Front end dive solutions?

i have a 2010 SR5 that is completely stock (aside from the TRD wheels ). One of the criticisms of the 2010 model year is that it tends to dive under hard braking. I knew that when I bought it and, sure enough, it DOES dive under not-even-all-that-hard braking.

Anyone else have that issue?

I’m wondering if I’d solve that by putting stiffer front struts on it. Any thoughts, experiences, or opinions you all could share would be appreciated.

BTW, I have 134K miles on it (second owner) and I’m pretty sure these are the original struts.

 

Yeah, at 130k it could use a suspension freshening.

New struts will help the front end dive. Slightly compressing the front coils, such as with adjustable struts like the Bilstein 5100s, will help a little more with brake dive. The easiest and most efficient solution is probably to get new struts (5100s), set the perch at the second lowest setting (.85" of lift) and install those. Couple hundred bucks with an alignment. That will net you just a hair of front lift without really effecting any handling or overall appearance (it's barely any lift at all), but will give you much more firm front end and reduce brake dive a lot.

There are other solutions, of course, ranging from just new factory struts to a whole new aftermarket suspension; but I can personally attest to the 5100s and slight front coil compression to dramatically reduce brake dive.

 

my 2013 limited doing same thing. going thru brakes too fast, after my last service found out shock/ strut out, only at 65k miles. I'm going to try billistein

 

my 2016 did it with 10 miles on it . moderate braking it did dive .. so I put 1 spring spacer on driver side a 2 on the pass side. this dive issue is probably why many owners change the complete front end suspension .. I only payed $20 for the 3 spacers and the driver side is bigger than passenger side but I had to cut them so no interference . these brought the front end up to the same height as new I did this around 7K miles .. the other reason was the pass side CV boot was rubbing on the ribs after the very slight lift 1/2 inch CV boots look good not wearing .

with your vehicle 140K miles IMO replace springs and shocks ..

 

The only solution is Bilstein 5100's set at .85 and you will be a happy man. That is what I did after advice I got and my front end is nice and firm while braking, it is perfect. It is also cheap and improves the overall stance of your 4Runner. I think I got my 5100's from autoanything when they were having a sale and a local shop installed and did alignment for maybe $200. I don't remember exactly but I know it was cheap and worth every penny.