Any reviews of the new Bilstein 6112's?

YetiX said:

I think we're talking about two different things with the 5100's. If all you do is swap the shocks to get a lift and don't change the springs, I agree it will not make a significant difference in ride unless your old shocks are worn out. If that's the case, you'll get more damping which will give a more controlled ride, but it will not affect the harshness.

I had 5100's on my 2WD for about 40k miles and had them on my 4WD for about 20k miles. In both cases, I also mounted up springs from a 4WD FJ Cruiser. This made for a great ride on the street, although a little harsh at times, and drastically reduced nose dive under braking. For about $550 all in, it was a vast improvement on the street. Off-road, I felt, and others who have done this swap agreed, the the 5100's lack sufficient rebound damping off-road which makes for a very bouncy ride in whoops. I also felt they blew through their travel way too fast on bigger hits off road and would bottom out way too easily.

I have now had the 6112's on my 4Runner for 12k miles, including a four off road weekend trips. On road, the 6112's feel a bit softer than the 5100's, but nothing drastic. It's sort of a, "Oh, that wasn't as hard a hit as I expected from that speed bump," type of thing. To me, as in this is my opinion only, the 6112's with their spring did not make enough of a difference over the 5100/FJ spring combo ON ROAD to justify the price difference.

OFF ROAD it's a whole 'nuther matter. I very much recall the first time I went off road with them (the weekend after they were installed). We were rolling down a trail and there was a tight 180* bend in the trail with some whoops in it. I didn't spot the whoops until it was too late to slow down as much as I wanted and I thought, "Oh damn, this is not going to be fun." I was amazed by how the 6112's just absorbed the hits while I tracked smoothly through the turn. If I had still had the 5100's, I would have absolutely bottomed out the front end and likely gone outside the turn into the bushes.

Keep in mind, this is a comparison between the FRONTS only, and between the 6112's with their springs and the 5100's paired with FJ cruiser springs.

Hope that helps explain the differences as I perceive them.

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That’s actually very helpful for me anyway. Of course now, I’m just trying to figure out whether the cost is justified for me going 6112 since I don’t really off-road mine (yet). Part of me is of the mind set of “better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it” though, and then if I went 5100, I fear I’d be upgrading in a year or 2. Do you think that since I may already have FJ springs, and considering I have the yellow Bilsteins that the 5100s would be an improvement other than the height adjustment? Obviously the 6112 would be because it’s a large body shock with better valving, plus higher rate springs.

Terminator03 said:

That’s actually very helpful for me anyway. Of course now, I’m just trying to figure out whether the cost is justified for me going 6112 since I don’t really off-road mine (yet). Part of me is of the mind set of “better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it” though, and then if I went 5100, I fear I’d be upgrading in a year or 2. Do you think that since I may already have FJ springs, and considering I have the yellow Bilsteins that the 5100s would be an improvement other than the height adjustment? Obviously the 6112 would be because it’s a large body shock with better valving, plus higher rate springs.

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Hard to say, I don't have any experience with the yellow Bilsteins. The little research I just did suggests they're not that different.

If you're going to off road it in the future, I hold out for the 6112's. In my opinion, that really are that much better off road. No sense in spending $$ to buy shocks that you're only going to keep for a year or so, especially since you already have something other than stock.

cognus said:

: I'd really love to hear from someone who has put significant miles/hours on the vehicle since going to the 6112's and tell us about rough backroads, broken pavement, etc hazards of everyday life.
I'm slowing coming around to the idea that the way to address the floppy ride is springs first, shocks second... If it were a motorcycle [I have a couple] that's the way the issue is approached. but I dunno much about 4runner suspension

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I've had the 6112s for close to eight months, along with Dobinsons shocks in the rear and 2" Icon springs.

I've been to Death Valley (16 hours from home), Ouray, CO and many local trips into the mountains. On two trips I had the Columbus RTT (100lbs ish), the rest of time there's a Packasport (100lbs) on top.

The very first impression is that the body roll around corners just went to just about zero. Given that there's usually a 100# load up top, I just coudln't believe this awesome side affect. I have factory sway bars with newer end links, and the bushings on the rear suspension are probably close to 150k miles old. My vehicle has over 300k miles on it. All bushings replaced on the front lower control arms and the upper control arm is from a 60k FJC. Ball joints were replaced with Moogs. So, my suspension is about as tight as one can get w/o spending a boat load of money on brand new OEM bushings.

I noticed immediately that the front end nose dove a LOT, even though the body stayed flat during corners. So I swapped out a pair of used shocks in the rear to the Dobinsons shocks. This REALLY stopped the nose dive up front and the handling got even better due to the new shocks in the rear.

