Improve highway ride with suspension mods?

I get to fishing areas on the highways in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula. These roads are hilly, open, and seem to be severely crowned. They also get stiff winds from both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. My stock (other than Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrains in stock size) 24 ORP blows all over the place.
Would aftermarket shocks to replace the pillowy stock ones make a significant improvement in highway stability? Would aftermarket springs help? I want to keep the suspension stock height. I'd like to keep the factory springs unless aftermarket would make a big difference. I want to keep it as stock as possible while it's under warranty. Maybe longer. I shouldn't need to heavily modify a vehicle that is mostly for accessing under fished trout streams.

Thanks for any help.

 

A high caster alignment helps a lot with highway wandering. Of course if the wind is causing it there's not much you can do. These things have the aerodynamics of a refrigerator.

Front shocks help mitigate nose dive under braking. I'd keep the factory springs if you're not adding a ton of weight (steel bumpers, skids, etc.)

 

I will second the above statement. My caster went from 2.4 to 3.5 on stock UCA’s after changing over to the Fox Pro setup.

The highway tracking improvement was night and day difference.

Get an alignment and have them max out caster first and see how that feels.

 

cant go wrong with Bilstein 6112s in front and 5100 in rear. Love the ride on and off road

 

Get a budget suspension upgrade like this suggestion from TrailSpecial22. It won't break the bank and i think you will be able to tell a difference.

 

Agreed! even going with 5100s all around, like I did on my 2011 SR5, was a huge difference. On my 2011 i kept the stock coils in the front and set the clips to a 2” lift. the rears coils are stock with a 1” poly spacer on top.

 

I replaced my stock shocks for bilstein 5100’s and used the stock springs from my 23 OR. I did a slight lift at .85 on the front shocks but it’s not really noticeable. But the ride difference is amazing. It feels more planted on the road, less swaying, or nose diving. A truly big improvement. AT tires helped as well.

FWIW i live between the sturgeon river and the pigeon river in northern Michigan, two very nice trout streams. And i frequent the trails in the pigeon river wild area. My 4runner is perfect for these trails.

 

Pick your poison.

If you firm things up, the ride will likely be less comfortable on those smooth midwestern roads that are so lovingly maintained once every decade or so.

 

the roads around here in Philly Pa are horrible and maybe even worse. My 6112s on my 2022 soaks them up making it better and also having 285s help as well.

 

The 285s help because of more sidewall. Stock shocks and that sidewall would likely be softer still.

Having lived in the northeast, I can tell you the Midwest is worse from a road quality standpoint.

Between the brine that is applied to where you can drive 80mph on practically every road all winter long, the extended slush period from March until mid-May, and the fact that the roads can literally buckle in the summer, it’s an extra level of fun.

Living in WI, there were times where the major freeway in my area needed emergency repairs due to a stretch of what would be considered normal summer temps on the east coast.

 

Thanks for all of the replies guys,

Adding caster is something I hadn't considered. And it's cheaper than other options I had considered. And easy. I went to high school with my alignment guy.

The suspension is more difficult. With my reading so far I'm considering Dobinson's. There are reports of the twin tubes being quite harsh on the road. Maybe the IMS would be a bit smoother? It looks like I have to lift at least 1" with Dobinson's. Getting in touch with Crikeymike soon for the expert opinion.

Will also do more research on the recommended Bilstein's.

I'd still like to maintain stock height. Some will disagree but in my experience lifts are an expensive way to give yourself headaches.

 

shoot for high caster if you can.
Ive lifted all of my 4runners (07, 11. & 22) without issue but kept it mild at 2” with Bilstein products and was able to keep factory UCAs and aligned spot in. Good luck and enjoy whatever you get

 

The biggest difference in my 4Runner after adding the bilstein shocks was on paved roads. A big improvement, it actually feels like a different truck. No more swaying, dipping or blown around by wind, or at least considerably less. It feels more stable on and off road.

 

Still on "factory tires", what PSI? I'm an eibach fan, performance was night and day over stock ORP suspension. A good alignment and a bit lower tire pressure may be all you need.

 

That’s why I said to pick your poison - if you have garbage roads, then softness is a blessing.

When I drive into the office, I take unpaved roads as a bit of a shortcut, and the softer suspension actually works well.

Last vehicle I had featured an adjustable air suspension. I typically dialed it to a soft setting whilst putting the other drive modes to sport. The result felt like an American muscle barge!

 

Soft suspension/springs are one thing, but the the damping provided by shocks is the key. The stock suspension is like being on the open ocean, rocking forward and back enough to warrant Dramamine.

 

My SO gets nauseous every so often sitting shotgun with the base suspension’s softness so I’m going to get a set of Bilstein 4600’s put on the front to see if we can improve it, I’ll see if highway ride improves too.

