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BDS vs Carli Suspensions

cquilichini

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I want to purchase the Carli 2.5" Lift Kit along with the track bar and Sway Bar to improve the ride quality of my 2022 Ram 2500 diesel.

I spoke to a person which has a store that sells BDS suspensions who told me Carli won't improve the ride quality notably vs. a BDS suspension kit which will improve the ride compliance notably.

Does anyone here know this to be true or has better understanding of these suspensions that can bring some insight into this comments.

Thanks!!!
 

elephantrider

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you'll hear all kinds of stories on how carli makes a truck feel like a caddy. it's still a HD truck. I piece mealed my lift with carli fronts, pure performance rears, and rc Trac bar. bilstein shocks. made the ride more compliant, bit it didn't solve world hunger.

you'll hear similar with bds, along with more complaints in general.
 

Crusty old shellback

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Hmm.

So they use lift blocks for the rear air bags, which means it will not change the load capacity or the riding characteristics of the rear.
And they use progressive coil springs in the front, which is also what Thuren and Carli use. Wonder where they get their springs from.

As for the shocks, the tuned Kings 2.5 shocks from Carli will be better than the 2.0 Fox IBS from BDS.

BDS to me is more of a mall crawler suspension, along with most of the other suspensions out there and Carli and Thuren are more of a serious off road suspension. But both work for a daily driver. Just my .02 cents.

Anything else Offroad, then you need to go see a serious off road suspension builder.
 
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Crusty old shellback

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Found this with a quick google search.



 

Crusty old shellback

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While scanning thru youtube last night, found a few good videos about the Carli suspension for the RAM HDs. Worth a look.
 

Rockcrawlindude

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I don’t hate the idea of converting the radius arm to 4 link like the BDS kit does but I haven’t looked at it super closely because it’s a 4” lift and that’s just too much for my personal preference
 

loveracing1988

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I don’t hate the idea of converting the radius arm to 4 link like the BDS kit does but I haven’t looked at it super closely because it’s a 4” lift and that’s just too much for my personal preference
Get the far from stock kit and report back with the results!
 

Crusty old shellback

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I forgot about Filthy Motorsports.



Stumbled onto their youtube last night. here's one explaining shocks.






They also have some great info on Crawlpeida.com website along with a shock shoot out.



they also have some videos on suspension and coil springs as well as a good explanation on spacers vs coil spring lifts.



CJC offroad also has some videos on youtube as well.
 

UglyViking

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Hmm.

So they use lift blocks for the rear air bags, which means it will not change the load capacity or the riding characteristics of the rear.
And they use progressive coil springs in the front, which is also what Thuren and Carli use. Wonder where they get their springs from.

As for the shocks, the tuned Kings 2.5 shocks from Carli will be better than the 2.0 Fox IBS from BDS.

BDS to me is more of a mall crawler suspension, along with most of the other suspensions out there and Carli and Thuren are more of a serious off road suspension. But both work for a daily driver. Just my .02 cents.

Anything else Offroad, then you need to go see a serious off road suspension builder.
One point of clarification, Thuren and Carli both run linear springs in the front, Thuren runs linear in the back, Carli offers both a linear and progressive option.

I want to purchase the Carli 2.5" Lift Kit along with the track bar and Sway Bar to improve the ride quality of my 2022 Ram 2500 diesel.

I spoke to a person which has a store that sells BDS suspensions who told me Carli won't improve the ride quality notably vs. a BDS suspension kit which will improve the ride compliance notably.

Does anyone here know this to be true or has better understanding of these suspensions that can bring some insight into this comments.

Thanks!!!
I had a BDS kit on my old 1500 because I wanted to try it after hearing such awesome stuff. I was not a fan. BDS is a great kit if you want a forever warranty on a mall crawl lift kit. I've yet to sit in any of the BDS equipped trucks that rode noticeably better than stock. The shocks on their 2" kit may make the ride slightly better, but unless something has changed BDS is using off the shelf FOX 2.0s, which means they aren't valved for the truck at all.

That said, be honest with what you're looking for, and if you just want the look I see no real harm. That said, I surely wouldn't trust a shop that is trying to tell you spacers and factory tuned 2.0s are gonna ride better than custom Carli coils and Carli tuned shocks. If you're comparing the 4"+ kit's it's a bit of a different story, but still, BDS optimizes for height, not for ride quality.
 

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