2018 4runner suspension upgrade

Hi! I have a 2018 factory 4runner SR5 4wd that I am looking to make a few upgrades to. I live in Colorado and we drive both high speed highway (speed limits are 75) and off road. I don't like the suspension- things like the body roll, brake diving, back swing etc. that you notice (especially in the back seat). I have been reading up on the Bilstein 5100 shocks that can improve these issues (an can add lift if wanted). I will also increase tire size, I'm still on factory tires. Anyone make any suspension modifications that improved the handling and drive on the 4runner? Wheel upgrades that you love? Tires you love?

 

First off, welcome to the forum, and as far as lifts go there are so many it kind of overwhelms you. I would suggest taking a little time reading some of the builds to get up to speed. Also nothing bad to say about the 5100’s.

 

Everything depends on your budget.

 

Trunk ride is very subjective what I like is the way my tokiko shocks rode on NYC shitty streets but I was getting seasick on the red lights every 3rd block every time I had to stop so my BP51 were a great compromise because they were adjustable and I got them for a steal maybe look into getting a second hand set of the pro fox or bilstein setup
J

 

Edited to appease the children:

Where in Colorado are you located? If you’re local and he’s interested in seeing what the ride is like with Kings. I’d be happy to take your husband for a ride while you wait quietly in the kitchen and make us sandwiches.

 

bruhhhhhhh ​

 

Lol. I can see how you arrived at this conclusion.

 

I have the Eibach Pro Lift Kit 2.75 front lift and 1in rear lift. They have been great the springs Eibach includes in their kit are great. I had the Bilstein 5100 on my 2017 and can say that the Eibach gives a better ride and definitely eliminates a lot of the nose dive.

 

antman is right. What does your budget look like?

 

What’s the problem? What, she’s a female so you want it to be weird? Sorry for not treating someone local differently based on being a girl. I met up with up with a few random local Colorado 4Runner people and got rides when I was trying to pick a suspension and it was hugely helpful. Would it make you feel better if I said my wife and/or I could take her for a ride lol?

 

Bilstein 5100s are the basic, low budget approach outside of spacers. It will definitely make things more stiff. But if you’re interested in really upgrading your suspension, you’ll need to go with some higher end alternatives that have bigger shocks, 2.5, and are made by companies with some engineering and design capability behind them.
You mention high speed driving, and its easy to compromise that with off road mods.
Agent_Outside’s offer would be a good one, because he’s got a high end system on his 4 Runner, and knows a lot about Toyota’s.

 

I guess moving forward I’ll need to start qualify that I’m happily married with a family before attempting to treat a female like they’re a real person.

 

I was giving you a hard time. Lol

 

We are in Castle Rock. Don’t worry, I’m not offended. My husband asked me to help him do some of this research since we are a team. We had a 5speed manual 1998 limited 4Runner that we lost (some high teenager came flying out of an apartment complex at like 35 mph and t-boned it, rolled it). We never had to upgrade suspension on that toyota and we drove Moab trails all the time. I feel like the 5th gen is just too soft. So we are either going to sell it or do upgrades to the suspension to make it enjoyable to drive. Budget: I don’t really have one yet, except to say I don’t off road as a hobby but we do to get to climbing and biking destinations. So I do t need a killer system, i would like suspension improved, new wheels and new tires. Thanks for everyone’s feedback.

 

Bilstein 5100 or Eibach adjustable shocks sound good for your situation. They are durable and capable in a wide range of conditions.

They will ride nice on and offroad while reducing body roll and the nose dive while breaking.

Unless you're doing very technical trails or high speed desert racing, you don't need the high end shocks.

 

Welcome from Arizona

 

I run the Pro lift as well and it never disappoints. From "faster then normal" speeds on "tank trails" to over taking traffic on the back roads possibly at speeds creeping into the 3 digit portion of the speedometer. Can't speak for the back seat, never had much need of one, at least while driving.

 

I think you guys need to decide on tire size so you know at least minimum height of lift you may need to clear them.
As far as Bilstein go I had them on my SR5 set at 1.75 front and a Cornfed 1” spacer rear. Go rid of nose dive and helped with body roll even with stock springs rear. I added spidertrax 1.25” to my stocks giving a wide track and body roll was not an issue with aggressive driving.

 

That’s not how that works

 

So if you say you like 285/70/17 you don’t start searching what lift do I need to fit vs what lift do I need to fit 35’s.
You pick a lift then decide how tall you want to go on tires?

 

Would rather go by performance aspects of the suspension and choose tire size after. Function over fashion and all that.

 

Yup your opinion you must have experience with different set ups in the past but not the must way to do it. So good feedback about Eibach. What about you wheel set up. You could help the OP with what would fit with your set up.

 

A suspension lift alone doesn’t add tire clearance on IFS.

 

How should the OP and anyone else fit taller tires on an IFS?

 

It’s a common misconception that a lift gives you tire clearance, but that is just not true with the 4Runner’s IFS. There’s 4 movements for a wheel/tire - steering left, steering right, suspension compression, and suspension extension (droop). There is a fixed range of motion throughout any combination of those movements and that range of motion determines where a tire can physically be located. When you do a suspension lift, you do nothing to change the range of motion and in turn, you do nothing to change the space the tire can occupy. You’re just changing the static location of the tire inside that same range of motion which means you did not add clearance.

Let’s say you have 8” of total suspension travel and that at static ride height when stock, you have 4” of available up travel and 4” of available down travel. Now you lift it 2”, you didn’t create more room, you just made it so the static ride height moved up within the same 8” range. You would now have 6” of up travel available and only 2” of down. If a bigger tire rubbed at stock ride height while turning right and you lift it, you did not add clearance to fix the rubbing, you just changed the conditions of when it occurs, when turning right with X amount of braking or running something over, both which would cause the suspension to compress, the wheel can be put right back into the exact spot it rubbed at before and will still rub all the same. Lifting it can change the conditions in which it rubs but it’s impossible for a lift alone to add clearance.

You need to change the space the tire will occupy compared to the stock to actually create more clearance - that can be done with changes in tire width and diameter, wheel offset, different suspension geometry, the location of the lower control arms via the alignment adjust cams, etc. Shock length and aftermarket upper control arms can change the range of motion, and bump stops can be used to reduce the range of motion upwards to keep from stuffing a bigger tire into the fender. There’s lots of things and a lots of variables that will help you clear a bigger tire but on independent front suspension, with all else equal, ride height is not one of them.

 

All great points about IFS but I did keep my comment basic to taller not wider etc. also was trying to keep it simple because the OP mentioned Bilsteins where they could get more wheel gap to fit a taller tire and they want to firm things up. They did not mention articulation and drop in their rig so I wouldn’t go that deep with trying to help them until/if the convo went that direction. You know people all day fit bigger tires with strut spacers on IFS without a care in the world. Let the OP talk about tires and if the want to go wide and we can scare them with BMC’s ....

 

Pages and pages on the eibach thread. I'm running stock size toyo's on TuRD rims. Don't want the extra weight of the larger 285's.

 

Agreed. If you don’t need the taller tire don’t go the extra weight. If you’re talking about the TuRD pro Sema’s I also like that light weight wheel. I’m waiting for mine to show up in the next couple days.