Suspension setups you regret?

I got whatever was standard from Bilstein in 2018 for 4Runner.

 

Bilstein 6112/5160's. Not sure if I regret them because they do have their moments where they shine through and they get an audible "wow" out of me, mostly off-roading and at freeway speeds. But everything in between I feel every single bump and as a daily driver and road trip vehicle there are times when I've been on the road for hours and it just feels like I'm being shaken to pieces.

I had the TRD pro suspension on a '15 tacoma and it was dreamy. If/ when I buy shocks again (and assuming I can afford/ wait for it) I'll be going with something that has linear valving.

 

Thank you for that info! That's exactly why I leaned away from Bilstein's. I've heard the same, that they're great under certain situations, but they're not the smoothest for a DD. I do 99.9% of my driving on pavement, 60 miles a day to and from work, so I think something that was jarring over every little bump would drive me crazy.

 

Really wish you could drive a new Limited with XREAS and experience the on road feeling.

 

Haha, I don't like driving new anything. I don't want to get spoiled by things I can't have.

 

I'm curious if the oem trd bilsteins 6112/5160 differ from the non trd"tuned" 6112/5160.

Similar to the red and blue bilsteins(5100) that came on the 2007-2010 fj trail teams. Do they have "softer" valving from the normal 5100.

 

I have Toytec 1.6" front coils with 5100's. They have lost at least half their height in two years and I have no additional weight up front.

 

Thanks for the info. I've heard a few bad things about toy tech stuff lately, as well as their customer service.

 

I love my set up and I’m 95% street DD, 40 per day. 2” lift Bilstein 6112 w/600 lb coils front, 1.5” lift Eibach T13 coils rear, Bilstein 5100 rear shocks and 285/70/17 Falken WP AT3.

 

One of my Bilstein 5160's blew out recently- got 4 years of service, 15K miles or so. No heavy off roading. Pretty noisy when it failed. Just installed the cheaper 33-313146. Will have to see if there is a ride quality difference.

 

where did it blow out?

im curious as to your ride quality as I was thinking about upgrading to 5160.

 

I’ve closed the chapter on aftermarket suspensions, but if I was going to do it, I would probably go with the Pro Fox setup. I know there’s a lot of haters of OEM stuff but it seems that actual Pro owners are quite happy with the Pro suspension.

 

Well said! 21 months and 34,400 miles - and I really like the quality of the Pro Fox Suspension ride. The only thing I have to compare it to is my sister-inlaw's 2019 ORP with a dealership installed lift with 285's and it feels stiff to me. Her 4R came with the lift when new and I don't know what lift system it has. I definitely prefer my Pro ride to her lifted ride.

 

I don't think I ever updated this, I ended up going with the Eibach 2.0 with the rear reservoirs. I ordered end of November, I finally got the notification that it has shipped. I expect it to arrive next week. Not sure when I'll get the chance to install it, but at least it's nice to know that it's on the way.

 

I have Bilstein 5100’s with Dobinsons 302 and 599 springs and JBA UCA on my 2021 TRD OR. I also have an SSO bumper and Warn winch and RCI skids and CaliRaised sliders so have some extra weight that required the Dobinsons 302 springs on the front. I’ve got approx 2” lift all around with this set-up.

Likes: This was a budget friendly suspension upgrade (installed myself). The JBA UCA gave me plenty of caster adjustment so am able to get a very good alignment. The Dobinsons springs support the extra front weight really well and gave me the lift height I was looking for. The 5100’s firmed up the ride and significantly reduced the nosedive and side to side wallowing the OEM suspension provided. All in all, it rides and drives much better than OEM.

Dislikes: As others have stated, the 5100’s, having digressive valving, do transmit a fair amount of road bumps into the vehicle and it is noticeable. Off road, particularly on washboard roads is this present and can be a bit unpleasant. I would like a smoother ride in this situation and may try a different shock down the road…

Overall, I’m happy with my budget friendly setup as it improves significantly on the OEM setup. Not perfect but an improvement. Maybe a different shock down the road…

Cheers,
Bob

 

Thanks for sharing, that's great information!

I went with the Eibach because I liked that the 2.0 coilovers were adjustable on vehicle, so if I do decide to add a winch later on down the line, I can compensate for any loss of height. According to Eibach the springs can handle the weight of a winch on this vehicle.

I also talked to another 4Runner owner that has the same setup, and they assured me that it was not harsh at all, in fact it was his wife's daily driver and she loved the ride as compared to stock. She was there and she confirmed, said she would go with the same setup again if she had the choice.

I also watched a few reviews of this kit, and it seemed to be highly regarded by the folks that installed them. I was sold on the reservoirs for the rear by a review video that had switched out the non-resis for the resis, and noted that they had noticed a positive difference. It was not on a 4runner though, it was a Ranger, but I could not find any 4runner content with these shocks yet.

I'm not a YouTuber at all, but I'm planning on making my own content on this once I get it installed. Since there's so little of it out there, I figure it might be helpful to some people.

 

I'd like to throw this question in there, as quite a few of you have changed shocks over the years due to upgrades, and I would like to know - if you have KDSS, and have installed the front shocks yourselves, have you found the best way to deal with the KDSS system to remove/replace the front coils/shocks? Sorry if this diverges from the subject, but it seems it's related information someone (like me) would find pertinent.

 

I'm guessing the person you spoke to with his wife didn't offer a test drive for comparison...would have been interesting to hear your take on the ride...do you have a link to the Eibach setup you went with?

 

This has turned out to be a very good and informative thread. I hope the posts continue because this sometimes shows a different side of suspension upgrades that aren’t talked about enough in my opinion.

 

Anyone else here with Dobinsons IMS have any feedback on off-road ride quality?

Looking to add suspension to soften ride over pot holes, bumps, forest roads, washouts, washboards etc. I hear the Dobs IMS are progressive and should be softer but reviews people say the ride is firm?

Elka 2.5 seem to get good reviews and be soft but price is high and I might be trading in the 4Runner in 2-3 years when next gen comes out so don’t want to get too crazy on the mods I invest in this 4Runner I have now.

 

No, I did not get a ride or the chance to drive it. We were on a trail ride at an event, so that opportunity really didn't come up. Would have been nice to at least get a ride.

Honestly, I just got kind of burnt out on trying to research kits. I've never heard anything bad about this kit, everything I've heard about Eibach has been positive, other than perhaps alignment issues with the 2.75-in kit using stock upper control arms.

My only concern about this kit is the length of the rear shocks. I don't like that shocks are sold from 0 - 1.5 in lift, or whatever. If I'm lifting it an inch, I want an inch longer shock. Supposedly the reservoir shocks offer a little bit more internal travel. We shall see.

https://www.polyperformance.com/eib...UyjDpm1_BdZKPakWDXFSuWfizwNh4-MUaAnuaEALw_wcB