They aren’t adjustable and don’t lift the vehicle at all compared to the 5100’s but are supposed to be the same in performance according to Bilstein.

Edit: Extra info

 

agreed, soft is not necessarily better

 

you can still run 5100 with 0” lift and get improved ride quality over the 4600. The price difference cant be much but im sure going 1 version up will be mucg betterp

 

That’s a bit of an exaggeration!

I find that if you drive the vehicle you’re in, as opposed to what you think it should be, it works out fine.

The only exception to that is the Crown Vic/Mercury Grand Marquis.

With those, you need to basically floor it whenever you turn out of a parking lot onto the street while blasting Sabotage by the Beastie Boys.

 

When I had adjustable shocks on my XJ back in the day, I found that everything was much better when I had them set on 2 out of 5 (5 being the firmest).

If I want a really firm suspension, I’ll just get another performance vehicle.

 

In my experience, Dobinson IMS shocks give a firmer ride (when correctly paired with coils matched to vehicle weight). However, they are very well-damped and very comfortable on rolling, broken, and uneven roads. Even though I really liked the soft ride of the stock suspension, the IMS shocks really gives the 4runner a solid “Germanic” feel on the road. Some of my best drives with the IMS shocks have been on “horrible” uneven, 2-lane farm roads going 50-70mph in southern illinois for hours on end.

However, I’m not sure if different shocks will do much for windy conditions. The 4runner is going to be more susceptible to cross winds than most vehicles. Best bet is an alignment for maximum caster, and keeping the outside aerodynamically clean (don’t carry anything on the roof rack, no external mounted panels, ventshades, or other accessories).

 

coudl be a Placebo effect, but i think when i upgraded to Bilsteins it lessened crosswind hits imo.

 

I got you! I thought I saw the minimum being a 0.85” level up front for the 5100’s but I don’t blame anyone for thinking of future changes.

I want to say the 5100’s cost around 50% more? but either way (4600’s are $100 each) I decided not to spend to leave the door open in the future.

 

It might not be just placebo, I’m sure better shocks improve behavior in cross winds. But I was hesitant to say it will be the solution for the OP, because it’s just hard to tell how someone else perceives wind buffeting.

Reason being, sometimes being buffeted by winds seems worse than it actually is. When wind hits you hard, it often doesn’t actually upset the car all that much. Often, I think I do a lot of anticipating and clamping up from the impact and noise of crosswinds, but if I relax, I realize the vehicle doesn’t need as much man-handling as I thought it would. Even with tighter shocks, the noise and impact of hard winds will be there.

That said, if the OP is primarily bothered by the rocking caused by wind gusts, then yeah I think aftermarket shocks will definitely help. But if tracking is the primary concern (and he can deal with the rocking), then it might make more sense to dial in camber first, and maybe play with tire air pressure a bit…especially if he wants to keep it stock.

 

Agreed. 3+ degrees of caster should improve things

 

While wind can be annoying, you haven’t experienced what wind can do if you haven’t been on a motorcycle.

I literally had a gust blow me into a new lane once. That was a little freaky.

 

Don't need to be on a bike for that, but it would be more terrifying.

 

First off thank you to everyone for your replies. Lots of good, practical, experience based advice. And no one felt it necessary to snark at the newb. Much appreciated.

McSpazatron brings up a good point. When I don't feel 100% in control of my vehicle I freak out and white knuckle it. A more relaxed approach when buffeted by the wind is probably more beneficial than madly sawing the steering wheel back and forth with my eyes bugging out of my head. Some instability (especially in windy situations) seems inherent to the design of the vehicle. It's big, has a high center of gravity, a squishy suspension, and wretched aerodynamics.

I'm definitely getting a high caster alignment done. Sounds like a great bang-for-the-buck first step since I need to have the tires rotated anyway.

Suspension is a more complex issue. The ORP was bought new in April 2024 and I'm a bit hesitant to do anything Toyota can use as an excuse if I need warranty work done. I'd love to do a 1" or stock height shock and maybe spring upgrade because it sounds like it would help a good deal both on and off road yet retain the stock steering and suspension geometry. And I know a taller lift ain't likely to help with the wind thing, higher center of gravity and all.

 

when I bought my 2022 with 3 miles on it, I told them before i signed any paperwork that within two weeks I’m installing a 2” Bilstein lift and upgrading the tires to 285/70/17s and ask them if a 2 inch lift would void any warranties. The Toyota service manager as well as the finance/warranty manager said no im good. I said OK put that in writing for me and they did so any issues in doing warranty work I can refer back to that. Also my wife was there as a witness to the conversation, however coming from a litigation background, if it’s not in writing and signed by both parties it didn’t happen. You could go with that approach before any upgrades.