Front coil-overs

[Condition Yellow]

What's the consensus between SAW, Toytec or Sonoran Steel coil-overs? My use would be rough trails and exploring, not bombing desert roads. A secondary concern would be salt in the winter. Thanks.

 

[Dave Bennett]

I have no experience with any of those. Someone will chime in I'm sure, but I'd add Icon to your list to review.

 

[Clutch]

Toytec, and Sonoran steel are minor upgrade over the stock coils....and are non-rebuildable. Both use Bilstein 5100 as their dampener. Will work fine for minor offroad jaunts. Similar to the TRD suspension, maybe slightly better. When they fail, you toss out the old dampener, and buy a new one.

SAW's are fully rebuildable and come in 2.0" and 2.5" sizes....the 2.5's will hold up better over the long haul, run cooler oil temps, all around beefier, and when they fail (read leaking) you can rebuild all the seals, for about $100 or so...usually can put 100K miles on them (perhaps longer) before a rebuild. Super easy to do to...

SAW's are on the level as Icon, Fox, King, etc...

As with anything, you get what you pay for.

For salt, boots/covers are available, might trap in moisture and cause more corrosion. If not taken off to clean periodically, and let to dry.
I lived in PA, would take my vehicle to the car wash after the roads dried to spray off the salt....or used our heated garage to hose off the undercarriage.
Which meant closing the garage doors, firing up the torpedo heater and sucking in kerosene fumes to wash the truck.

Another trick (while messy) is to spray the whole shock with oil to repel the salt water.


YMMV

 

[2scars]

Don't write off OME...

They are a durable option for half of the price of adjustable coilovers. My brother has their strut and 882 combo on his 00 TRD and says they are great, I run their 881 and a 10mm spacer with 5100s on my truck and they are plush, eventually I will switch to the OME front struts because after 4 years my 5100s are not up to the task much longer.

 

[MaverickTRD]

Honestly, if you aren't going to be experiencing moderate to high speed desert runs I wouldn't spend the coin vs. something like OMEs.
I love coilovers, but I haven't convinced myself to throw them on my rig yet...with my cars I always end up buying them, but I drive them a lot harder too.
If you do, I would recommend Fox or Icons personally. the Salt could come into play, sure they are rebuildable...but you'll get tired of having that done every couple of years after a while. If you were in a california or arizona climate you could probably get by for a long while without a rebuild, but the weather plays a huge factor. Also the 2.5's are nice, but again might be overkill if you are just looking to trail run it.
If you are worried about comfort, just make sure you do your research on matching springs with a properly valved shock/strut combo. Adjustability is cool, but how often do you really plan on messing with your ride height? plus bilsteins are slightly adjustable.

just my personal opinion btw...only felt inclined because I was weighing heavily on the decision of if I should change from OME to coilovers. It just doesn't justify the cost for me, and i know if I got coilovers I'd have to talk myself into the total chaos mid/long travel kit, and then get glass fenders, and then beef up my rear to match...it'd turn into a vicious circle that I simply couldn't afford! lol

 

[devortex]

X2 on ICON. I was an OME guy all the way from FJ60 experience. My initial thought on my Taco was OME but after some research I decided to pony up for the ICON stuff. I don't consider myself a high speed off-roader, my goal is to get wherever I want to go with my rig, occupants and contents intact. That being said, after several days of trekking the BLM territory on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I really appreciated buzzing along washboard roads at 45 mph with ease. That was worth the price of admission to me.

 

[Condition Yellow]

These are greatly appreciated comments. OME is an alternative as well.

 

[bat]

Toytec, and Sonoran steel are minor upgrade over the stock coils....and are non-rebuildable. Both use Bilstein 5100 as their dampener. Will work fine for minor offroad jaunts. Similar to the TRD suspension, maybe slightly better. When they fail, you toss out the old dampener, and buy a new one.

Minor offroad jaunts you must be kidding right and as far as failing :Wow1:

 

[Clutch]

Honestly, stock suspension will work fine...always go by the moto...run it until breaks, then it is time for an upgrade.

I went quite a few places with the stock suspension. Only upgraded because I broke it.

