no one will upgrade suspension....suggestions?

P

palooka23

New member
After about a year and a half, I have decided to upgrade my suspension to help with the nose dive issue. As many have recommended on this forum, I want to go with Bilstein 5100's and cannot locate a shop to do the install. I am in south Florida (west palm beach).
All shops say they will do the work, but will not warranty it….as they are not providing parts.
In addition, the couple of shops that are even willing to talk want almost 500 bucks in labor.

I am amazed that it is this hard to do this work at a reasonable price with some semblance of warranty.

Does anyone have any suggestions other than self install?

Thanks in advance
 
Register to hide this ad
palooka23 said:
After about a year and a half, I have decided to upgrade my suspension to help with the nose dive issue. As many have recommended on this forum, I want to go with Bilstein 5100's and cannot locate a shop to do the install. I am in south Florida (west palm beach).
All shops say they will do the work, but will not warranty it….as they are not providing parts.
In addition, the couple of shops that are even willing to talk want almost 500 bucks in labor.

I am amazed that it is this hard to do this work at a reasonable price with some semblance of warranty.

Does anyone have any suggestions other than self install?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

If you have the time and tools, the installation isn't that hard. I got my Icon Stage 6 installed by a shop... a very good shop (!) so I drove 9.5 hours to [MENTION=99235]Scott@Hightech[/MENTION] to get the installation done. It was well north of $500, but you have to keep in mind that there are PLENTY of horror stories (just ask [MENTION=97614]swimmerdude1127[/MENTION]) associated with "cheap" installations.

I can't help you with a local shop, but I can tell you to choose wisely and that the cheap choice is not the long term cheap choice per se.

A lot of shops will shy away from parts that they didn't source and that is also likely why they won't warranty them. (they will of course also make a profit on parts they sell you). Just switching to 5100's is something that any shock shop should be able to do. however, once you change the suspension geometry, your alignment may be a challenge (hence most of us running aftermarket UCA's) which brings you back to needing a more quality shop.

Okki
 
palooka23 said:
After about a year and a half, I have decided to upgrade my suspension to help with the nose dive issue. As many have recommended on this forum, I want to go with Bilstein 5100's and cannot locate a shop to do the install. I am in south Florida (west palm beach).
All shops say they will do the work, but will not warranty it….as they are not providing parts.
In addition, the couple of shops that are even willing to talk want almost 500 bucks in labor.

I am amazed that it is this hard to do this work at a reasonable price with some semblance of warranty.

Does anyone have any suggestions other than self install?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the way I read your message, it sounds like you plan on purchasing the components for one vendor, then asking a different company to install them? if that's the case, I wouldn't expect the shop to warranty the product and installation since they didn't sell it to you. It would be unreasonable for you to expect a warranty, especially if you are trying to undercut their profit by providing the parts. This is likely the reason why no shops want to deal with this situation. If on the other hand they provide the components and the installation, then yes it would be reasonable to expect some sort of guarantee on the installation.
 
Last edited:
palooka23 said:
After about a year and a half, I have decided to upgrade my suspension to help with the nose dive issue. As many have recommended on this forum, I want to go with Bilstein 5100's and cannot locate a shop to do the install. I am in south Florida (west palm beach).
All shops say they will do the work, but will not warranty it….as they are not providing parts.
In addition, the couple of shops that are even willing to talk want almost 500 bucks in labor.

I am amazed that it is this hard to do this work at a reasonable price with some semblance of warranty.

Does anyone have any suggestions other than self install?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

+1000 to what [MENTION=55815]Okki[/MENTION] said.

Also --- if you're upgrading suspension to get rid of the nosedive "issue," I wouldn't even bother. I had Icon's ET coilovers with 700lb spring upgrade (meaning it will be stiffer than the 650lb spring that comes standard), and with the CDC cranked up to 10 (max stiffness), I still got more nosedive than I'm ever able to get in my Tacoma. I will also add that this was before any weight whatsoever was added to the front end...

So pretty much you're looking at the stiffest scenario possible and I was still getting nose dive. YMMV and good luck in whatever you choose.
 
5100's

I used a local one man shop that does general repair and custom street rod work. I supplied the parts and he installed them for $150 including alignment. Check with a friend/co-worker for a shop they trust and go talk to them. My TE does not have KDSS, that may have made it easier.

I went with 0.85 and it helped reduce the nose dive a lot.
 
Last edited:
swimmerdude1127 said:
+1000 to what [MENTION=55815]Okki[/MENTION] said.

