.

Yeah I had my ECORS days and while i miss those and want them again. This rig is a trail riding rig. It might see some speeds when fooling around but I dont need shocks that will run KOH lol.
 
Wow! I thought ORIs were about $500/ea. Man, I was way off.
 
This is my opinion and experience.
ORIs are inferior to 90% of the properly tuned coilovers and 70% of the properly tuned air shocks.
However, that said ORIs are superior to 85% of the existing coilovers in use and 95% of the existing air shocks in use.

In other words other solutions are better if they are setup perfectly. But in real application the accpetable application range of ORis is much more forgiving..
This was my reasoning. I'm at the point in my life where I don't have time to go through several iterations of trial and error to get coilovers or air shocks tuned just right. Do I think I'm capable? Yes, but I've learned to pick my battles. These work great for what I do and before I go all the way back around and repeat myself I'll stop.
 
Most of us are just trail riding, maybe some hill climbs, and if you’re like my crew you really haul the mail in a place like Harlan to get from one place to the next. If you’re not racing up a timed hill challenge or head to head on a course, I think ORIs fill the need very well and package nicely.

If you need the rig to do one thing very well and to fine tune for an exact need consider other options. If you want it to do good on all things, ORIs will probably do just fine.

@D2320M loves his, and is about to redo the rear as well with them now.

They worked awesome even when racing down from Lion's Den in an epic never ending monsoon! They are like riding in grandma's Caddy in the rocks, which is what I was after. All kidding aside, I am in love. I'm not a technical guy by any stretch so I can't comment in depth like some others but they do get the job done.
 
Just for transparency in this thread.

ORI is roughly $900-$1000? Per corner.

2.5” Remote reservoir, springs, and air bump with can is $943 per corner.

So the difference to me comes down to if you want to tune (have someone tune) and your goals.

I’d budget $600-$800 for tuning, and that includes a spring swap, get it correct early on and no additional cost.


Now if you step down to 2.0” coilover, springs, air bump, can, that brings price per corner down to $766.

Call that $200 cheaper vs ORI per corner.

That cost savings ($800) could be spent on a tuning day.

So my train of thought, a day of tuned 2.0 remote resi coilovers will generally outperform ORI.

As well, I’d rather have tuned 2.0’s than off the shelf 2.5’s. (Given we aren’t talking about racing, where tuning is mandatory).

So the real difference is the sway bar(s). Generally with tuned coilovers, most want 1 sway bar at least. But that’s tuneable where as the ORI doesn’t need one, but isn’t tuneable.

I’m not arguing for/against either just showing costs/prices etc. for true apples to apples.


2.0 air shocks $268
2.5 air shock $420
2.0 rem resi. $426
2.5 rem resi. $583

2.5 coil $55/72
3.0 coil $70

Air bump w/ can $220

So $350-$500 for sway bars, obviously there are higher end $$$ bling ones.

Cheapest would be tuning the crap out of 2.0 air shocks, with air bumps and sway bar. If you are light enough weight wise. Tons of performance for the cost for low-ish speed and good ride quality.
 
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^^^ I came up with $3,500 on Filthy Motorsports for two 14" ORI's and two 16" ORI's (14's front and 16's rear seems to be a popular combination?). That is with no reservoirs. Add about $600 for 4 basic reservoirs.
 
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Just for transparency in this thread.

ORI is roughly $900-$1000? Per corner.

2.5” Remove reservoir, springs, and air bump with can is $943 per corner.

So the difference to me comes down to if you want to tune (have someone tune) and your goals.

I’d budget $600-$800 for tuning, and that includes a spring swap, get it correct early on and no additional cost.


Now if you step down to 2.0” coilover, that brings price per corner down to $766.

Call that $200 cheaper vs ORI per corner.

That cost savings could be spent on a tuning day.

So my train of thought, a day of tuned 2.0 remote resi coilovers will generally outperform ORI.

As well, I’d rather have tuned 2.0’s than off the shelf 2.5’s. (Given we aren’t talking about racing, where tuning is mandatory).

So the real difference is the sway bar(s). Generally with tuned coilovers, most want 1 sway bar at least. But that’s tuneable where as the ORI doesn’t need one, but isn’t tuneable.

I’m not argue for/against either just showing costs/prices etc.

What brand are you talking FOA? Don’t forget limit straps.

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