Have gone through three sets of rear leafs...I haven't broken my OME Dakars yet, but I don't like how they ride.

My Camburg's (rebadged SAW) have 200K+ miles on them...any only have been rebuilt once, but getting ready to tear them down again, they aren't leaking,
the oil just needs to be refreshed.

 

[Clutch]

Minor offroad jaunts you must be kidding right and as far as failing :Wow1:

Well compared to the higher level brands...if you push them too hard they will break.

You can't rebuild 5100's. You must replace the whole dampener when it starts leaking.

So why the ":Wow1:"?

 

[bat]

Anything will brake after time and abuse but the OP said it was for rough trail driving not bombing runs. The :Wow1: is for you make it sound like they are going to fail tomorrow but in reality they should last the for a very long time.

 

[Clutch]

Anything will brake after time and abuse but the OP said it was for rough trail driving not bombing runs. The :Wow1: is for you make it sound like they are going to fail tomorrow but in reality they should last the for a very long time.

Oh for sure (if it has breast or wheels it is going to give you trouble :ylsmoke LOL

Sorry if that was implied...but the Toytec and Sonora Steel are just slightly better than the stock TRD suspension. If you stay on fire roads you should be fine, and taking it easy on the rough stuff, even stock suspension can last a long time.

I dunno.... my stock TRD went 70K miles or so before it failed. (Actually it was fatigued before that, and I just kept on driving until it physically failed) And that is was just from having it overloaded, not driving like a mad man. We started going on some rock crawling trails...and with the weight of the gear and the drop offs, holes, square edges, and such is when I started breaking stuff...not by hucking it going 90 mph.

 

[deadbeat son]

Minor offroad jaunts you must be kidding right and as far as failing :Wow1:

Anything will brake after time and abuse but the OP said it was for rough trail driving not bombing runs. The :Wow1: is for you make it sound like they are going to fail tomorrow but in reality they should last the for a very long time.

Not just break, but wear out. Shocks have a limited lifespan, and in terms of vehicle life, it's not that long. When the shocks (struts actually...) wear out in the Sonoran Steel or Toytec kit, they're not rebuildable. You have to buy a new strut. I believe these struts have the adjusting collars bonded to them, so you'll have to buy one with a new collar bonded to it. If they're still available. This will be a more expensive endeavor than simply replacing a worn out Bilstein strut or OME strut without the threaded collar, and the only thing gained is a bit of adjustability when installing them. It really doesn't seem worth the hassle or the extra expense to me as compared to a simple strut spring combination like the OME.

The Sonoran Steel kit uses the stock TRD spring, which on my 2nd Gen Tacoma is simply too soft. I want something firmer, but have yet to bother with an upgrade. When my stock struts and shocks wear out, I'll replace the whole shebang then.

Good luck with your search!

 

[AxleIke]

I have a Toytec set up and its not that impressive. It isn't any different than the OME set up, and the springs bind in the upper arms under full droop. I would not recommend their product.

I don't have experience on these trucks with higher end stuff, but IMO, the only advantage to the higher end stuff is the rebuildable part, unless you actually tune the shocks.

If you buy a high end king, billstein, etc.. coil over, and properly tune the shock and spring combo to the driving you do, you will notice an incredible increase in performance. Having seen the results in the rock crawling world, it really is a thing to behold. HOwever, that usually means several builds and tear down's of the coilover, and test drives to figure out what you need to change. It is a fair amount of work, but worth it.

However, OME, Toytec, or the others are very much an upgrade over stock. My 99 4runner rides a TON better on the new suspension than it did on the stock suspension, and on the dirt, it is a far superior ride.

Personally, if I were to buy a brand new Tacoma or 4runner right now, I would be ditching the stock suspension as soon as I could.

 

[Ric]

I have and have had, the Toytec Ultimate kit on two rigs now, I have ran harder trails, and my rig is my daily driver, that being said, I absolutly LOVE the Ultimate kit, rides great on the street, and does awesome for the wheeling I do.


I have not ran any other kit out there, so I cant comment on how they perform, but IMHO there is no need, for what I run, Im VERY happy with my Ultimate kit.