Ride quality/nose dive question

P

palooka23

New member
Coming from a 4th gen, the one thing I have noticed is how similar my 2012 drives in comparison to my 2007.
I like the soft ride as I do mostly highway driving. I am definitely an urban commuter.
About the roughest environment my truck ever sees is a bunch of baseball gear everyday (I am a coach) and the occasional bags of mulch or fertilizer
Sometimes we drive to the GA mountains, but rarely any serious off road.
With respect to nose dive, I can’t really tell too much of a difference between 2007 and 2012. Am I wrong?
If I were to consider firming up the ride, I have read multiple posts regarding Bilsteins. Since I enjoy a softer ride, does the soft ride suffer?

Also, does upgrading to the Bilstein’s void any warranty? Anyone have any luck with dealer doing the install?

I guess Im kinda torn because I see/feel the nosedive now that I have read so much about it, but I don’t think I would have noticed that much of a difference from my ’07.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance
 
Register to hide this ad
Oh boy--you're going to hear it from long time members here as to the often discussed "nose dive issue". I know because I heard from them when I asked--couldn't locate using "search".

I switched to the Bilstein HD shocks and am very happy with the change. Still a great smooth ride with much less dive and side to side lean.
 
Nose dive is subjective, and it really depends on how your work your brakes. If it does not bother you, good for you. The nose dive is definitely an issue when the brake assist feature kicks in, and one could argue that it's more likely to kick in with the nose dive being what it is.

That being said, I put in bilstein 5100's three weeks ago, and it most definitely reduced the nose dive, and the "head toss" when empty.

The 4Runner is pretty unapologetic about being a truck, and a light one with lots of capacity in reserve, so both head toss and nose dive are expected, and both are reduced a LOT when the thing has four people and a couple hundred pounds of gear in it. The first time it was loaded up like that made a strong statement that this was the intended use - it drove as car-like as any truck can.

But nose dive and head toss aren't necessary when shocks have come such a long way.
 
palooka23 said:
Coming from a 4th gen, the one thing I have noticed is how similar my 2012 drives in comparison to my 2007.
I like the soft ride as I do mostly highway driving. I am definitely an urban commuter.
About the roughest environment my truck ever sees is a bunch of baseball gear everyday (I am a coach) and the occasional bags of mulch or fertilizer
Sometimes we drive to the GA mountains, but rarely any serious off road.
With respect to nose dive, I can’t really tell too much of a difference between 2007 and 2012. Am I wrong?
If I were to consider firming up the ride, I have read multiple posts regarding Bilsteins. Since I enjoy a softer ride, does the soft ride suffer?

Also, does upgrading to the Bilstein’s void any warranty? Anyone have any luck with dealer doing the install?

I guess Im kinda torn because I see/feel the nosedive now that I have read so much about it, but I don’t think I would have noticed that much of a difference from my ’07.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Depends on the model of 4Runner you got. It also depends on your previous vehicle. I came from a pickup truck so nose dive is about the same under hard braking. You came from a previous gen of 4Runner so apparently it is close to same for you. A lot of the 4Runner owners came from BMW's and sports cars so I guess nose dive is worse lol. I have 45K on mine now and don't even notice it anymore and it is as safe (or safer) than any other vehicle.
 
+1 for Homeyclause's weight observation.

I just packed my 'Runner quite literally floor to headliner (with the rear seats taken out for more room!), with a boat and camping gear on top, plus a hitch carrier with 2 full coolers and 2-7 gallon water containers. I do have rear airbags, which eliminated any rear sag, but otherwise I have stock shocks, springs and struts.

Here is what I noticed...

Nose dive was indeed mostly absent with all that weight. The factory shocks are not up to the task of controlling a fully loaded truck. If I bounced the rear bumper with my foot it would bob 3 or 4 times before settling back down.

I will say this- I was completely shocked at how well the 4Runner shrugged off the load. We travelled through the mountains, sometimes 80mph, and achieved 18mpg. It never felt unsafe or unstable and the ride was wonderful. Once again, my choice of a 4Runner was proven to be a wise one!
 
Antman said:
Nose dive was indeed mostly absent with all that weight. The factory shocks are not up to the task of controlling a fully loaded truck. If I bounced the rear bumper with my foot it would bob 3 or 4 times before settling back down.

I will say this- I was completely shocked at how well the 4Runner shrugged off the load. We travelled through the mountains, sometimes 80mph, and achieved 18mpg. It never felt unsafe or unstable and the ride was wonderful. Once again, my choice of a 4Runner was proven to be a wise one!
Click to expand...

Once driven fully loaded, you'll begin to despise the ride the 4runner has when empty. Which is why my instinct is to pack the family into the thing every weekend and go somewhere. Except last weekend of course - wife's orders :redbrick:
 
I really don't get the "nose dive" issue much either, until I joined these forums I didn't even realize it was a problem. The physics of the car (ride height, suspension tightness, etc.) and the forward motion made perfect sense to me and its really not that bad compared to some other SUVs I have driven.

2000 Grand Cherokee Limited: Horrifying handling all around/way more nose dive
1998 Ford Explorer Limited: Way better than the GC, gutless, not a ton of nose dive
2004 Sequoia: Worse than the 5th gen T4R in every respect from a handling perspective (also slower), and the traction control nanny is extremely intrusive.
 
Last edited:
that's the problem with this forum - you read it and you start noticing things you would never pay attention otherwise. And you start thinking about modding your truck : ) As per nose dive I noticed it at first but then I got used to it - I normally keep distance and apply brakes gradually. At one time I wanted to install Bilstein's for firming up the ride, but then I somehow got to appreciate soft ride when driving on rough roads. So I'd say just let it settle for a while. Pump your tires to @34-35 psi and drive it for a months or two and then decide if you want to change ride or not. Bilstein's theoretically shouldn't void warranty to anything except shocks, but I'm sure that dealer will give you hard time if you complain about suspension or driveline.
 
scanny--my dealer was fine with it regarding warranty. Good idea about waiting before making a decision with shocks. I eventually went with the Bilstein HD series and am quite happy with the firming up. Still rides nice and sweet.......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 144 (members: 0, guests: 144)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,309
Messages
3,554,071
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top