Suspension option to reduce swaying on turns?
 

Wife said she gets carsick in the 4runner especially on turns because of the leaning and swaying.

She does not get sick in the other cars (g35/camry). Only the 4runner so ive narrowed it down to the swaying issue.

I currently have a trd orp on 5100s with ome springs. 2883 front and 2895e rear.

Anyone have experience with stiffer springs than these and the 4runner not leaning side to side as much?

I could not find any aftermarket swaybar options either for 5th gen.

I do mostly trails and high speed fire roads so losing some flex is not much of an issue and a compromise im willing to make.

No KDSS?

No kdss on mine. I read in another thread supposedly addco has a rear sway that would fit, but the part number they listed there says for 03-09 4runner and for fjcruiser.

Upgraded sways would probably fix the issue by itself if there were any

Before changing springs - I'd go see if you can take the same drive in a stock 4Runner. There's a lot of subtle issues that can add up to motion sickness - like the shock and spring relationship. There are some natural frequencies that tend to develop and they're tuned by manufacturers to be comfortable and oscillate an a specific range. If you end up with cycling in certain ranges it induces motion sickness - usually lower frequency cycles. Sort of like sea sickness. Stiffer springs tend to increase the cycle frequency, so they'll probably help. But I'd just take a test drive on a windy road in a stock 4Runner to see if that is better and go from there.

We had a rental 2wd for a couple days and she had mentioned It being slightly better feeling the same sickness in a friends tacoma and another friends gmc 1500 as well. Funny enough she actually got the most sick when we rode in the back of our friends g35 sedan going through the mountains to go skiing.

I am thinking that it is the llean/sway associated with the body on frame contruction or cars with extremely soft suspension. The camry is my daily and all oem but the g35 has full poly bushings and hks coilovers, stiffer sways etc which is much more planted.

She said the straights are fine it is just the feeling when going through twisty roads getting to the mountains or driving through neighborhoods with multiple turns where it becomes an issue in the 4runner. Doing twisties in my g35 doesnt affect her at all. Im gueasing due to 0 sway.

I still do have the stock suspension(bought it new in 2018) as well and considered putting it back on with a spacer lift. We used the oem suspension for maybe 150 miles before changing it out. Im also on e load 285/70 ko2

I think the ideal would be if those addco swaybars do indeed fit as sways would make the most significant difference for sure. Ill have to do more research on it

I'm not as familiar with the g35, but my wife has a g37 convertible. It rides pretty planted and stiff due to weight/extra bracing for the top, however when she's had a g37 sedan as a loaner from the shop that car feels really light, bouncy and floaty (if that makes sense) in the back end. If the stock g35 is similar, I totally get where your wife could get car sick.

As for the 4R, ours is stock non-KDSS and it definitely rolls and pitches in the turns. I would assume your rig with the 5100's and OME springs would be stiffer/flatter than stock, but I don't know that 100% for fact.

I wonder if a Limited or KDSS 4R would be better for her? I know, I know (re: Limited)... chrome is ugly and there's no hood scoop, but the 20" wheels with stiffer sidewall would have to have some affect towards flattening the cornering characteristics.

If you decide to try the thicker sway bars post up a report, I - and I'm sure others - would be interested in the results.

I don’t think sway bars will help your wife’s motion sickness. I don’t think it is a vehicle-dependent issue.

It’s not strange at all that she got the most sick in the back seat of a car.

I have suffered from motion sickness my whole life, and it is definitely worse in the back seat. It is easier to see where you’re going and focus on the horizon in the front seat. In an airplane, you really can’t see where you’re going, and there’s not a horizon to focus on, so I get the worst motion sickness in the air. (I get seasick looking at a boat, haha!)

I never get motion sickness if I am the driver of a car or the operator of a boat.

If I try to read as a passenger in a moving car, I feel sick almost immediately.

Sounds like the cheapest option might be to keep a bottle of dramamine in the 4Runner for her :)

On a more serious note - expanding on Jetboy's comment, I would also test drive a 4Runner with KDSS. I wanted KDSS specifically to stiffen up the truck at higher speeds as my girlfriend gets motion sickness rather easy and I was used to driving a full size pickup with much less body roll.

It might not be feasible to sell/change to a vehicle with KDSS, but you could see if the 4Runner is something that can be considered for you two moving forward, or if the KDSS makes a significant enough change where you want to upgrade.

Either way, I just install my suspension about 200 miles ago and it has less body roll/nose diving lifted than it did factory w/KDSS. The ride is a little firmer but very comfortable.

I did upgrade the UCA's to get additional caster which helps reduce the touchiness of the steering and makes it feel a bit more stable at high speeds. Another thing you might want to try - can get Freedom Offroad UCA's for a great price - I'm personally quite impressed with them.

Generic (Equate) chewable meclizine from Walmart FTW!

The only problem is you need to take it an hour before traveling.

I felt like the Whiteline polyurathane sway bar bushings helped stiffen up the roll on turns. Pretty cheap upgrade, too

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...ight=whiteline

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...ight=whiteline

I personally hate “riding in a car”
Try having her drive, that may be the ticket

Several issues:
-I get motion sick and I have to sit in the front and look out the windshield at the road or I'll be nauseated. Oddly flying doesn't affect me
-The KDSS 4Runner sways as well, I had a similar suspension setup to yours before swapping them when it wore out and it still swayed. You can't have a real off road vehicle without some motion in the corners
-nothing you can do without seriously compromising ride comfort and quality will fix this, my wife just doesn't ride with me in the 4Runner very much, if you have other cars that's great, if not...

My 18 ORP with KDSS has significantly less corner lean than my 3rd Gen with stock suspension. But as @LandCruiser said you’re going to get some sway on any off road vehicle. Probably even more when lifted since your center of gravity is higher.

One buddy of mine sucks on a strong peppermint candy like Altoids whenever he’s a passenger while traveling on twisty mountain roads. Other people swear that strong ginger candies work for them.

I test drove with and without KDSS and at the time it seemed like a better idea to go with non-kdss because of more suspension options, and no issues with it down the road as I plan to keep the 4runner for 20+ yrs. The 5100's and OME springs did help and there is pretty much no nose dive on braking. Sway is less than stock, but still very very present.

I may try the poly sway bushings to see if that helps as well as continue looking into sway bar fitment.

As for comparison between my G35 and a stock G37, and the 4runner by spring rate F/R:
my 4runner: 590lb / 260lb
G37: ~ 420lb / 400lb
My G35: ~ 560lb /560lb plus every single bushing changed to poly and sways are 70% stiffer than stock.

I think all the sway and weakness are in the rear springs of the 4runner, and stiffer springs or a rear sway upgrade would help.