Battle of the UTV Suspension Tunes! Shock Therapy vs MTS Off Road! 

I'm assuming "My Choice" is in regards as to his choice in shocks that he paid for? Am I correct in thinking that you paid regular consumer retail for your ST setup? and this is "Your choice" selection? Did you also buy full retail the MTS shock setup to compare or did MTS offer a free set to compare? Thanks guys...This was a huge amount of work you put in this video for us all!

Correct, we purchased our Shock Therapy Shock setups, and after the test, we would make the same choice again. MTS did not offer us anything for free (other than some swag we're going to give away in a swag-bag soon). They just brought their shocks out to compare to ours

How much tuning was MTS allowed? How much tuning was done on the ST? I'm assuming the ST's have been on for awhile and have been tweaked. I'm running stock shocks/springs so I'd like to know. If the ST's and MTS's came out of the box no tweaks, makes a difference or one set was tweaked but not the other.

It looked like in the video the mts shocks were for sure kicking you around more at high speed....what about the small chop feel....were they as good as the st

Agreed. And the slow speed chop was improved over stock with MTS, but Keith reports ST was smoother.

That is exactly what Keith told me. He had to work harder to drive through the hard stuff with the MTS shocks. This is certainly not a reflection on the guys at MTS - they were awesome to hang out with!!

In regards to making suspension "Softer" That's easy.... Drilling holes in shock pistons, Using softer shims in the stacks/Valving or the simplest way...stick a small washer under the shim stack to create an easy flow of oil to pass through the piston with less resistance. Now the problem here is if you soften up the valving like this to the point that your rig feels as tho it's floating on air and the compression and rebound move so freely it cannot be adjusted to control the more important terrain such as G-outs, cross ditches and jumps. This is where MTS falls short. Especially to the faster drivers. Not only this but they make no bypass tube mods. HUGE difference there. ST will change your bypass stacks to give you better tuning ability and can install upgraded Billet 6 way bypasses. Again a huge improvement over MTS and stock. Guys....do your homework. ST is the leader for a good reason. This is why when you watch the video closer...The MTS setup is all over the place compared. The MTS setup gets the control arm flapping in the wind creating crazy wheel feedback and the vehicle will not be able to keep planted and thus why the car is "Uncontrollable" in such conditions. Suspension is not "Rocket Science" but there is science in it! So for those of you that like to drive fast and want a safer more predictable car...ST is the only safe choice. For the folks that don't drive on the edge and never will...MTS is a less expensive option but you will give up many key features.

OMG I only just met you but I think I love you

Just keeping it real my friend!

Just curious who are going with i also was undecided.

Thanks man! We took a lot of heat for this one but we thought it was worth it - Thank you for the comment!!

That's what I saw, he definitely was bouncing around more. The setup can take care of the rear wondering. The front mts looks to do better

Thank you brotherman! The difference most easily noticed would be the steering wheel. Watch how hard Keith has to work to keep the MTS ride going straight

Happy we're able to help!!

Thank you for the comment brotherman!

🤔🤷🏼‍♂️

Well my friend! Head to my video library and look for the "Is Shock Therapy worth it?" Video! There we compare it to stock! I have a full 3 part series revolving around our upgrade experience. And your observations are exactly what we felt. The MTS shocks made the car slightly more difficult to handle

Thanks for the comment! I can only speak from experience, I am not trying to speak for others - ST answered all my questions quickly and completely. As well, I am not saying MTS is bad just as I would say a non turbo sxs is bad. But based only on what I saw, if you want to run with the front of the pack, you'll need to buy a turbo

Just to keep things in perspective... MTS - $1500 for springs, Valving, No bypass mods ST - $2100 for springs, Valving, Piston Mods, Bypass valving, Shaft mods. The difference is not more $ without getting more. You get more done with ST when directly comparing what you get for the $ and the results matter to the guys that drive harder and faster. The MTS is a huge improvement over stock but I feel ST will most likely be the best choice for those of us that want to drive harder and go faster.( From what I've witnessed and seen on these videos) I personally have never driven a MTS tuned rig yet...A friend of mine did and his personal experience told me everything I personally needed to know. I don't want to get into all that was described... I'd rather see a great comparison video so that we can all judge for ourselves. I did ST on my X3 MAX... I cannot be happier but I drive it like I stole it in all conditions...Especially the dunes!

Stated perfectly! Drive it like ya stole it... My dude!

