I originally bought some Bilstein 5100's but keep hearing they ride pretty stiff with the valving being digressive. I ended up returning them before putting them on.
I've heard the Eibach ride height adjustable front shocks have progressive valving but can't find anything on their website about it. Anyone know for sure?
Hey everyone, I thought it would be helpful to jump on and answer any questions you may have. Just for clarification, I'm only here to educate.
Full Disclosure: I'm in the marketing department, BUT I've owned 4 Tacomas, 2 of which were/are wheeled regularly. Additionally, I've become a bit of a damper nerd and enjoy talking shock. Anything I can't answer myself will be a direct response from R&D.
Each damper is vehicle specific with it's own valving. There are variances in how we valve different types of suspension, but it is safe to generalize our Toyota product (independent front) as digressive with strategically placed bleed for a progressive feel at low speed and a steep midspeed knee in the rebound to help control G-outs and big dips etc. This simulates the linear control you get out of the big shocks.
We use digressive piston design on both compression and rebound sides of the piston, but our use of preload and bleed give the shocks a linear feel at high speed (whoops, dips etc.) This translates to a great balance of control on the street (not too wollowy) with compliance in the dirt (sucks up big bumps, drops, G-outs and gets you back in control)
Have you used this setup on your personal vehiclesm
Yes, I just tried to upload some pics to the gallery, but I guess I need to wait for admin to approve them?
Either way, I've been wheeling and daily'ing these for the past 3 years. What kind of terrain are you running?
I've run Eibach products in the past on my first car 90' 240sx and on my 83' 280zx as well. I happened to stumble across this thread and it peaked my interest. With other popular options such as bilstein, toytec and dobinsons to kings and icon ect. It seems that this setup has somewhat gone overlooked. It's been a bit rough trying to forage for some solid reviews on folks running this.
It may be my old eyes, but the wheels look off center a touch in the pictures?
It's easily overlooked considering the history of the market. The (industry standard) 5100 has been around for a very long time! As well as OME and the other brands you mentioned.
As you know, we're not new to suspension. We have been manufacturing springs and stabilizer bars since as early as 1951. The damper program started with our performance coilover systems in the early-2000's. We develop and manufacture our shocks from raw tube, start to finish right here in Corona. In fact, you likely know more than one person using a shock manufactured by Eibach, whether it has our logo on it or not.
The market is tough. Because dampers play such an important roll in ride quality, people are hesitant to be the guinea pigs and the days of consumer trust have been lost by saturated markets. This shock program has been to market for a little over 3 years. I would consider that still in its infancy, but I can assure you there were far more than that invested in developing the Pro-Truck Shock program. We have always been focused on a balance of performance and ride quality, and this program is no different. As I mentioned above, every shock is developed and tested for its application. Once it's manufactured, each shock is dyno-tested to ensure you have consistency in performance for each corner. Not many can say that.
You're likely seeing the negative caster angle from lifting the suspension. An upper control arm is an easy fix to correct/help that.
Suggestions for front and back? I have some time before I pull the trigger, but only want to do it once. I first found out about eibach from when I built mustang :guitar3:
Appreciate all the information. I plan of giving this set up a shot. I'll post pics and follow up of how its performing for me once installed.
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My front is 3/4 inch lower than the rear but only drove about 40 miles so far
I LOVE how this looks - almost got me ordering the kit.
But I am putting on rock sliders, RCI aluminum skid package, and probably a roof rack sometime soon. Also probably a slimline bumper with winch.
I’m assuming I won’t get the 2.75” and 1” lift anymore? I think I can increase the front shocks to the first perch to accommodate just the front weight from the bumper/winch. The installation instructions say the first perch increases the lift from 2.75 to 3.4 (without added weight) which sounds like it would work to accommodate the increased weight. But I can’t increase the rear height from 1” - how much if any will it be squashed from the “distributed” weight of skids/slider/rack?
So this has me thinking that I should go Dobinsons where I can order coils that are meant to support a 100-200lb load from the get go![]()