Also --- if you're upgrading suspension to get rid of the nosedive "issue," I wouldn't even bother. I had Icon's ET coilovers with 700lb spring upgrade (meaning it will be stiffer than the 650lb spring that comes standard), and with the CDC cranked up to 10 (max stiffness), I still got more nosedive than I'm ever able to get in my Tacoma. I will also add that this was before any weight whatsoever was added to the front end...

So pretty much you're looking at the stiffest scenario possible and I was still getting nose dive. YMMV and good luck in whatever you choose.
Click to expand...

I'm confused - you're saying stock front springs are #650, and you went with #700? If so, that's only something like a 7% increase; you barely increased the spring rate at all - why would you expect the nose dive to be gone?

Of course dive, squat, & body roll can theoretically be controlled by increasing spring rates. The question is, will the resulting ride be tolerable? I don't know the answer, because I'm not familiar enough with this particular vehicle. Also, I don't know for certain what the stock spring rates are, or what alternatives are available.
 
Last edited:
Bimmer-Bob said:
I'm confused - you're saying stock front springs are #650, and you went with #700? If so, that's only something like a 7% increase; you barely increased the spring rate at all - why would you expect the nose dive to be gone?

Of course dive, squat, & body roll can theoretically be controlled by increasing spring rates. The question is, will the resulting ride be tolerable? I don't know the answer, because I'm not familiar enough with this particular vehicle. Also, I don't know for certain what the stock spring rates are, or what alternatives are available.
Click to expand...

Standard front springs from Icon are 650. I DIDN'T expect nose dive to be gone, and neither should the OP. The setup I have is going to be stiffer than having Bilsteins.

I'd say my suspension helped it a little... But it's still there for sure. Doesn't bother me.
 
swimmerdude1127 said:
Standard front springs from Icon are 650. I DIDN'T expect nose dive to be gone, and neither should the OP. The setup I have is going to be stiffer than having Bilsteins.

I'd say my suspension helped it a little... But it's still there for sure. Doesn't bother me.
Click to expand...

Oh, the #650 are standard Icon springs, not stock springs? Do you know what stock spring rates are? In every other application, stiffer rates reduce excessive body motion - not sure why the T4R should be an exception.

As far as being "stiffer than Bilsteins," well, the shocks are sort of irrelevant in this scenario. It's the spring that absorbs the initial impact, and the compliance of the spring that allows body motion. All the shock does is absorb the stored energy in the spring (essentially helping it reset itself) so that it doesn't continuously oscillate. It's why the vehicle bounces one or two times after hitting a bump, instead of twenty or thirty.
 
^ pretty much pointed out the largest misconception about shocks and springs. Springs hold & support the weight of the vehicle. When you hit a bump the spring compresses making the shock move further helping the resistance. When the spring uncompresses it would bounce up and down continuously if it werent for the shock. The shock has resistance both ways so when compressing and decompressing dampening the bump and improving ride quality. The stiffer the spring the less the compression in decompression. The "stiffer" the shock the less ride will bounce.
 
Do you have an LE or SR5 or Trail ? Will the shops not touch the vehicle because they may have to remove X REAS or something? Just shooting in the dark here. I would google up "bring your own parts auto repair Florida". When I did there were several shops that came up including some in Miami which I guess is not that far to drive. Some of these places may even let you work/help along side the mechanic so that you can understand why/what they are doing.

Good Luck
 
make a trip to tampa there ar a dozen shops that will do it here fo rthe $250 - $450 range depending on what you want done w or w/o alignment etc
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm not really looking for a full warranty....just basically looking for a shop that will basically provide quality work and that if the install takes a crap, they will fix or take ownership of that. No shops as of yet can even (or want to) order the Bilsteins. In the end, this just seems far too complicated - most shops I have called almost seem annoyed with me even asking if they would consider performing the work.

South Florida is a haven for rip offs and shoddy workmanship. I am just trying to find the right shop....
 
I'm in Cali so for sure I won't know who's good out there, but I have great experiences with shops that deals with Icon's stuff. Below are some shops near you per Icon's website. Doesn't hurt to check them out and see what they offer. I personally believe workmanship is more important than what you're trying to install.

4 Wheel Parts West Palm Beach
2240 North Military Trail
West Palm Beach, FL 33409

IN MOTION PERFORMANCE
2640 NE 25 ST
LIGHTHOUSE POINT, FL 33064

California Customs
4721 Ravenswood Rd
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 3331
 
Are you reasonably mechanically competent? If you are just doing springs and shocks it is a pretty simple install if you have a jack, jack stands, torque wrench, a good socket set and spring compressor for the rear.

Get a login for the Toyota TIS for torque specs and diagrams and watch a few youtube videos and you should be good. If not there is probably someone in your area that could lend a hand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 1,182 (members: 5, guests: 1,177)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,089
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top