Absolutely brother. I am not saying MTS is bad - like I wouldn't say someone who bought a non-turbo SxS is bad. If that's what you can afford, you're still going to have a hell of a great time! But if you want to run in the front of the pack... you're going to need to spend the cash for a turbo.

Mts has a long way to go before it becomes a realist option $1500 for suspension that makes the drive ward 2x harder than stock setup

@@4thegains856 they did not compare to stock shocks just st i agree though st is i believe 200 more . Also i believe that in the slikrok video of mts they are still developing and improving the shock tunes and also shock therapy

Thank you brother!

Yes sir! Not trying to step on anyone's toes. Just show the viewers the product and let them decide!

Glad we could help brother!

I appreciate you comment my friend, but in my experience that's just not true. Shock Therapy had no knowledge of us making this video until after the project was nearly complete. I approached it from a full consumer point of view to get the most honest feedback I could (I have a 3 part series on the experience you should check out). I spent a lot of time with them on the phone, as well as sending video clips to them to help me get everything dialed in. They even offered to come out here for this video, but I declined as I thought that might make things tense. That's not taking away anything from MTS at all, just saying... I have nothing at all bad to say about Shock Therapy. Further... I didn't include the MTS packing in this video... But, I assure you - Shock Therapy takes significantly better care of their product

I’d wager your experience isn’t the norm - I live 15 minutes away from Shock Therapy and couldn’t get even a little help from them after the sale; I couldn’t get anyone but Gina on the phone. And this is recent experience - a few months ago. So, after spending $2,300 at Shock Therapy, I didn’t just run out to spend $1,500 at MTS for fun - it was what I had to do to get someone to work on my suspension.

Man, terribly sorry to hear that man... I'm curious though, which one of our experiences is closer to the norm? In my reading before our purchase, I didn't really find any negative reviews

The FIRST review that shows up on Shock Therapy’s Facebook page, when I pull it up, shows a ONE star review that pretty much falls in line with my own experience with the only difference being that that guy had his shocks shipped to him while they installed mine at their shop. And it’s a customer service experience that I’ve heard told over and over by other local folks too. I agree with you, and your video shows, that the Shock Therapy modified suspension CAN be dialed in to give an AWESOME riding experience, but I also found that getting Shock Therapy to help you do that dialing isn’t as reliable as it should or could be.

Anytime a customer has a bad experience, it sucks. And I'm certainly not on Shock Therapy's payroll. I can only speak from my personal experience, ya know? I didn't have any trouble with their customer experience... And I had another shock tuning company on site to compare them to... So no gimmicks here. Still, if you had a bad experience, that sucks - I hope you wrote a review as well

Brother, I couldn't agree more. Although it would have made some great RU-vid video.... Getting slung into the trees at that speed would be a bad time!

Chris L why would you only buy springs, the better ride comes with the valving

I have talked to the guys at ST a bunch about products I have already purchased, as well as advice about what to purchase. Always willing to talk and give info.

thank you. great tip

Thanks 🙏

Always thumbs up when driving!! Great tip!

I tried to line up the frames equally as they came over the hill so you could get an idea of which one passed me first. Both times Keith was able to achieve a higher speed with the Shock Therapy shocks.. They did a significantly better job of keeping the car planted and in a straight line over the aggressive whoops. It was super awesome that MTS came out to showcase their product!! I hope they were able to learn something from this experience which will allow them to create an even better product!

Look at slow mo video and see which setup kept the tires in contact with the ground more. In the low speed I thought the MTS was maybe a touch "smoother" but in the chop the ST set kept the tires following the terrain instead of skipping off the ground from high spot to high spot.

Because it was off the ground more, meaning less transferred energy to the driver but the tires werent maintaining contact.

I do not agree with the reply. My brother recently got an x3 rs max and it rides like you are on a cloud flying over big rock beds and boulders. His is all stock with no adjustments from the day he bought it. So he doesn't have much body movement but is planted on the ground.

Man I would have loved UTV shocks to come out with us! Once Greg reached out to me to set this up, I contacted Gary as well just to see... He declined :(

Bummer...As a kid I raced MX competitively for 12 plus years...I couldn't wait for the MX magazines to print the "BIKE SHOOTOUTS"! Of course we all favored the brands we rode just to throw the results in our friends faces that rode the other brands! LOL....I enjoyed your videos. Kudos to the MTS guys for showing up to the plate to help in the comparison!!! MTS is obviously a large improvement over stock....But it looks as tho MTS took a second place seat compared to ST. Not bashing in any way....But this might also be the reason ST does 70 plus % of the SXS performance suspension mods.