I'm only 1.5" ish up front with no bumper/winch/etc. The rear cargo typically has less than 100# of load (usual recovery gear, water). I have no rear cargo drawers, bumper, swing out, etc and have no plans for a bumper.

On the DV trip, I was with my buddy who has a '13 Trail Edition or some such 5th gen with stock everything. The washboards in DV are stupid abusive on suspension and we both measured our shocks with our IR guns. Sure enough, my shocks were MUCH cooler, warm to the touch but not unbearable. His shocks were SMOKING hot and he did experience some shock fade couple of times.

I'll be building a hidden winch mount and slap a winch in there. At that time, I'll go up a tad and hopefully will stick with the 1.5" of lift up front with the higher pre-load on the 6112s.

On some of the local mountain trips, I'd try to throw the rig around with authority and the body remained totally stable. I didn't have my dog in the cargo area at the time so I had total freedom to be stupid! My speeds were stupid fast for the terrain and the fronts did bottom out on few occasions but the body recovered very quickly and this really impressed me to no end. The Wilpeaks AT3s (P rated, not LT) were down to 25psi usually on those trips.

I love these shocks!

thank you for this. very helpful.
i hope someday to get freed up to travel a bit, to southern new mexico specifically and use the vehicle on the magnificent dirt roads all around the southern rockies. for that, it sounds like the combo is super [and add prothane bushings?]
appreciate your input YetiX

YetiX said:

I think we're talking about two different things with the 5100's. If all you do is swap the shocks to get a lift and don't change the springs, I agree it will not make a significant difference in ride unless your old shocks are worn out. If that's the case, you'll get more damping which will give a more controlled ride, but it will not affect the harshness.

I had 5100's on my 2WD for about 40k miles and had them on my 4WD for about 20k miles. In both cases, I also mounted up springs from a 4WD FJ Cruiser. This made for a great ride on the street, although a little harsh at times, and drastically reduced nose dive under braking. For about $550 all in, it was a vast improvement on the street. Off-road, I felt, and others who have done this swap agreed, the the 5100's lack sufficient rebound damping off-road which makes for a very bouncy ride in whoops. I also felt they blew through their travel way too fast on bigger hits off road and would bottom out way too easily.

I have now had the 6112's on my 4Runner for 12k miles, including a four off road weekend trips. On road, the 6112's feel a bit softer than the 5100's, but nothing drastic. It's sort of a, "Oh, that wasn't as hard a hit as I expected from that speed bump," type of thing. To me, as in this is my opinion only, the 6112's with their spring did not make enough of a difference over the 5100/FJ spring combo ON ROAD to justify the price difference.

OFF ROAD it's a whole 'nuther matter. I very much recall the first time I went off road with them (the weekend after they were installed). We were rolling down a trail and there was a tight 180* bend in the trail with some whoops in it. I didn't spot the whoops until it was too late to slow down as much as I wanted and I thought, "Oh damn, this is not going to be fun." I was amazed by how the 6112's just absorbed the hits while I tracked smoothly through the turn. If I had still had the 5100's, I would have absolutely bottomed out the front end and likely gone outside the turn into the bushes.

Keep in mind, this is a comparison between the FRONTS only, and between the 6112's with their springs and the 5100's paired with FJ cruiser springs.

Hope that helps explain the differences as I perceive them.

Click to expand...

Here are my initial impressions from only about 85 miles offroad but over carefully chosen, varied terrain. No slow rocky trails yet as it is too hot for that and I don't expect a major difference there over my previous setup anyway (aftermarket coils and stock shocks, which already improved performance in rocks).

--normal dirt road: much more control at higher speeds, no issues with sudden undulations;
--moderately corrugated dirt road: great control even in 2wd (vs unbearable if stock in 2wd), very comfortable, no vibrating seats, rattling teeth, or upset stomachs.
--generally annoying dirt road, the kind of road that anything can drive yet is just not comfy for some reason: like stock comfort wise. Only low pressures help there.
--high clearance dirt road: no bottoming out, very comfortable, way better than stock on both counts

also:
--mildly looking but extreme for suspensions very soft and undulating OHV area terrain: speeds three times higher than stock but the same whale-watching boat feel. Three times higher as in 15 mph over 5 mph, not talking any racing here. And yes, there is terrain where the stock suspension is limited to 5-8 mph not by rocks but just relentless soft undulations, like a sea.

EDIT: oh wait, there are paved roads around, too:

--flat cornering, as it should have been from the factory
--supremely comfortable.
--haven't visited a mall yet so no comments on that.

Btw, I am at 1" lift.