Help 2019 TRD Pro Tire Cupping

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your shocks will also need a rebuild. It's not just the Fox shocks than come on the Pro. It's valid for all aftermarket shocks and generally speaking, the more performance oriented the sooner the rebuild

 

I don't know if the Bilstein are more durable. The 6112/5160 are great shocks though. Before you replace your shocks Id make sure they are the problem.

I've only had one car that had "howling/noisy tires". That was also with Falken tires(cheap car tires). Maybe you got a bad tire/s.

Also what makes your 4runner unreliable?

All 4 shocks just don't go bad, and for all 4 of your tires to be cupped probably isn't that shocks. It's probably the tires.

 

No, it’s ~1,400 for the whole setup.

 

My 5100 series shocks (on my '13), lasted 11 years and 128k miles and never needed rebuilding. I'm hoping to get the same/similar performance out of my new setup.

 

Thanks. I don’t really know how to test the shocks other than to buy some new tiers and drive a few thousand miles. All the Fox write ups and literature suggest a 50k lifespan. So I guess I’m just thinking replace the tires and the shocks and hope that I’m good for another 50k miles.

WRT reliability, nothing catastrophic - just an ongoing series of things. The rear 2 shocks failed about a year apart when I bought the thing, the gas pump failed, then when they replaced that the replacement gas tank leaked, which led to a new gas tank, which led to the skid plate and the gas tank grinding when you hit a bump, an interior panel that kept coming loose and had to be replaced (warped), the map lights failed and they had to replace that unit, some bushing in the back that needed to be replaced, a rear seat that needed to be replace because it was unstable ... I think that's most of it.

 

I'd replace the tires and go from there. Yeah it sucks to have to replace tires after only 25k miles but it happens. You may just got a bad batch of tires.

 

Sure but, I paid something like $1300 for mine which is entirely a different story than whatever $15k+ premium one is paying for TRD Pros over ORPs, then the additional what, at least $3k for new OEM pieces? At least?

 

I’d try this first. All fours cupping in the exact same way all around when the geometry front and back on your car is entirely different? Hints more at a tire problem than suspension. Too much of a coincidence for wear to be identical all around on the suspension when weight of the vehicle is different front to back. Geometry is different etc.

 

I wouldn't expect to see much difference between front and back after 25k miles with regular tire rotation. By that point, each tire should have gotten a roughly comparable number of miles on front and rear.

 

Next tires I wouldn’t rotate then. You want to know which sides are causing a problem. Only fronts? All around? Maybe neither with new tires?

 

I can assure you that most people don’t pay $15k+ for a pro over an ORP.

Im confused to what $3k additional OEM pieces you’re talking about?

 

$3k. The parts cost of the replacement OEM Fox all around. An estimate from numbers I have heard thrown around.

Regarding the ORP vs Pro debacle. It’s $8k minimum just on MSRP. And to this day there are still over packaged Pros pushing $61k+ in the Austin area and markups. While ORPs continue to get discounted. So easily $15k. But it doesn’t really matter. We don’t even know if the OPs issue is even the Pro suspension.

 

Shocks designed to be rebuilt are generally designed with wear parts in mind, and anything from Fox, King, Bilstein, or others are rated about 50k on road and less off. For 100% off road, Fox is only good for like 10k at most which includes OEM like TRD and the JT Mojave.

The one-and-done aftermarket like 6112 and 5100 and Fox/King 2.0 will get you way more miles. I've seen many 5100 sets go 60-80k without breaking a sweat.

 

Post a photo of your uneven tire wear.

 

why pay $3k to replace them with the exact same ones when a rebuild costs $126-150 per shock?

Again, you're going to have to do the same with your Bilstein when they go bad. It has nothing to do with the TRD Pro but the facts that people put "performance" aftermarket shocks on their trucks whether its straight from Toyota or from aftermarket does not make it different. Pro Fox shocks are just like other aftermarket shocks of the same category in terms of maintenance.

If you or your area can't get a Pro at MSRP that's a thing. But saying that Pro owners pay $15k+ over an ORP and have to deal with higher expenses afterwards for shocks over someone who puts aftermarket shocks on their ORP is simply wrong.

For what it's worth, I got my Pro at MSRP ($53k) and used ORPs were being sold at the same price if not more at the time I was shopping for one (early 2022). Sure used market was crazy back then, but my dealership sold new at MSRP and used at market price. And I understand that it's not the case for most people/most places. I also understand that the pro cost more than an ORP but not a lot of people spend $15k+ for one
Anyways, I digress and this is not the point of the thread...

 

it’s ultimately gonna boil down to “depending on location” and “date of purchase.” - Austin area is nuts, but it’s a HOT area for these types of cars so that could explain it.

Back to the OPs topic, I am still suspicious of this even being the shocks. I kinda think it could be a bad batch of tires. Or, take the car to a shop that specializes in off roaders, I know for a fact that traditional alignment shops are often way too far off with these cars. Even if their printout says “green” - did they use the spec of a Pro or Limited? I got a lot of shops using the wrong trim of the car for the alignment too.

In fact, the OPs printout says “trail/trd” which is the wrong trim and probably the wrong spec suspension and ride height for the alignment.

 

Fair point. I didn't think about that - the year of Pro I have had 1" on the front and 0 on the rear. So yes, different from TRD etc. I'n not smart enough to know what the implications are. When this came up last week, I did a bit of reading, and what I thought I read is that the specs remain the same, but it can be harder to stay within spec the higher the lift.

I don't know of a good shop in my area (Bellevue WA - think greater Seattle area) ... maybe someone reading this does.

 

I'm traveling till Friday. I'll see what I can do. Prob a hard thing to capture w an iPhone.

 

I agree with you here. It's not because the shocks are over 50k that they are necessarily bad.
I've heard people with 70k-80k miles having no issues despite not rebuilding their factory pro shocks. So tires/alignment could still very well be the source of the problem

 

when I think of this purely simplistically. Thinking of the rear alone and leaving the front out of the picture. It’s a solid axle with a very limited way in which it moves. Had rotations not been done, we would know for sure it’s tires if they get bald back there. No way the back and the front will behave equally given such different geometries. That hints at the lowest denominator all around, the tires.

Back to the front, and leaving the rear out of the picture. You have two other variables, left and right. Left and right will have to have the exact same issue for them to ball equally badly. Both sides bushings have to be equally bad. Both sides shocks. And both left and right alignment specs have to be equally bad. It’s entirely believable that this can happen, if we have ruled out a bad tires batch. I.e. never rotated, back tires are fine. This rules out a bad batch of tires. At this point you are left with a limited number of things that can go wrong up front: shocks, springs, alignment, ball joints and maybe axles.