Shayne - you're so much more well spoken than I am. I'd love to quote all your comments lol

LOL!!! FTOR you are more than welcome to quote me! Just don't tell them where you heard it from...:)

Thanks brother! We did have a G-Out filmed but I didn't put it in because Keith was unable to match the speed leading up to the drop in the MTS shocks to provide a valid comparison... So I didn't include it

Why was Keith unable to match the speed leading up to the G-out drop in the MTS shocked rig? Was it a weather/terrain condition keeping this from happening or was the MTS setup not as capable compared to ST setup keeping this from being compared? I personally would have loved to see this comparison...Also a jump comparison as these are the areas that are a big part of my riding style. Thanks a ton for all your hard work to provide us such awesome videos to help make non biased and consumer informed decisions.

Honestly, it's because Keith was timid after the whoops runs in the MTS setup. His first pass on the whoops was very hard to control the car at those speeds and (you can see in the video) he had to over correct to keep the car straight and almost spun out. The path up to the G-Out is choppy and I just don't think Keith had the confidence to hit it at 80 like he did in the ST setup

You're in luck! We have a stock vs Shock Therapy video! It's called, is shock therapy worth it

@@ftorvideo can you put a video together putting all three side by side

Yea... Really agree. Keith lost confidence in the car with those shocks on

Thanks friend

You're very correct sir

They are both indeed exceptional in the slow speed mediocre stuff. In our experience, the difference comes in the high speed big chop. The MTS shocks don't do as good of a job keeping the car planted and in a straight line. Driving style could definitely impact which company you had tune your shocks! Thanks for the comment!

To be honest, I don't know that MTS had any advantage because they were physically there. I did work with Shock Therapy to make sure our shocks were dialed in by sending them video clips. No adjustments were needed to the Shock Therapy set up. The MTS guys made 1 adjustment during the run. In either case, both companies will assist in any way they can to make sure your shocks are set up properly.

True

I read in a forum that when he shot that video with MTS he had a blown ball joint I'm not sure if that would make a difference but definitely something to consider

If you heard that, it was a lie. His ball joints were fine. One of the bolts on his passenger side tirod was lose.

Your observations are aligned with what we experienced when testing each setup! Thanks for the comment!

Your words are exactly how we felt also. We wanted to hit the worst stuff we could find in order to really see how each setup would handle extreme conditional riding. Keith told me that the slow speed chatter / chop was slightly better in the Shock Therapy setup, but both were a huge step up over stock

Full Throttle Off Road gotta give it to MTS for challenging the top dog in the industry. Maybe they will take your input and adjust their spring rates. Either way my Xp turbo will be getting the full shock therapy treatment this summer.

Competition breeds change! I support both companies completely for helping me put this video together! From one consumer to another however, we're happy we went with Shock Therapy. And I have now doubt you will be too!! Thanks for the feedback!

I hear ya brother - And actually, Shock Therapy did offer to come out. I kindly suggested it could potentially cause some tension on the trail having two competing companies in the same location lol. They were ready to come out though!! We did work with them prior by sending them video to make sure they were satisfied with the way the cars handled (we actually didn't need to change the settings at all from how they sent them out).

Meaning the steering handling...

Indeed both are a huge step up from stock!

shock therapy is based in arizona as well. ive raced against there car up north a few times. im down in the valley

Both tunes are indeed a huge step up from stock. But what you saw was accurate. Shock Therapy appears to keep the car planted and more manageable in the hard stuff, over the MTS shocks.

Full Throttle Off Road thanks Aaron for doing the vid comparison and like always keep em comin and keep rippin in Michigan!

Thanks brotherman!

That would be my observation from the Videos as well. Both will be a great option over stock for certain terrain and driving style...But Not for the harder driving SXS guys. ST looks to be a better/safer bet in fast and hard driving conditions...I actually puckered up just a tad on the video of the first pass in car with the MTS at one point...The car tried checking out and it required alot of input to get the car back in the line.

Indeed. This was a point of contention between us and Greg from MTS. That pass caused Keith to increase his dps settings from min to max in order to feel confident on the next pass. Greg didn't want us to include that pass in the video because of the steering issues but I told him that it's important to include it because going from one setup to the next required a dps setting change just to keep the car straight - which is a significant point.

Funny because to my observations, the MTS set up appeared to need more high speed compression dialled in to reduce the amount of wheel travel being used on the whoops! It would be cool to see how your suggestion vs mine would actual impact the tests!